Less than four months ago, for the second time in August, Arsenal were celebrating winning a trophy in the Wembley sunshine. On Tuesday, Mikel Arteta was fielding questions if they are in a relegation battle. "A blip," he countered.
It is quite a blip, though. Arsenal now find themselves on their worst start to a season since 1974/75, having lost four consecutive home league games for the first time since 1959. They have suffered historic reverses, with Leicester, Wolves and Burnley claiming maiden away wins at Arsenal since 1973, 1979 and 1974. On Wednesday, they host Southampton, who last took three points at Arsenal in 1987.
Arsenal may even go into it as underdogs. They have two league goals in eight games: one a penalty, the other a header from a centre-back. The supposed coup of getting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to commit to a new contract has been followed by a three-month spell when his only league goal in open play came for Burnley.
Indiscipline abounds. Nicolas Pepe and Granit Xhaka have got the most needless of red cards for violent conduct and Mohamed Elneny was lucky not to reduce them to nine men on Sunday.
As it is, Hector Bellerin, who has as many foul throws as bookings this season, joins Xhaka among the suspended. The situation with the Swiss midfielder, Arteta said, had been resolved internally.
The Spaniard, whose precocity suggested that he was a youthful candidate to join the ranks of the great managers, has instead looked part of the problem, haunted by a harrowing run of results.
He received a vote of confidence from technical director Edu, but admitted: “When you're not getting results at the end of the day it's the manager who has the maximum responsibility to get them. This football club is too big to accept this many losses in the past few weeks.”
Arteta retains the board’s support and was adamant he believes he can turn Arsenal’s fortunes around but he was more equivocal as to whether he still has the players’ backing.
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Arsenal v Burnley ratings
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ARSENAL RATINGS: Bernd Leno, 6 -- Another exhibition of neat distribution with the ball at his feet and the German had very little glovework to do, but was helpless as Aubameyang’s header flew past him for the winner. Getty -
Hector Bellerin, 6 -- Saw plenty of the ball in the final third early on but failed to produce a moment of quality. Pushed back a touch by Xhaka’s red card and picked up suspension of his own for a fifth booking of the season in the second half. Replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles after his side went a goal down. AP -
Rob Holding, 6 -- Tip-toed forward in the 21st minute and glanced a difficult header just over the bar but had a relatively quiet game from a defensive point of view. Reuters -
Gabriel, 6 -- Spared some considerable blushes when he afforded the freedom of the penalty area to Chris Wood, only for the Burnley forward to fluff his lines. Found space in the box for himself just before the half hour and headed wide when he should have at least hit the target. AP -
Kieran Tierney, 7 -- A busy shift for the Scot and the left back was always available on the overlap to cause plenty of problems for Burnley’s backline. Came close to opening the scoring early in the second half when he forced a smart save from Pope. EPA -
Mohamed Elneny, 6 -- Made a good foil for Xhaka in the heart of the home midfield, moving the ball well and dealing comfortably with men on his shoulder when receiving possession from deep. However, the Egyptian was extremely fortunate to avoid a red card after putting an arm in the face of Tarkowski. EPA -
Granit Xhaka, 3 -- Often criticised for being too passive in possession but the Swiss orchestrated some excellent passing moves in the first half, with a handful resulting in decent openings. However, all that work was undone with a ridiculous red card for grabbing the throat of Burnley midfield Ashley Westwood during some lowkey pushing and shoving. PA -
Willian, 5 -- The Brazilian is clearly keen to address his poor run of form but one or two passes didn’t quite come off and it’s another game in which the former Chelsea man has failed to make a mark on. Brought off for Eddie Nketiah for the final eight minutes. EPA -
Bukayo Saka, 6 -- Made some good bursts from midfield and played a part in some neat combination play with left-flank colleague Tierney. The second Arsenal player to sting the palms of Pope with a close-range effort early in the second half during a decent spell for the Gunners. EPA -
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 5 -- The Gabon international had his fair share of openings but isn’t quite showing the belief he needs to make the most of them, and his run of poor form was summed up when he glanced a header into his own net to seal three points for Burnley. EPA -
Alexandre Lacazette, 5 -- Miskicked an acrobatic effort early on, before shooting straight at Pope with the goal at his mercy in the 28th minute. A frustrating night came to an end on the hour when he was replaced by Dani Ceballos. AFP -
