What the hell is wrong with Arsenal? Gunners’ stupidity and search for conspiracy will undermine their run to the Premier League title – and Mikel Arteta is to blame

When Arsenal first left Highbury and moved into their lush Emirates Stadium palace, they started to come in for a new kind of criticism when swathes of trophies at first failed to follow that path across Ashburton Grove.

The loss of, and inability to replace, core figures of steely resilience like Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva and Sol Campbell coincided with defensive fragilities creeping in. It became an easy stick to beat the Gunners with – they were there to be had, you could get at them, they’re too soft, and other such adages without too much nuance.

Mikel Arteta, across nearly half a decade of management back in north London, has sought to reverse that long-standing narrative. For the most part, he has succeeded and made Arsenal one of Europe’s meanest teams, but they are now threatening to unravel their hard work and slip over to the wrong side of the dark-arts horseshoe.

Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth largely came about because, for the third time already this season, Arsenal had to play a large portion of the game with only 10 men. William Saliba’s sending off for a last-man tug on Evanilson was deemed a red card-worthy offence after a VAR check and the Gunners ceded total control of a very winnable match.

These dismissals, however, aren’t the result of a conspiracy and nor are they acts of martyrdom, as much as those of a red-and-white affiliation would like to believe.

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  Daft reds

  Whether you want to strip back that frightening stat of three red cards in eight matches individually or analyse them as a collective, it’s pretty clear and obvious that Arsenal have dug this hole for themselves, even if you lean on the side of leniency.

  Sure, you can look at Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard’s near-identical expulsions and label them as soft, but it’s a tag which works both ways. Neither player had to walk that tightrope with such carelessness, without heeding the warning that a place in the referee’s notebook brings. In fairness to Rice, he fronted for the cameras after he was sent off against Brighton and took responsibility for his misgiving, while he was also quick to lambast he and his team-mates’ bad habits at the weekend.

  Saliba’s red card, meanwhile, was a strange lapse from a defender who has credentials to be the best in the world in his position. Just days after uncharacteristically clattering Lois Openda and conceding a penalty during France’s 2-1 win at Belgium, he made the error of playing with fire as the last man in a high-line of defence. Again, a measly challenge of plausible deniability is present given how far Bournemouth striker Evanilson was from goal, but it was a questionable and needless discretion nonetheless.

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    Lessons not learned

    As previously alluded to, Arteta has done incredibly well to this point of his managerial career. Trying to slay the Arsenal demons of old was a task which led to the downfall of club legend Arsene Wenger and his successor Unai Emery, yet Arteta has emerged as the victor in the arm wrestle against ghosts of Gunners past.

    These nuisances aren’t completely wiped out yet, however. The only smidgen of leeway you can really afford to Arsenal is that they previously had a reputation as a team who weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed and this someway remains in the football subconscious, a ripple beneath the undercurrent of today.

    Mistakes are made to be learned from, though. The convenience of this tale shouldn’t explain why an almost entirely different group of players are repeating history. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. After Trossard was given his marching orders against Manchester City for an offence similar to Rice’s a fortnight earlier, Gary Neville puffed out his cheeks on Sky Sports commentary and like a disappointed schoolteacher bemoaned, “They’re not learning.”

    The insistence that this is a culture problem is probably a false one at least, mainly because we’re not talking about players past and present getting into handsy scraps or flying into challenges with disregard for their opponents’ shins. That should be a sign of promise.

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    Arteta’s role

    One way or another, this all comes back to Arteta. Wolves boss Gary O’Neil magnanimously reiterated both pre and post-loss to Manchester City that the buck starts and stops with him in regard to results and what happens on the pitch, irrespective of controversy and ill fortune. It wouldn’t hurt Arsenal and their own staff to start looking inward either.

    This is a team in the Spaniard’s image, there are no doubts left over that anymore. He has constructed a squad of physical giants with equal grace, developed them into a side capable of challenging for the most major of honours. They are title contenders for good reason, yet they are also held back and rightly doubted because of all else.

