Arsenal a mystery in more ways than one
IT’S STARTING to look a lot like the end of the road for Mikel Arteta.
Exactly a year after he took charge, the hope and promise the Spaniard brought as he swept into the Emirates has long since evaporated.
Arteta and his Arsenal stars can’t buy a Premier League win and their defeat to Everton means the Gunners have lost five and drawn two of their last seven games.
It’s a shocking sequence that will require all the patience of Arsenal’s hierarchy if Arteta (right) is to still be in charge against West Brom on January 2. After the worst start to a season since 1974-5, Arsenal are now languishing in 15th place in the table.
You can make that 16th if Brighton beat anchor club Sheffield United today. Worse still, if Arteta’s men lose to Chelsea on Boxing Day they could be in the relegation zone. If that’s not a wake-up call for Arsenal’s bosses, nothing will be. Many critics felt Arteta’s role as apprentice to Manchester City’s Spanish sorcerer Pep Guardiola swung the Arsenal job
his way. But there’s a distinct lack of wizardry and magic about Arsenal as the winter chill bites.
Okay, Arteta’s stars gave it a go in a bluff-and-bluster finish as Everton failed to conjure a killer third goal – but it was way too little, too late.
Whether Arteta is on borrowed time is only one part of the conversation about the Spaniard.
Another question is who Arsenal actually are. It’s a hard puzzle to crack.
And for that, Arteta has to shoulder a chunk of the blame. A year on and it’s tough to discern a defined playing pattern. They pass the ball but often it leads nowhere.
Their identity in the past has never been in doubt, from George Graham moulding a bunch of uncompromising winners right through the various shades of Arsene Wenger era, Arsenal knew what they were.
Right now it’s anyone’s guess but one thing is for sure – the picture isn’t getting any clearer.
Playing against the club where he grew up, Alex Iwobi started the rot when he delivered the kind of inviting cross that’s helping Dominic Calvert-lewin (left) grow his reputation.
The Everton striker stooped to make contact but the ball came off Rob Holding and evaded Bernd Leno.
Arsenal’s lifeline, when Ainsley Maitland-niles was fouled by Tom
Davies in the box and Pepe tucked away the penalty, was a false dawn.
Yerry Mina sent a header flying past Leno from Gylfi Sigurdsson’s expert corner before the break and it was all over for Arsenal.
Next up for Everton, second in the table, is a tasty Carabao Cup quarterfinal against Manchester United.