SUBS: Dani Ceballos (Lacazette, 60’), 6 -- The Spaniard was drafted into midfield after Xhaka’s red card but he was unable to stem the Burnley tide as the Clarets began to take charge. Getty -
Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Bellerin, 74’), N/R – Slotted in for the tiring Bellerin but was unable to really get into the game. Getty -
Eddie Nketiah (Willian, 82’), N/R -- Unable to rescue his side with a late equaliser. Getty -
BURNLEY RATINGS: Nick Pope, 7 -- Always alert to an Arsenal side that looked keen to pepper the penalty area with balls into the box. One miscued goal kick put his side in a bit of bother, but an otherwise solid display. PA -
Matthew Lowton, 6 -- Had a difficult first half dealing with Kieran Tierney on the overlap but had a much better time of it in the second period when his side had a man advantage. AP -
James Tarkowski, 8 -- Won a vital 50-50 against Bukayo Saka with an excellent tackle and was kept busy at set pieces by opposite number Gabriel. Got his head in front of a stinging Saka effort late on to protect the Burnley clean sheet. AP -
Ben Mee, 7 -- The Burnley defensive unit looks a much more solid one with the Clarets’ skipper in the team and the 31-year-old led an excellent defensive display while keeping Aubameyang quiet in the final third. Could have opened the scoring in the 60th minute but couldn’t quite get a good enough contact on his header. Getty -
Charlie Taylor, 7 -- Did a good job in shackling Willian and prevented the Arsenal man from getting back into his creative groove. Wasn’t too far away from getting on the scoresheet himself when his goal-bound effort deflected wide. Reuters -
Robbie Brady, 6 -- Picked up a harsh first half booking for getting in the way of Arsenal taking a quick free kick, and while the Irishman didn’t get much opportunity to express himself going forward, he was alert defensively to snuff out a couple of home attacks. EPA -
Ashley Westwood, 6 -- It was never going to be a game in which the former Aston Villa man would have his foot on the ball but he helped keep Burnley compact, before being at the heart of the handbags that saw Xhaka receive a red card. Reuters -
Josh Brownhill, 7 -- Got his body in front of a couple of stinging Arsenal efforts from distance and it was a game well suited to the busy combination of Brownhill and Westwood, who stuck to their task well. AP -
Dwight McNeil, 7 -- Not afraid to carry the ball out his half on the counterattack and his energy on the ball caused problems for the hosts. Reuters -
Jay Rodriguez, 6 -- The striker’s only real goalscoring opening came when he struck a volley with little conviction straight at an Arsenal man, but he burrowed away and helped give his side a foothold up top. Replaced by Ashley Barnes just before the hour. EPA -
Chris Wood, 6 -- Simply had to hit the target from eight yards out but completely missed the ball with his header, with the ball ricocheting off the New Zealander’s shoulder and away. Replaced by Matej Vydra with 20 minutes to go. Reuters -
SUBS: Ashley Barnes (Rodriguez, 59’), 6 -- Had a couple of sights at goal but some slightly rusty finishing let him down. PA -
Matej Vydra (Wood, 70’), 6 -- Had a shot blocked late on but didn’t really look like scoring in his 20-minute cameo. Reuters
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“My feeling is yes but this is a question for them obviously,” he said. “It's impossible to have 31 happy players in the camp. I don't know any club in the world who has that.”
And Arsenal certainly don’t. Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Mesut Ozil have been omitted from the Premier League squad; the best-paid player in Arsenal’s history chirps away unhelpfully on social media. William Saliba is not in their Europa League squad; the £25 million ($33m) Frenchman, supposedly the future of their defence, still has not played a senior game.
Arsenal have denied there is a rift between Arteta and the omitted David Luiz, but Shkodran Mustafi, a stalwart in summer, has been marginalised. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, a revelation at wing-back, now finds himself near the back of the queue for midfield places. Joe Willock and Eddie Nketiah’s Europa League excellence rarely earns them Premier League starts, while some senior players appear undroppable,
At least Xhaka’s ban means Arteta cannot pick him on Wednesday. Willian, who has been utterly ineffectual, may keep his place. He has become symbolic of Arsenal’s short-termism, spending in a bid to return to the Champions League but getting worse. Arteta’s misguided switch to 4-3-3 feels another poor judgment call
If he fails, though, it will not be for a lack of effort. “We have to face it being brave, fighting and no-one giving up or anything because it is no time to hide,” he said. “It’s time to put your face and your body on the line and at the moment, I’m sorry, but we have to take the bullets. You have to put your chest forward. My chest is here and hit me, guys.”
