Arsenal: One streak broken, one streak yet to break

Arsenal unbeaten run has finally ended at 22, but now that it’s over, it’s time to end another streak as well, and that chance will come at the weekend.

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it more than a bit ironic that Arsenal went 22 matches unbeaten after having spent 22 years under Arsene Wenger. But that’s besides the point, the point is, it’s over, and this “number” resets at zero.

But while this streak is dead and gone, there is another streak, on the other side of the spectrum, that really needs to end too, and I figured that, since we are in the streak-ending state of mind, maybe this other one can bite the dust as early as this weekend.

Thus far into the Premier League season, which is all of 17 matches, the Gunners have yet to take a lead into half time. Every single match they have been either behind or level, despite going so many matches unbeaten, and it has earned them the semi-flattering-but-not-really nickname of “Second Half FC.”

Every single match seems to play out on a similar script – the Gunners struggle in the first half, they can’t seem to find their best form, blow the whistle, regroup and all of a sudden, they realize who they are, they eliminate the deficit and they come away with points.

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As if the players spend the entire first half just eagerly waiting to hear what Unai Emery has to say in the lock room between halves.

But, while it is always nice to rely on a turnaround at half (it only hasn’t happened like… twice), it would be far more conclusive of a direction if the Gunners could just build a lead early, and then play it out from there. That wouldn’t be asking too much, would it?

Some of this comes down to Unai Emery making impactful subs, or even having those impactful options on the bench, because when you can introduce Ramsey and Ozil and Lacazette and Mkhitaryan or any number of these guys, you have the ability to change the game.

There’s more to it then that though, and it’s becoming something of a taboo. We all expect the Gunners to look flat in the first half.

Time to end that. Burnley are coming up on Saturday, and if one streak can die this week, then the other one can too.