LONDON — Arsenal fans at the Emirates Stadium sat there in stunned silence as Ollie Watkins smashed home Aston Villa’s second goal in eight minutes to make it 2-2.
Just a few minutes earlier Arsenal were 2-0 up, cruising to a big victory to keep the pressure right on Liverpool in the title race. Then they imploded and it ended in a draw.
After such a brilliant performance full of energy, cutting edge and drive, Arsenal inexplicably found a way to chuck two points away as their jaded, injury-hit team were dejected at the final whistle. They’re still 12 games unbeaten in the Premier League but this draw hurt. It stung. It felt like a defeat.
How did it happen? How have they got to this stage of the season six points behind leaders Liverpool, who also have a game in-hand?
Injuries pile up in crucial positions to impact depth
Injuries are playing their part. Massively. With Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Ben White, Riccardo Calafiori and Ethan Nwaneri already out, talismanic center back William Saliba missing this game was just too much for them to handle. Mikel Arteta doesn’t seem too positive that Saliba won’t be out for a while either. In key moments for Villa’s two goals Saliba’s presence was missed. Directly and indirectly.
For Villa’s first goal you’d like to think Partey playing in midfield (instead of out of position at right back) would be positioned to head away Digne’s cross or at least put off Tielemans heading home, as Mikel Merino switched off defensively. Or Saliba may have not been dragged wide like Jurrien Timber was and he could have blocked or cleared the cross. For their second, if Saliba was fit then Timber would have been playing right back instead of Partey and he would have been sat deeper and known to not leave a striker like Watkins unmarked at the back post for a swung-in cross.
“Against this team, what they’ve done, after playing three times in six days with the players having enough to change it. I cannot be prouder of that, very disappointed with the result obviously we cannot afford ourselves because defending in the way that we did for one of the goals especially it cannot be part of our game if we want to be at the highest level in this country because the rest is what can I ask the team to do against a very good side,” Mikel Arteta said in his post-match press conference.
But the fact Arteta only made one sub during this game said it all. The size of Arsenal’s squad is limiting them and they have picked up untimely injuries in two key areas. That is why they’re 2-0 down heading into the second leg of their League Cup semifinal at Newcastle, out of the FA Cup, struggling to close the gap on Liverpool. Yes, they’re looking good in the Champions League but is a shock result at home to Dinamo Zagreb this Wednesday out of the question?
Saka, Jesus and Nwaneri all going down at the same time impacts their attack massively and we’ve seen in recent weeks they should have scored plenty more goals. Saliba, Calafiori and White not being available weakens their defense considerably too and there’s too much being asked of players like Partey, Timber and Lewis-Skelly. Compared to Arsenal, Aston Villa clearly had the better options off the bench with Bailey, Duran, Digne, Malen and Buendia to choose from. Arteta would dream of having that kind of depth right now.
Are these injuries an excuse Arsenal can use?
“No, we never gave any excuse,” a disappointed Thomas Partey told Pro Soccer Talk after the game. “There is a lot of competition, we have a lot of players who can play in multiple positions and we have to continue helping each other, keep playing as a team and keep dominating games like these and then we will get our results.”
Pressure mounting as Liverpool win late
Arsenal will have seen that Liverpool were drawing 0-0 at Brentford as the 90th minute arrived. By the time they went out for their warm ups, Darwin Nunez had scored twice to seal a 2-0 win, as Liverpool now have a six-point lead over the Gunners and have a game in-hand at Everton to come soon.
Mikel Arteta revealed he knew exactly how Liverpool were getting on against Brentford and pointed to them having options off the bench, as Nunez stepped up this time, to win them the game.
“Yeah, there are moments, obviously, they managed to do that. They made the subs, and the subs made the impact, and they managed to change the game,” Arteta said. “And in our side, it was the opposite, even though, after conceding the two goals very close to each other, the danger was, because I knew how the team was, that we could go down here because we were physically drained. Suddenly, the team find another gear to go again and just put Aston Villa in there, in the box, and go and go again, trying to find the goal that we haven’t been able to score at the end.”
The pressure of chasing the leaders is tiring. It’s mentally and physically draining to always feel like you’re just a few results behind where you want to be, or think you should be.
“You want to be at the top so you continue to look at people at the top but the main focus is always to believe in ourselves, try to do things better, focus and win our games,” Partey said.
Are Arsenal still confident they can catch Liverpool?
“I think the mentality from our fans, to the players, to the coach is very clear. We want to be the best, chase the best teams and want to be the best team,” Partey said. “Our mentality is to do our best and become the best.”
Arsenal’s fans are creating a brilliant atmosphere around this title run but their stunned reaction at chucking this lead away summed up a feeling of being tantalizingly close once again, but fate not being on their side. Fans showed their frustration by standing in silence, shaking their heads, hitting the seats in front of them to vent their anger.
They know that given the current circumstances this squad they have right now is doing all it can to be top of the table. But after coming second in back-to-back seasons behind Manchester City, and now trailing Liverpool by a considerable margin, this all feels very familiar for Arsenal. And it’s starting to get to them.
Lack of transfer activity a serious concern
This is the key thing. Even before injuries hit Arsenal in recent weeks, it was clear they needed to strengthen in attack. Teenager Nwaneri is a top talent, but he’s a teenager. Jesus and Kai Havertz are both solid secondary strikers, but are they going to win you the title?
Arsenal’s failure to improve their attacking options is coming back to bite them. Hard.
Arteta was asked if the pressure is mounting to do business in January.
“When you look at the performances, I don’t know how many teams are playing at this level on the league, but when you look at the bench, probably you say, I think we are very short,” Arteta said.
Havertz, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli did extremely well to limit the loss of Saka through injury against Villa, but Arsenal need more. They need a star in attack and that is probably the final piece of the jigsaw for Arteta’s squad. Is that star (Isak, Gyokeres or Sesko to name a few potential signings) going to arrive in January? Probably not.
The problem Arsenal have up front now is the same one they had at the end of last season and failed to address in the summer. Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori are both fine players but did Arsenal really need to sign them for a combined $87 million instead of one star striker? No.
It seems unlikely they’ll be able to solve their striker issues in the January window, even with a short-term option like Victor Osimhen, and right now another shot at the title seems like it will come up just short. Once again Arsenal are so close yet so far to glory.
“I’m proud of the team,” Partey added. “Everybody is proud of each other because we are doing a really great job and dominating a lot of teams. Every game that we play, we play consistently, we keep our consistency and at the end of the day we will get our results.”
In the end will those results be enough for Arsenal to win the trophies they crave?
