Consistency. Highly sought affair, difficult to achieve, but Mikel Arteta will be hoping Arsenal are heading that way after picking up back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since September.
After watching his Arsenal side end a seven-game winless run in the Premier League when beating Chelsea on Boxing Day, Arteta sought more of the same at Brighton on Tuesday night.
For that reason, he made just the one change, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang replacing Alexandre Lacazette up top – the Arsenal captain now getting his turn to be supported by the youthful trio of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe, who were all instrumental in the 3-1 win over Chelsea.
“We’ve been really inconsistent with results in the Premier League and we need to put that right,” said Arteta ahead of the match. “The best way to do that is win football matches in a row.”
But putting it right is easier said than done, and in the first half at the Amex, Arsenal looked sluggish and a shadow of the side which had put three past Chelsea just three days earlier. They ended the first half without a single shot on target, while some errors at the back went unpunished as Brighton struggled to break the deadlock themselves.
Changes could have been made at half-time by Arteta, but the fact that he opted against a substitution suggested – with the exception of the absent Thomas Partey and perhaps David Luiz – that this is the Arsenal side he views as the one most capable of propelling them up the table.
For that to be possible, for this much-desired consistency to be found, players need time together, and they also need to play through the difficult moments as much as they do the enjoyable ones, and in this instance Arsenal were able to shake off a disappointing first half and emerge as the better side after the break.
They were able to create more chances, going close twice through Aubameyang, who was then wasteful with a third opportunity, and it was not until the 66-minute mark when Arteta deemed a first change necessary with Lacazette replacing Martinelli.
Only a minor tweak, with Aubameyang switching to the left and Lacazette playing down the middle, and some 21 seconds later it proved to be a very astute substitution.
Aubameyang will perhaps be cursing his luck, but the Arsenal captain was beaming afterwards as he watched on from out wide as Lacazette found himself in acres of space centrally, enough to take a touch before threading in a perfectly-placed effort beyond Robert Sanchez.
Scored by Lacazette, but made – well and truly – by Saka, who started the run in his own half before picking out his Arsenal team-mate as he reached the Brighton box.
Arteta will hope the injury which saw Saka hobble off late on is not too serious, for the 19-year-old produced another man-of-the-match display to outline he is one player who cannot be dropped.
Arsenal’s January schedule
- 2 Jan: West Brom (A) – Premier League
- 9 Jan: Newcastle (H) – FA Cup third round
- 14 Jan: Crystal Palace (H) – Premier League
- 18 Jan: Newcastle (H) – Premier League
- 26 Jan: Southampton (A) – Premier League
- 30 Jan: Manchester United (H) – Premier League
Smith Rowe, too, who is growing in confidence with each game he starts, and that means it could well be Martinelli, Lacazette and Aubameyang who are left fighting for two starting places.
Arteta will hope that battle brings out the best in his forwards, and while he will have to carefully manage this scenario, it is one the Arsenal boss will hope brings with it a consistent level of performances – and ensures their goalscoring problems are behind them.
Follow i sport on Facebook for more Arsenal news, interviews and features
More on Arsenal
- Transfer targets: 5 players Arsenal could sign in January
- Cunningham: Arsenal’s players should ask for their money back after Kroenke’s £325m windfall
- Is it really worth it? Arsenal need to take a long, hard look at their relationship with this super agent
- Daniel Storey: Arsenal have accepted gradually slipping standards for too long
- The road to 2024: How a new Champions League format could leave Arsenal high and dry
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/37U1giq
Post a Comment