Arsenal have won each of their last nine matches against Burnley at home in all competitions but on Sunday, the Clarets found their way through at the Emirates for the first time. It was a shambolic defeat and the ship of Mikel Arteta is going nowhere as they dish out new lows every week.
The Gunners forced Nick Pope into a number of saves, but their hopes of sealing a first Premier League win since the victory over Manchester United on November 1 were hit when Xhaka was dismissed shortly before the hour mark for grabbing Ashley Westwood by the throat.
Their misery was compounded in the 73rd minute when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang headed into his own net from Westwood's corner to the dismay of 2,000 returning Gunners supporters.
The hosts made 10 changes from the side that beat Dundalk in the Europa League on Thursday and started slowly. They should have fallen behind after 13 minutes, but an unmarked Chris Wood inexplicably headed wide from eight yards.
Rob Holding headed over at the other end, while Alexandre Lacazette was denied by the leg of Pope after being picked out inside the penalty area by Kieran Tierney.
There were 7 corners in the first half for Arsenal, but none of them resulted in shots on target.
Every single effort produced nothing as the Gunners were too cautious and did not attack which they should have.
Without Nicolas Pepe, Willian has been tasked with corner duties.
However, the Brazilian struggled to make an impact alongside Hector Bellerin.
The team as a whole lacked the self-confidence and sharpness to pose a threat against a team like Burnley.
The midfield looked stagnant and devoid of any sort of creativity.
The game is desperately calling out for Arteta to bring in a creative midfielder in the middle of the pitch when everything else on the flanks fails.
However, the manager went into the season without a backup plan.
Currently, Mesut Ozil is unavailable for selection and as such, Arteta can only name youth stars Joe Willock and Emile Smith Rowe on the bench. Both performed decently well in the mid-week UEFA Europa League game but surprisingly, they had no role to play against Burnley.
The Burnley goalkeeper denied Tierney and Bukayo Saka in quick succession at the start of the second period before Xhaka's moment of madness.
The Switzerland international's initial caution for pawing at Westwood was upgraded to a red card by referee Graham Scott after he viewed the incident on a pitch-side monitor.
That was the sixth Premier League red card for the Gunners since manager Arteta took over in December 2019 – double that of any other side in the same period.
Mohamed Elneny was fortunate not to also receive his marching orders soon after, Scott deciding his push on James Tarkowski warranted just a yellow card.
Arsenal's reprieve did not last long, though, Aubameyang glancing the ball past Bernd Leno to script another low for the Gunners!
Arsenal, who have now lost four consecutive top-flight home games for the first time since December 1959, remain in 15th with 13 points, while the Clarets move up to 17th place.
The Gola stated, “Arteta has consistently talked about his ‘non-negotiables’ since he arrived in north London, but they are now seemingly being ignored by his players.”
“The past 12 months have seen Arsenal throwing their weight behind the Arteta project to such an extent that they even promoted him from the first-team coach to the manager just a couple of months ago.”
“But as it stands that project is crumbling and there are no signs that he can find a way of halting the slide.”
Arteta is in absolute disarray. He looks out of idea and seems have no control over the situation.
Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 14/12/2020 Another week, another new low for Arsenal
No comments:
Post a Comment