Arsenal have made significant progress under Mikel Arteta, and they appear set to secure a second-place finish in the Premier League for a third consecutive season.
Prior to Arteta’s appointment, the Gunners were struggling to secure qualification for the Champions League. Since his arrival, the club has returned to Europe’s elite competition and could even reach the semi-finals of the tournament this season, underlining the steady improvement made during his tenure.
A key factor in Arsenal’s rise has been their ability to protect leads and secure wins after going ahead in matches. In previous campaigns, the Gunners rarely dropped points from winning positions, which allowed them to collect vital victories and remain competitive at the top of the table.
However, this season, that particular strength seems to have waned. Arteta’s side have shown vulnerability in matches where they initially took the lead but failed to see the game through. A recent example came in their 1-1 draw against Brentford, where Thomas Partey’s goal had put Arsenal ahead, only for the visitors to equalise later in the game.
According to Premier League Productions, that result marked the 16th point Arsenal have dropped from winning positions in the league this season. In stark contrast, the Gunners had lost just 17 points from winning positions across the previous two seasons combined. This shift highlights a concerning trend in their current campaign and may explain why they have not been able to push even closer to the top of the table.
Despite their continued presence near the summit of the Premier League and progress in Europe, this season has fallen short of expectations in some areas. The inability to consistently turn winning positions into victories has cost Arsenal valuable points and may prove decisive in their pursuit of silverware.
As the season draws to a close, there will be a desire among the club’s players and coaching staff to address this issue. A renewed focus on game management and defensive discipline could ensure they are better equipped to compete on multiple fronts in the next campaign.
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The damning stat is 8 times we have took the lead and 8 times failed to win, this season. Poor solidity in our set up.
With all due respect you seem to be buying into the media narrative of us but you have to have some context. Injuries to key players at specific times of the season, the absurd decisions against us which is not applied to all teams. We have had some of the worst decisions against us in the history of football this season. Yes the squad needs rejuvenating to lessen the burden on key players. Plus players being rushed back from injury and not quite being at 100% so I think all in all when you consider all this to still be in second place is remarkable imho
Is the winning Monster in decline, there is a stat that stated only Everton has drawn more games than us in the current campaign, this is not exactly the type of company we want to keep.
This could simply means the squad urgently needs reinforcement.
The reported £300 mill that will be at Andrea Berta disposal for new incoming must be properly utilized
2 factors contributing to our inability to hold onto lead is our wastefulness in front of goal and a weirdly higher than usual average of opponents scoring vs us from low chance shots. how many games have we created good chances not taken and conceded from a shot that doesn’t go in 80% of the time. Only need to look at the xG for and against in those games we drawn.
there is also the games where we got those Arsenal only created rule red cards.
Bit of a myth
I seen players booked for kicking the ball away
I have to politely disagree with you Dan because only recently have players started to be booked for kicking the ball away. It seems the refs have new thresholds at the start of the season which they apply to the fullest then forget about them throughout the season. Trossards red against city when we had them was a pivotal moment. Rices red card against Brighton at home we were 1 up at the time there are numerous examples. Forget about the ridiculous decisions against us to send off Martinelli last season in terms of a red card in 60seconds or something like that I know it’s not this season but just reaffirms the absurd decisions against us.
I seen for years players get booked for kicking ball away after a whistle
Not created this season
Really ? A yellow card for delaying the restart of the game only became a law this season. Mind you, it does depend on which team a player plays for.
Like I said
I seen players get booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle for years
Care to name those players and the years they were booked ?
Vanpersie 2011 !!!!!
Ronaldo 2 years ago
I saw in MLS last season a yellow for delaying a throw in
Happened for years just not as rememberd because you would rarely see a player do so when on a yellow card
So none in the PL then 🙄
So changing the question ? Lol
Rashford 2023 – yellow card for kicking ball away against Forest
Yeah but we are talking about the EPL and that example is poor as again it was a very poor decision he didn’t kick the ball away he attempted a shot on goal and didn’t hear the whistle in the nou camp so again a biased decision not in line with fair play. Failure to restart the game offences came into affect this season and only has been really applied to us. Hardly anyone else.
Literally given example dude
Happens all the time
You just don’t notice it as normally it’s just a yellow so you wouldn’t
Newcastle 4-3 West Ham last season
Anthony Gordan sent off for 2nd yellow for kicking ball past where free kick should be
This was 12 years ago
https://youtu.be/8q_pST8cF40?si=fdR3Bu6XknAzLoAi
The main problem with Arsenal in the EPL has been that of scoring goals. Most of those “winning positions: were one-goal leads; and we all know how tenable such leads can be.
In terms of goals conceded, Arsenal are still up there with the best. What was lacking has been the additional goals to kill off games
Spot on and totally agree but how many times over the years have we all said just kill the team off but defo agree that it’s that killer we need to score a number of goals especially with the amount of chances we create.