Sunday’s draw at Fulham looked like a huge missed opportunity for Arsenal after Liverpool’s game at Everton was postponed earlier at the weekend.
It was a real opportunity for Mikel Arteta’s men to close the gap on the league leaders and they failed to make the most of it, which was a real blow. You might feel the disappointment afterwards.
I actually didn’t think they played too badly. Fulham are a decent side who have had a good season so far and Arsenal completely dominated them in terms of territory and possession but again the problem was that they didn’t do enough with the ball in and around the last third
Arsenal are set to rival Liverpool for Premier League striker!
It’s a constant problem with this Arsenal team, especially when they come up against teams that settle into a low block. They only it’s hard for them to break teams.
It was no surprise that the goal they scored came from a set piece, we all know how dangerous they are from set pieces. But given the amount of possession they enjoyed in Fulham’s half, they really should have done more with it.
Arsenal generally have no problems scoring goals. They point a lot. They did it last season and only Chelsea and Brentford have scored more than them in the current campaign.
The problem is in these very close games, when teams are heavily against them, they can struggle to unlock them. They really lack that mercurial X-Factor type player who can make something out of nothing and win a game on his own.
That’s why I really wanted them to go to Michael Olise in the summer. I think he would have been perfect for this Arsenal team and he was exactly the type of player they were missing. Nothing he has done since moving to Germany has changed my mind.
Gabriel Jesus’ struggles are a major concern – Arsenal must act in January
Gabriel Jesus’ form is also a real concern. His second-half cameo at Craven Cottage summed up where he is as a player now.
He doesn’t seem to have any confidence. When you throw on a striker at 1-1 midway through the second half, you really want to see him influence a game. To get on the pitch and show why he should be a starter.
But Jesus did the opposite. He barely found his man when on the ball and when a half-chance presented itself from Declan Rice’s clever pass, he didn’t even turn his foot.
He was very poor and his ongoing struggle for form and confidence means that Mikel Arteta has no choice but to continue to play Kai Havertz week in and week out and, unsurprisingly, he is now starting to look like he needs rest due to the sheer amount of minutes he is asked to play.
So there are clearly attacking concerns at Arsenal at the moment which will again raise why nothing was done to really strengthen the forward options in the summer, apart from the late appeal of sign Raheem Sterling on loan.
They are justifiable questions too and do you think something needs to be done to bolster Arteta’s options in the final third of January if they are to have any chance of keeping pace with Chelsea and chasing Liverpool.
