The former Gunners striker Alan Smith believes that all the hard work put in by Arsenal is being cancelled out with undesired events.
The happenings at Arsenal over the recent weeks indicate a certain amount of self-destruction according to Alan Smith. It looked as if the Gunners were making substantial progress under Mikel Arteta heading into the 2020-21 campaign. Arsenal bagged some significant silverware this year, with FA Cup and Community Shield triumphs. Things were looking pretty stable with Arteta monitoring the consistency of the team at Emirates.
But some unwanted incidents have been invited by Arsenal, which seems to be their own fault. Smith admits that it is possible that Arteta will lose his best piece of work at the club. This is because of a series of disappointing defeats, hasty red cards, and training ground mishaps.
What is going on with the club?
“It hasn’t, in truth, been a great few weeks for Arsenal,” former Gunners frontman Smith told the Evening Standard. Firstly, they get well beaten by Aston Villa, then Willian shoots off to Dubai without permission. David Luiz and Dani Ceballos swap punches in an unusually fierce training ground scrap and [Nicolas] Pepe gets stupidly sent off in the goalless draw at Leeds.
“For a manager who insists on togetherness and discipline, this period will have disturbed Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard has enough on his plate without getting waylaid by avoidable distractions. His main challenge, after all, is finding a way to sharpen an attack that has not scored a goal from open play in five League games.
“Searching for an answer, Arteta switched to four at the back against Molde. A move that resulted in three successful strikes. Pepe got some of Leeds out of his system with a fine goal. Before Reiss Nelson and Folarin Balogun spoke up for the kids.
“It will be interesting, then, to see if Arteta sticks with that shape against Wolves. A side usually very mean when it comes to defending. The Gunners, for sure, need much more in the attack. Or else the vast improvement elsewhere will get sadly lost amid the disappointment.”
Arsenal will face Wolves on Sunday, with what seems like a tough fixture for Arteta and his men.
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