GUNNS BERND ON THE COAST Seagulls expose fragile visitors
THE world may have changed but some things stay the same – Arsenal are facing another inquest.
After three years under the master guidance of Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta was used to excellence and winning in equal measure.
Manchester City were structured, well-managed and always striving for perfection.
The contrast to his life as Arsenal boss just couldn’t be more different. Where there was order it’s now chaos – and certainty has been replaced by doubt in every area of the pitch.
Arteta seems to be fire-fighting on all fronts with problems springing up all over the Emirates and no real solutions in immediate sight.
Brazilian defender David Luiz is a car crash, German midfielder Mesut Ozil a costly, on-going puzzle while striker Pierre-emerick Aubameyang – Arsenal’s best player at Brighton – has an uncertain future.
And just when Arteta probably thought his week couldn’t get much worse the football gods stuck the boot in again.
Horror
As if a pasting at Manchester City wasn’t enough to darken the mood of the Gunners boss a horror injury to German keeper Bernd Leno left the Spaniard and his players with a sour taste.
Then, to compound Arteta’s misery, struggling Brighton bounced off the canvas at the Amex Stadium to land a sucker punch and put another spanner in his rebuilding works.
Of all the recognised top-six sides Arsenal have a readiness to lose to lower teams with the most ease.
At City mindset was every bit as vital as talent. At Arsenal the mental fragility when the going gets tough is a recurring theme that even Arteta is struggling to change.
After their humiliation at the Etihad, Arteta was hoping his luck might change down at Brighton.
But there was no such good fortune for the Spanish boss – and certainly none for unlucky keeper Leno.
There seemed little danger as he raced to the right edge of his area to catch a ball that was bouncing perilously close to the penalty-box line.
Seagulls striker Neil Maupay barged the German star who crumpled to the turf screaming in agony as his right knee buckled under him at a sickening angle.
Trouble