    So many think-pieces have attributed Arsenal’s rise to the culture Arteta has created within the club. But if he is responsible for cultivating the vibes and the positives, he is also the architect of downfall and the man behind overstepping the mark.

    The talk of ’embracing dark arts’ was a little overblown, though was built on the foundation of Arsenal’s willingness to explore a different kind of menace. It is now the challenge of maturing with their heads screwed on they must be embracing.

    Arteta isn’t stupid and is fully aware of the task ahead. At a press conference on Monday, he said: “Playing with 10 men always is an issue. The trust is, when you analyse it, three different very actions and the outcome of them, the reasons are very different. Regardless of that we cannot continue to play with 10 men at this level. We need to eradicate that, it’s clear. The reasons, how – it doesn’t matter. We have to focus.”

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    Turn the tap back on

    Disciplinary concerns aren’t the only factor which could hinder Arsenal’s title tilt. Arteta’s reversal of philosophy from total football to scrape-and-scrimp in pursuit of glory is working mischievously in tandem with their run-ins with the football law.

    If anything, this element of their malaise has gone under the radar having been usurped by these discrepancies. The fear of it rumbling on is of similar threat to the Gunners.

    Obviously, football is a trickier sport to play with a one-player disadvantage, but Arsenal appeared happy to sit in and play for a point for over one half of their loss at Bournemouth. They had no out-ball until Gabriel Martinelli’s 64th-minute introduction, which made Raheem Sterling’s first-half withdrawal for Jakub Kiwior all the more confusing. And look, we’re not asking for Arteta to go full Ange Postecoglou and sit his side on the halfway line at all times. Any sort of attacking intent wouldn’t go amiss, mind.

    It’s great for Arsenal they have at long last put in the hard yards to shore up their defence and fight for points at that end of the pitch. Now they need to turn the tap back on at the other end.

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    Blueprint is there

    Cast your mind back to this time last season. Arsenal were struggling to string together the kind of swashbuckling performances which led to their emergence in 2022-23. A fiery defeat at Newcastle in the autumn brought an end to Arteta’s over-exuberant touchline antics, even though he was within his right to fume over the Magpies’ aggressions. A run of one win in five over the festive period then proved to be the real killer behind their title hopes, but it forced a rethink in strategy and it’s to their credit the race with Man City even went to the final day of the season, that they rallied back without questions over mentality or fragility.

    Arsenal scythed right through their Premier League opponents to begin 2024. Five goals against Crystal Palace, six at West Ham, five at Burnley, six at Sheffield United, four against Newcastle, five against Chelsea, three against four different sides. The best teams possess that scoring prowess and rightly flex it.

    Arteta’s men have the same kind of headache to begin this term, but they also hold the key to emerge from this pit and reignite their hopes of total victory come May. The goals are in there, the solutions are in there, the discipline is in there; they just need to reflect and readjust. This team can’t be written off in spite of their slower-than-expected start – Saturday’s loss was the first on their travels in the Premier League in 2024, after all.

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    Chance to right the wrongs

    Even without Saliba to call upon, Arsenal should be optimistic heading into Sunday’s Premier League showdown with table-toppers Liverpool. The Reds head to the Emirates Stadium for their toughest test under Arne Slot, and they only just about got the better of a transitional Chelsea side.

    Those on Merseyside are treading new water in a post-Jurgen Klopp world, while their hosts from N5 are into year five of Arteta’s reign and know who they are. The Emirates is not the same stadium where visitors come and pick up points as easily as they once used to. It is Arsenal who must wear the badge of confidence and Liverpool who have everything to prove, despite their incredible run of results to begin Slot’s tenure.

    Both are in Champions League action this midweek, but the saturation and lengthiness of the new league stage means their respective clashes against Shakhtar Donetsk and RB Leipzig pale in significance. The opportunity to stand back up and show their mettle is only days away.