BLOODLESS COLOURLESS AND TOOTHLESS
Arteta’s drab Arsenal are a long way from being the force they once were
THERE were 15 minutes to go when t he biggest roar of t he afternoon from the home supporters — make that the only roar — rent the air at the Emirates. On the touchline, Eddie Nketiah waited to replace Alexandre Lacazette and, after the two men had embraced and Nketiah sprinted on to the pitch, the crowd yelled out its encouragement and its approval.
The yearning for a fresh start at Arsenal, the desperation to draw a line under the mediocrity of the last decade, the desire to establish an identity at the club that has lost the one it used to have under Arsene Wenger, was everywhere in this corner of Islington, as the home supporters sought signs of encouragement that things might be changing under the new rule of Mikel Arteta.
There was a time when Arsenal seemed to be awash with great young hopes massing to force their way into the first team and now there is at least the hint of a new breed. Nketiah, 20, is back from loan at Leeds, Gabriel Martinelli, 18, scored Arsenal’s only goal, Joe Willock, who did not get off the bench, is a fine midfielder.
It is they and not the old guard of Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka who carry the hopes of the fans here but they are not ready to shoulder the burden alone yet. This was a poor game and, by the end of it, Arsenal were clinging on for a draw against a Sheffield United side who equalised seven minutes from the end through John Fleck and remain four points ahead of them in the Premier League.
The Arteta Revolution has not got off to a fast start. It has been bloodless and colourless. Yesterday, i t was t oothless. Some of t he Arsenal fans streaming towards the exits before the final whistle screamed at their new manager to ‘sort it out’. On this evidence, that may take a while. A draw was what they deserved. No more. Arteta said: ‘If you are one goal up going into the last 10 minutes of a Premier League game, be careful.’
Many people expected Chris Wilder’s side to win here. They have already drawn at Chelsea and Tottenham this season — in fact, they have only lost to Liverpool and Manchester City on their travels — and, even though they were not at t heir best, t hey acquitted themselves well here, too.
It is a sign of how far they have come that Wilder and his side did not greet this draw with celebration. ‘It is one more point to go with the 32 we had before,’ said Wilder. ‘I don’t set targets. The journey we have been on makes us a good story. We can turn it into a fantastic one by keeping going right to the end.’ Arsenal have now won just one game in six league matches since Arteta was appointed manager before Christmas. They remained 10th in the table after this result. It is not a false position. They are a long way from being a force in the game again.
Mustafi and David Luiz have a fairly convincing claim to be the flakiest centre-half pairing in the English top flight and they wasted l i ttle time i n burnishing their reputation. Only a few minutes had g o n e when Mustaf i tried to shepherd a ball into touch and was muscled out of it by Oli McBurnie. Arsenal managed to clear the resulting cross but it was not an auspicious start.
Soon afterwards, the visitors should have taken the lead. Ainsley Maitland- Niles played a sloppy pass out of defence straight to Enda Stevens. He was allowed to advance unopposed and cross unopposed. Mustafi watched the ball sail over his head to Lys Mousset, who ought to have done a lot better with a free header that went high over the crossbar.
The rest of the half was drab. Nicolas Pepe made a couple of incursions down the right but they came to nothing, Martinelli fired a volley wide, McBurnie caught a stray boot in the groin from Xhaka that appeared to cause him considerably more discomfort than t h e a f t e r math o f h i s c a meo appearance in the away end at Cardiff City last week.
The crowd grew restless. Not toxic, as they were in the later days of Wenger and the later days of E me r y. Mor e f r e t f u l . Mor e wondering how long the dull torture of this game was going to continue and whether t here would be anything at all to suggest that brighter times were around the corner somewhere.
They got an answer on the stroke of half- time when, at last, , there was an interruption ption to the boredom. Ozil, il, anonymous until then, n, injected a burst of urgency i nto t he game when he tried to initiate a one-two on the edge of the b o x . L a c a z e t t e ’s return ball fell to Bukayo Saka and, , when his cross s deflected off George rge Baldock, it looped into nto the path of Martinelli, who prodded it over the line.
The second half started more brightly and 10 minutes after the interval, the visitors almost drew level. McBurnie rose highest in the box to meet a deep corner from the Arsenal l eft. Bernd Leno was caught i n no man’s l and but McBurnie’s goalbound header cannoned off Xhaka on the line. Sheffield appealed for handball but replays showed clearly the ball had hit Xhaka on the chest.
Midway through the half, Arsenal seemed to have won a penalty of their own. Pepe accelerated away from Stevens as if he was not there and then ran at Jack O’Connell in the box. O’Connell stuck out a leg and did not get the ball. Pepe fell over ov his leg. It looked like an obvious penalty but bu Mr Dean waved play p on and, when t he i ncident was checked by VAR, it decided there had been no foul. Nketiah came on s soon after that and an unusual feeling of o pt i mism began to circu c i r c ul a t e a r o und t he Emirate Emirates. It did not last long. Seven minutes from the end, Callum Robinson floated a cross into the box and, when it was flicked on, John Fleck hammered it down into the turf and it bounced and fizzed past the outstretched hand of Leno and into the roof of the net.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Leno 5; Maitland-Niles 5, Mustafi 4, Luiz 5, Saka 6; Torreira 5, Xhaka 5; Pepe 6, Ozil 5, Martinelli 6; Lacazette 6 (Nketiah 74min, 6). Booked: Xhaka. Subs (not used): Bellerin, Ceballos, Holding, Martinez, Willock, Guendouzi.
SHEFFIELD UNITED (3-5-2): Henderson 6; Basham 6 (Besic 75, 6) 6, Egan 6, O’Connell 6; Baldock 5, Lundstram 6 (Robinson 67, 6), Norwood 6, Fleck 7, Stevens 6; McBurnie 6.5, Mousset 5 (Sharp 56, 6). Booked: Baldock, Norwood. Subs (not used): Jagielka, Freeman, Verrips, Osborn.
Referee: M Dean (Wirral) 5.