Mentality minnows! Arsenal's Premier League collapse shows Arteta weakness

Sam McGuire

• 15 May 2023 13:22 BST
• 5 min read

Arsenal's 3-0 loss to Brighton on Sunday was only their third defeat in their last 15 Premier League matches. The other two were losses to Manchester City. At a glance, given this run of form, it would be unfair to say the Gunners had bottled the opportunity to lift their first title in almost two decades.

Many have jumped to their defence following the humbling at the hands of Roberto De Zerbi’s men. Their argument is that Arsenal should never have been fighting for the title anyway, so expecting them to win it was unfair. Granted, at the start of the campaign, the expectation for the Gunners was to qualify for the top four. They have done that so it should be viewed as a successful season.

However, expectations can be, and regularly are, altered once the season is underway. Arsenal found themselves five points clear at the summit with just nine games to play ahead of their trip to Anfield.

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Mikel Arteta’s side are now four points behind having played a game more than Manchester City after a forgettable six-week period.

It all started on Merseyside. The visitors had a commanding 2-0 lead with just 30 minutes on the clock. They crumbled in the second half and if it wasn’t for the exploits of Aaron Ramsdale between the sticks, the Gunners return to London with zero points. Liverpool created eight big chances and most Expected Goal models had them down as creating opportunities worth over four goals.

Arsenal followed that performance up with a 2-2 draw away to West Ham. Arteta watched on as his team again took a 2-0 lead but failed to claim all three points. Up next was a home match against bottom-of-the-table Southampton. It should’ve been a banker for the hosts but they found themselves 2-0 down after 15 minutes and 3-1 down with just 25 minutes left to play. In the end, they needed two goals in the final few minutes to salvage a draw.

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The Gunners did then get back to winning ways, recording a 3-1 win over Chelsea before damaging Newcastle United’s hopes of a top-four finish with a 2-0 win at St James’ Park.

After City swept Everton aside in the early kick-off on Sunday, Arsenal had to react in the later game against Brighton. This was a Seagulls side that had lost 5-1 to Everton in their last outing and yet they went to the Emirates and played it like a home game in a dominant 3-0 win.

It was a deserved three points for the visitors too. They nullified their hosts while creating decent chances of their own. It was a performance that resulted in Arteta apologising to fans in his post-match press conference.

“A week ago I was standing here feeling proud and today we have to apologise for the performance in the second half. It was not acceptable. Mathematically, it's still possible, but today it's impossible to think about it. We need to digest the result and the performance in the second half, understand why and have a different reaction.”

Why Arsenal's title hopes have fallen apart

While few would’ve envisaged Arsenal being in a title race at the start of the season, the fact is they were and they collapsed with the finish line in sight. The Gunners have taken nine points from a possible 21, they have conceded seven in their last three home matches and their backline has been breached on two or more occasions in 10 of their 22 outings since the Premier League resumed following the World Cup break.

Ahead of their trip to Anfield, Arsenal were conceding just 0.93 goals per 90. Their Premier League average is now 1.16 per 90 after conceding 15 goals in seven matches.

Injuries have hampered them but they started to leak goals when William Saliba was available. It might make it a little easier to digest by linking this drop-off in form to the absence of the Frenchman but there’s more to it than that.

In their final 12 matches of last season, Arsenal lost six times and missed out on a top-four finish by two points. In their final 12 matches of the 2020/21 campaign, the Gunners lost twice - versus Liverpool and Everton - but dropped points in draws with Burnley, West Ham and Fulham as they finished six points off the top four. Granted, they finished that season with five successive wins, they tend to have silly periods in the final month or two of the campaign that have big consequences.

Arsenal don’t seem to learn from these mistakes either. This isn’t a Saliba was injured issue, this is a problem with their mentality. With the pressure on, performances go awry.