Arsenal and Mikel Arteta: Bad, unlucky or both?

While the anger and frustration over Arsenal losing its second match of the season to Chelsea has dissipated somewhat, some of the fanbase is still divided about what Arsenal actually is under Mikel Arteta, with the team not yet at full strength this term.

Make no mistake about it though, Arsenal has not been at the races so far in its opening two games. Back-to-back 2-0 losses leave the Gunners languishing in 19th in the Premier League table. While many were expecting a Chelsea win, it was the manner of which Thomas Tuchel’s cantered to victory that set off alarm bells.

Barely getting out of second gear, Arsenal countered that by mustering no meaningful shots at goal. A contentious penalty call with Bukayo Saka and Reece James in the first half was waved away – one I think we can all agree should have been given – yet would it have significantly impacted the outcome?

When it comes to Arsenal, VAR and absences, it appears the north London club gets the rough side of the deal more often than not. So that brings me to the question: are Arsenal that bad or have they just been unlucky in the opening two games?

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Is Mikel Arteta suffering from his own mistakes or bad luck as Arsenal kick off Premier League season with defeats to Brentford and Chelsea?

Performances against Brentford and Chelsea did not warrant any points, being second best on both occasions. On the flip side, Mikel Arteta and Arsenal can consider themselves rather unfortunate as well.

Firstly, let’s go to the Brentford match. While it was a perfect storm that Arsenal was walking into, the fact that COVID-19 and injuries hit that week meant that Arteta had to shuffle the pack with a host of young players forced into action.

Against the Bees, Arsenal was missing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel, and Thomas Partey as first-choice players – and Willian and Alex Runarsson were also out although they would have been on the bench at best. We can – and also can’t, really – add Martin Odegaard to that as his deal was still being worked on by the club.

So Arteta had to go into the opener with Folarin Balogun leading the line and Gabriel Martinelli out wide, with Emile Smith Rowe as the sole creative force. The hosts made it difficult for the entire team, as Kieran Tierney and Smith Rowe were the only players sticking their heads up from the crowd.

What about the Chelsea game? Was that bad luck, Arsenal being bad or a just a bad mix of the two?

Continued…