Arsenal can forget controversies, they haven’t been good enough

If we did not have bad luck, we would have no luck at all! The feel-good factor that had been sweeping around Arsenal throughout January seems a distant memory now, as the Gunners experienced yet another Premier League loss thanks to a disappointing 1-0 defeat away to Aston Villa.

Heading into the game in desperate need of three points, Mikel Arteta was left justifiably exasperated with some of the events that unfolded at Villa Park. As has happened too many times this season, his side fell behind courtesy of an individual error when Cédric undercooked his pass to Gabriel, and Ollie Watkins’ deflected effort left debutant Mat Ryan helpless between the sticks.

Additionally, Arsenal will feel that they should have had a penalty when Alexandre Lacazette was quite cynically pulled to the ground by former teammate Emi Martínez, but the infringement evaded the attention of either referee Chris Kavanagh or the VAR. While misfortune and penalty decisions cannot mask what was overall a poor Gunners performance, the drama that unfolded against Wolves in midweek highlights the impact such incidents can have on the scoreboard.

Anyway, that’s my rant over and when the dust settles, the injustice that the boss may be feeling now will have to subside as he analyses what went wrong in a game that saw Arsenal record a tenth defeat in 23 league games, a terrible run of form by every stretch of the imagination.

Ignore controversies, Arsenal have to look at themselves

One of the most obvious contributing factors to the Villa defeat was a recurrence of the team’s inability to break down a stubborn defensive unit. As the home side sat deep to hold on to their one goal advantage, Arsenal were too cumbersome in possession, failing to move the ball with the required urgency and accuracy to threaten the resistance. ‘Domination’ is one thing, scoring is another.

There was also a distinct lack of care on the ball, with both Thomas Partey and Willian giving it away on five occasions, while the kind of energy and dynamism that proved so effective at Molineux was painfully absent at Villa Park as Arteta’s outfit mustered just three shots on target.

Given the wealth of attacking options at his disposal, such paltry numbers are not acceptable.

Perhaps our recent struggles can be somewhat attributed to fixture congestion and tiredness, red card misery, injuries and bad luck, but there can be no doubt that the weekend performance in itself was well below the standard demanded to win Premier League football matches.

Inquests into corruption have erupted following a string of inconsistent refereeing decisions, none of which Arsenal can influence. They can only govern themselves.

With a welcome break before Sunday’s home clash with Leeds, the manager must revitalise the group quickly as anything short of a committed collective display next Sunday will not be excused.