5/10 Arsenal dud may have just cost them the title

And with that, Arsenal’s title bid might be achieved. Mikel Arteta’s males are unbeaten throughout the final ten league outings however there have been too many laboured dis[lays with not a lot creativity.

Arsenal went into the break towards Brighton main 1-0 by the unbelievable Ethan Nwaneri who regardless of being 17 years of age, has the world at his ft with two Premier League targets already this time period.

Nevertheless, the Seagulls fought again and secured a 1-1 draw after Joao Pedro’s controversial penalty.

It was a weird one, reality be instructed. William Saliba and Pedro challenged for the ball, grazed heads and Anthony Taylor after a interval of deliberation ultimately pointed to the penalty spot.

Arteta and his crew might effectively rue that second however they simply did not do sufficient within the closing third themselves. A telling stat was the truth that Arsenal solely had one shot on course within the second half.

With Tottenham Hotspur to come back subsequent week, it is an enormous north London derby. They do, at the very least, have Nwaneri at their disposal however they can’t depend on an adolescent to maintain them within the title race.

Extra gamers have to step up…

Arsenal’s greatest gamers towards Brighton

With Martin Odegaard on the bench due to an sickness and Kai Havertz lacking from the squad fully because of the identical reasoning, Arteta wanted to discover a artistic or goalscoring spark from someplace.

Gabriel Jesus has been the go-to man in latest months, scoring twice towards Crystal Palace within the league after which bagging one other towards Brentford just some days in the past.

Nwaneri has been one other shock inclusion over the past two matches and boy has he delivered.

When Bukayo Saka’s hamstring harm was confirmed to be a prolonged one there have been loads of query marks surrounding that space of the pitch.

Gabriel Martinelli was tried down the precise towards Ipswich however that did not quantity to a lot so Nwaneri got here in to begin on the right-hand facet versus Brentford.

Arsenal instantly seemed extra fluid in attacking areas with the spritely teenager capable of manoeuvre in 360 levels with exceptional consolation and ease.

Properly, Nwaneri made the most important affect of all towards Brighton on Saturday by scoring his second Premier League aim.

He raced onto the ball on the right-hand facet, received away from the defence, into the penalty space after which buried a chance past Seagulls stopper Bart Verbruggen. It was a beautiful aim and it was a second that mentioned to the remainder of the Premier League that this boy is a particular one.

Fact be instructed, it wasn’t essentially the most full of performances from the teenager who took a succession of poor corners and gave away the ball in tight areas. That mentioned, they wanted a distinction maker and with out Odegaard or Saka on the pitch, he was it.

So, the place did it go fallacious and who have been the worst performers on the away crew?

Arsenal’s worst performers towards Brighton

It is truthful to say this was not Arsenal’s day for plenty of causes.

Not solely did the Brighton equaliser come about on account of some weird officiating however they didn’t create a lot within the second half both.

Whether or not the turning level was Martinelli being introduced on for Nwaneri on the break is difficult to know however they lacked a lot fluidity after that second with the likes of Jesus and former Brighton man Leandro Trossard remoted. Because of this, they didn’t see a lot of the ball in any respect.

That mentioned, it was within the deepest of midfield slots the place the Gunners struggled essentially the most.

With Odegaard solely on the bench and Jurrien Timber suspended, it meant that Declan Rice was required additional ahead and Thomas Partey at right-back. As such, it was as much as Jorginho to marshal the midfield in entrance of the backline.

Sadly, he did not do sufficient and was typically overrun in midfield by the monstrous Carlos Baleba who appeared to have Jorginho’s quantity

The Italian is usually a reliable determine, somebody who evades the press effectively and breaks up play earlier than passing the ball to extra artistic figures.

On this event, he wasn’t nice at that. Jorginho was dribbled previous twice and didn’t make a single interception on the night time. Unsurprisingly, he did little within the closing third both, failing to have a shot and making simply the one key move.

That a part of his play does not matter vastly contemplating the function he was enjoying in however the actual fact that Arteta selected to take him off after simply 64 minutes having had fewer touches than goalkeeper David Raya (58) mentioned loads.

Handed a 5/10 match score by Soccer.London’s Tom Canton, he wrote of the previous Chelsea midfielder’s show that there have been ‘a few errors within the first half that just about proved very pricey’.

That quite summed it up for the Gunners who have been left to rue what may effectively be the ultimate nail within the coffin for his or her title cost this time period.

They’re now 5 factors behind Liverpool who play tomorrow however they might lengthen their result in eight with a recreation in hand.

Arsenal have had accidents this season, they’ve had dangerous luck with penalty choices and purple card however the largest downside of all is that they merely have not been ok to string collectively a very promising sequence of wins.