Arsenal: Are Arsenal becoming a mid-table team?

Forget the top six, Arsenal haven’t beaten a middle-of-the-pack team in four games and look more like a mid-table team.

In their most recent debacle, a 1-1 draw with Brighton Hove Albion, who last time I checked weren’t even a middle-of-the-pack team, Arsenal manager Unai Emery, with time running out, looked to the bench to bring on three substitute players. Three subs, all at once, with about twenty minutes remaining in the game to make a difference, to turn the tide, to win the game! And it failed miserably.

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I mean, look at the players involved: Matteo Guendouzi, Alex Iwobi, and the tank, Sead Kolasinac. Well, that was like adding a pop gun to the arsenal. Guendouzi is a youngster who gives the ball away too much, Iwobi can’t finish, and the ‘Tank’, well, I like him, but he isn’t the type of player that can salvage a game.

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Remember Olivier Giroud? Now he could salvage a point or two. When Giroud came on as a sub, the expectation level rose more than a couple of notches. And he often delivered. A deft flick at the near post, a towering header, Giroud was money. Just like he is doing in the Europa League this year with 10 goals so far.

The three subs against Brighton were a massive let down. Is that really the best they could muster? When Pep Guardiola looks to his bench late in a game, he sees the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Leroy Sané, or Gabriel Jesus. Now that puts fear into the opposition. And it certainly wasn’t just the subs Arsenal turned to late in the game, it was the starting eleven as well who played down to the level of Brighton, struggling to create a decent scoring chance during most of the first 60 minutes or so and only managing to score on a penalty that was a 50-50 call at best.

Arsenal have limped along this season but have still managed to put themselves in a position to secure a top-four finish.

When push came to shove, though, they were shoved aside. Big time. Too many losses by a number of middle-of-the-pack teams, especially down the stretch, amidst other league defeats to teams like Southhampton, Everton, and Brighton and Hove Albion. Ok, Brighton wasn’t a loss, but it sure felt like one.

Arsenal just aren’t living up to the status of a top-six team this season, at least not when they play the lesser or middling teams in the Premier League. They seem more like a mid-table team with a few top players thrown in to keep the fans interested. They have lost all hope of Champions League football through the Premier League over the last four games when a top-four position seemed inevitable.

The loss, I mean draw, on the weekend was the final nail in the coffin. This is a mid-table team that is overachieving thanks to two or three stars, and that is very sad indeed.