It would have been a good first half for Arsenal if not for Coutinho’s touch of genius. That free kick changed everything. It’s hard to put into words what happened especially if you are an Arsenal fan. Holding and Chambers barely know each other and have spent so little time together on the pitch there’s naturally a lack of cohesion. Everyone expected these problems after Mertesacker, Koscielny and Gabriel were ruled out. Hopefully, Mustafi does sign with Arsenal. What is even harder to talk about is the new injuries and the time needed for players to recover from the Euro’s. At the end of the game, Ramsey was diagnosed with a damaged hamstring which is nothing short of a small disaster for Wenger. Despite all the players he has down the middle, few actually end up scoring so he will be missed.

Iwobi also picked up an injury but there’s no info on what exactly happened. Regardless of all that, losing so many players just 1 game into the season is definitely something to think about. You could see how troubled Wenger was in the post-match statements provided by Sky Sports when he stated, “we paid for the lack of experience at the back”. Something which looked likely to happen as soon as the starting line-ups were announced.

It is a huge frustration after just one game in, Arsenal are missing 3 center-backs, a striker and 3 key midfielders so signing a striker like Lacazette or Icardi and a defender could help a lot.

On a tough day few players covered themselves with glory so there were no star performers for a tired Arsenal side.

Player ratings

Arsenal: Cech (6), Bellerin (6), Holding (5), Chambers (5), Monreal (6), Coquelin (6), Elneny (6) Ramsey (7), Walcott (6), Alexis Sanchez (7), Iwobi (6).

Subs used: Oxlade-Chamberlain (7), Cazorla (6), Xhaka (5)