Unai Emery’s Arsenal have endured a rocky start to the season losing both of their opening games. However playing the reigning Premier League champions Manchester City in their home opener which they lost 2-0 and then travelling to play FA Cup winners Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was never going to be easy and so it has proved.
Arsenal were very much second best against Pep Guardiola’s City side but they did create some chances yet were not clinical enough to take them hence their goal-less return.
This past weekend against Chelsea however Arsenal were not short on attacking threats as Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan both scored to put the Gunners level after Maurizio Sarri’s Blues side had gone 2-0 up through Pedro and Alvaro Morata in the first half.
Arsenal should have gone into the break 4-2 up as Aubameyang missed a sitter from an Iwobi cross and then Iwobi himself missed another superb chance as he blazed over the crossbar after a perfect cross from Mkhitaryan.
The entire match was played at breakneck speed and was a classic example of why the Premier League really is the best in the world. Match referee Martin Atkinson, showed just how high the standard of refereeing is in the Premier League as he officiated a pulsating, non-stop encounter with barely any stoppages. The game emphasised just how fit a modern day referee needs to be these days and you can read this blog explaining just what standards Premier League referees have to meet thesedays.
Atkinson only issued two yellow cards during the game as Mustafi and Xhaka were cautioned, showing just how non-stop the game was as the two sides put on quite the show.
Arsenal boss Unai Emery will likely be most concerned with his defence as Sokratis in particular looked off the pace while Mustafi seemed uncertain meaning Emery will be hoping Laurent Koscielny can return sooner than the projected late November recovery date from his achilles tendon injury. The Gunners have already lost versatile youngster Maitland-Niles to the nasty leg-break and left-back Kolasinac is also sidelined until mid October so the defence is clearly stretched and Emery does not have the time for Sokratis and Mustafi to continue along in the same error ridden way.
Arsenal can clearly score and while they may be having trouble playing out from the back sometimes so far on the whole their attacking play is decent they just need to be more clinical with Auba and Lacazette overdue to bulge the net.
The upcoming game against West Ham at the Emirates this Saturday is even more significant now with Pellegrini’s Hammers also losing their first 2 games neither side will want to lose their first 3 games. While Emery will get the time he needs from the Arsenal board as they will be expecting Arsenal to suffer some “pain” this season as the new regime beds in the Spanish manager will not want to risk losing the support of fans who will probably not take a third consecutive loss very well.