After Merry Christmas, it’s a crappy new year!

From leading the Premiership points table on December 23 to suffering three straight defeats thereafter, including Sunday’s 0-2 loss to Liverpool in the FA Cup, Arsenal are clearly struggling; manager Mikel Arteta believes team must press reset button to overcome psychological issue

When Arsenal held Liverpool 1-1 at Anfield not too long ago, on December 23 in a Premiership clash, Mikel Arteta’s side were on top of the table, and staring at the possibility of becoming champions after two very long decades (they last won the Premiership title in 2003-04). It was a merry Christmas. However, less than a fortnight later, it has been a crappy new year for the Gunners, who, on Sunday, lost 0-2 at home—Emirates Stadium in London—to Liverpool, making an embarrassing third-round exit from the FA Cup. 

Poor show at home

Between this defeat and the Anfield draw, Arsenal suffered two more stunning defeats—0-2 home loss to West Ham (December 28) followed by a 1-2 away failure at Fulham (December 31)—leaving them outside the top three positions (in 4th place) on the Premiership table. Experts have blamed Arsenal’s poor show on their lack of finishing at the opposition goal. On Sunday, the Gunners created over a dozen scoring opportunities in the first half itself, but failed to score.

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta

Arteta believes his team need a psychological “reset” after missing so many chances in the 0-2 defeat to Liverpool. Of course, besides Arsenal’s poor finishing, the match result may also be attributed to Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker’s fine form, having time and again prevented the opposition from breaching his defence.

Kiwior’s own-goal

Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior headed Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick into his own net after 80 minutes before Luis Diaz sealed Liverpool’s win in stoppage-time. Arsenal have just one win in their last seven matches in all competitions, ruining a promising first half of the season. The Gunners are out of the FA Cup and League Cup and sit five points behind Premiership leaders Liverpool. Arteta admitted his team risk falling into a mental slump if they don’t refocus quickly. 

“Probably, it has [become a psychological issue]. Especially after today, more than it was against Fulham or West Ham before that. That’s why I think we need to reset,” said Arteta, whose teams gets a 13-day break before their next match against Crystal Palace. Arteta believes this time off could be valuable to get back on track. “This break is good. It comes at a good time. When things are going well, they jump on the train. Now things are difficult, let’s see where they stand,” said Arteta, who is convinced the Gunners had done more than enough to beat Liverpool, maintaining a worrying recent trend of controlling games without reaping the rewards. 

Lack of finishing

“We haven’t capitalised. Not just today, but in the last few games as well. That’s why we’re not winning games. Merit-wise there is no question that we deserve to win the games, but the results are very different. But when my team plays with that courage and attitude against probably the best team in Europe right now in terms of momentum what can I do but stick by them and support them? What we need to do now is stick behind those players, give them some love and make sure that they are able to visualise something very different to what is actually happening now. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel,” concluded Arteta.

Arsenal’s flop show post Christmas
>> Dec 28: 0-2 home loss to West Ham (EPL)
>> Dec 31: 1-2 away loss to Fulham (EPL)
>> Jan 7: 0-2 home loss to Liverpool (FA Cup)

With inputs from Agencies

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