13 points in 12 games summarise the domestic form of Arsenal Football Club so far under the guidance of Mikel Arteta who could be fired from his post as the run of bad result continues.
This is the worst start for the North London club in a top-flight season since 1974-75.
Many Arsenal fans have been hopeful that they will eventually turn a corner in the league as they keep getting the results in the Europa League where they boast of a 100 percent record.
Burnley finally recorded their first win over the Gunners – a match Arsenal played better until Granitk Xhaka got sent off for holding the neck of Ashley Westwood during a melee.
Arsenal was then booed off the pitch after losing the game 1-0 courtesy of captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang‘s own goal. The defeat leaves the north London side 15th in the table and on a run of seven defeats in their last 10 league games.
As expected, the 2,000 fans inside the Emirates Stadium made their displeasure clear after the game.
It’s unheard of that a team of Arsenal’s caliber scored 10 goals only after 12 Premier League games. This is their lowest at this stage of a top-flight season since 1981-82 (8 goals).
Why should Arsenal fire Mikel Arteta?
The recent defeat means Arsenal have now lost four straight league games at home for the first time in 61 years. Going 12 hours and 32 top-flight minutes without a goal made Arteta’s record to be worse than Unai Emery’s.
With four wins and a draw after 12 games, which is Arsenal’s worst start to a top-flight season since 1974-75, when they had won two and drawn three, many were expecting the Gunners board to send the Spaniard packing.
But his saving grace so far could be his 100 percent record in the Europa League. But will the board still be keeping a manager that has a high level of indiscipline under his watch?
Since Arteta took over at Arsenal, the Gunners have received six Premier League red cards, which is double that any other side in the same timeframe has received.
There have been reports of fights in the camp. The one between David Luiz and Dani Ceballos was the last straw for the Spaniard as he threatened to severely deal with whoever is responsible for leaking out the information to the press.
There had been Ozil, Matteo Guedouzi issues which the Spaniard appeared to have tackled but the lack of unity of purpose on the field between the first team starters is obvious.
The latest is the one involving Granit Xhaka, which cost them dearly against Burnley. The shameful act by the former captain occurred when Arsenal was about to win as they were on the ascendency, especially in the second half.
This is the second time this season that an Arsenal player will be given the matching order for violent conduct following £72m club-record signing Nicolas Pepe’s red card for a headbutt in the draw against Leeds last month.
Arsenal was even lucky not to be down to nine men as Mohammed Elneny escaped receiving a red card for raising his arm up to James Tarkowski’s face at a corner, but got a yellow.
Although Arteta already admitted that Xhaka’s dismissal was unacceptable, the lack of leadership in the first team is a course for concern. It appears Aubameyang, who has his own goalscoring form to battle with can’t lead the team as the level of indiscipline increases.
Now that Arsenal has found itself in this position, Arteta needs to pick up the team and identify the loopholes and work on them, having expressed clarity on what needed to be done to bring about improvement.
So, Arteta needs to address the disciplinary issues in the squad and solve their goalscoring problems.
As a manager, you don’t change a winning team. What stops Folarin Balogun from getting additional minutes in the Premier League while Aubameyang sits to rediscover his goalscoring form.
The Gabonese is a proven goalscorer, but that’s not happening at the moment, having taken him even closer to the goal. The same goes for Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah. But the latter appears to still be getting the goals in the Europa League.
There are also faults on the part of Willian who has not been playing up to expectation. The runs expected from him are not been made. The dribbles of the Brazilian seems to have waned, thereby leaving Kieran Tierney to do most of the job.
It also behooves on the midfield of the Gunners to create more scoring chances for the strikers to bang in the goals.
Therefore making some changes in the starting lineup ahead of the games against Southampton, Chelsea, Man City, and Everton will do Arteta a lot of good as Arteta will need to prove himself in the next game or two. Without that, the Spaniard might be leaving the club exactly a year he joined.
So, should Arsenal fire Arteta now or still give him some time. You can drop your commetn below.
