Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal Vs Spurs: 5 things we learned – Arsene Wenger got it wrong

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 10: Hugo Lloris of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates his side's first goal during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on February 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 10: Hugo Lloris of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates his side's first goal during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on February 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 10: Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Arsenal is challenged by Kieran Trippier of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on February 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 10: Henrikh Mkhitaryan of Arsenal is challenged by Kieran Trippier of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on February 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) /

4. What happened to Henrikh Mkhitaryan?

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was excellent in his home debut last weekend against Everton. His three assists indicated as much, but there was a greater nous and guile to his display than just three key moments of creativity. That player, though, seemingly did not travel to Wembley on Saturday.

Mkhitaryan was hauled off just after the hour mark and, to be honest, he was lucky to be on for that long. During that time, he completed only 80% of his passes, didn’t create any chance whatsoever, was dispossessed twice, the equal most on the team, and attempted exactly zero dribbles.

This may not have been the ideal pattern of play for Mkhitaryan. A steely, deep, defensive approach is certainly not his forte as his toils at Manchester United portrayed. But this was an extremely poor display from a player that hinted at so much just a week ago. Inconsistencies are perhaps obvious during his early stages of acclimatisation, but this was stark and concerning.