From The Sublime To The……

Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson once pronounced that: ‘A week is a long time in politics.’ Well, in professional sport it’s exactly the opposite! In the space of just three games, Arsenal have gone from imperious Premier League leaders and favourites to reach the Champions League semi finals, to a group of players bereft of confidence and fraught with misgivings. Fans are calling for wholesale changes, and people all over the country are back to calling our team ‘bottlers’. It's OK to be disappointed, but... rein it in, guys!

It’s all thoroughly annoying and frustrating but I - along with so many others - will try to examine what’s gone wrong below. Because there's so little margin for error. So without further ado…

From the moment that Bukayo Saka's penalty was dispatched into the side netting of the Brighton net, it was all over as a contest. Truthfully, Arsenal had already looked by far the likeliest winners by then, as they dominated a side who had been unbeaten at home since August; scarcely giving them a sniff of goal. And the one time they did, David Raya was very much up to it. Another sign of Arsenal's dominance over much of the Premier League. By the end, 3-0 did not flatter them in the slightest, and Liverpool's slip-up at Old Trafford the next day meant that suddenly Arsenal were back on top of the table with their fate in their own hands.

And so attention turned to Bayern Munich, and our old friend Harry Kane. Now, I have no idea if we'd been lulled into a false sense of security by Bayern's poor domestic form - since they lost to Leverkusen in February they'd basically given up the domestic ghost - but they have a huge amount of Champions League pedigree, and one of the best forward lines in world football. Yet could Arsenal have done more?

They took the lead with a superb finish from Saka, who bent a shot into Neuer's far corner with consummate ease, and Arsenal were well on top at that stage. 

But the margins are small at this level, and Bayern have dangerous players. And so it proved that, due to two pieces of inaccuracy from Arsenal and some sublime play from Leroy Sane, Arsenal were suddenly behind.

For the first, Raya's rash rush out of goal unbalanced the defensive unit, and despite one or two chances to clear Bayern took full advantage as old boy Serge Gnabry ran into the penalty area and finished clinically. For the second Kivior - a surprise choice at left back in my opinion, was undone by the quick feet and electric pace of Sane. Again, the entire defensive unit was unbalanced by some scintillating play and Sane was brought down at the third attempt. Penalty; and there was of course no doubt whatsoever about whether Kane was going to score.

Arteta switched the team around on several occasions in the second half in the search for an equaliser, and got his reward as Leandro Trossard swept the ball home following a typical Jesus run. In truth, the goal was all about the Brazilian. 2-2 is better than 1-2, but there’s plenty for Arsenal to do in Bavaria. 

We can be a little more dispassionate about Harry Kane these days, now that he is longer at our arch-enemies. And there is no doubt that he is a fine, fine player. All that's missing from his career is a trophy; but he has spent most of it at Tottenham, so that was somewhat inevitable. They say that 'You can take the boy out of Tottenham' etc..., but in truth he deserves more than a Golden Boot or two (if you haven’t seen what the top scorer in the Bundesliga gets, Google it!).  Unfortunately for Kane, he arrived at Bayern at a time when they're in a state of flux, and Leverkusen have had a miracle season.

But for all his ability there's still something dark about his antics. In one of several controversial moments during the game, he seemed to firstly check precisely where Gabriel was… before elbowing him in the throat. Nasty; and VAR should have paid closer attention, in my opinion. He got a yellow card, but for me that was a Wenger 'dark yellow' at the very least. Very unpleasant.

I'm going to gloss over the Bayern call for a penalty following Gabriel's alleged 'handball'. It was nothing. He wasn't seeking an advantage and the referee quite rightly used his discretion. In the last minute of the match, however, there were massive shouts for a penalty for a foul by Neuer on Saka. On balance, for me, that's a penalty - but I can see why it wasn't given. Questions of whether the referee was 'balancing things out' are a bit daft, but this whole 'initiating contact' thing does bother me. I referee a Walking Football game on Tuesday evenings, and initiating contact is my biggest bug bear (apart from all the running!). I hate seeing it! Of course, it matters not that I personally tend to favour the defender in such instances. This, however, is the Champions League! Saka looked for the contact (which he is permitted to do), Neuer didn't get a touch on the ball, and so it really should have been a penalty.

And so, having got out of jail, so to speak, on Tuesday, it was back to domestic action on Sunday with a visit from Don Unai’s high-flying Aston Villa. They had laid down and surrendered at The Etihad a few weeks ago, and we might have expected some rotation with them also in the middle of a European tie. Yet Emery went full strength against Arsenal - of course he did!

It was a great opportunity for Arsenal to go go back to the top of the table following City’s inevitable and emphatic win over Luton, and frankly put Liverpool - who had somehow contrived to lose to Crystal Palace earlier in the afternoon - out of the race. And so the crowd felt optimistic; domestic form was top-notch, after all. 

The first half was pretty exciting for a 0-0 score line, for all that there were a few moments of jeopardy prior to half time; but Arsenal should have been ahead. But that could not have prepared us for what was to follow.

Villa absolutely blew Arsenal away in the second half, and were well worthy of their 2-0 win. There can be no excuses from Arsenal. Yes, we might have disagreed slightly with team selection - as on Tuesday - but it unfortunately felt like another of those ‘hitting the wall’ moments, and Arteta has a lot to do to get the squad back in the correct frame of mind.

There was no room for error. Yet error there was. And I’ve been giving it some thought; haven’t we all? Arteta is still a young manager, learning on the job at one of the biggest jobs in world football. He hasn’t come up through the ranks or ‘done his apprenticeship’; yes, he’s seen Pep at work, but the decision-making was never his until he got the Arsenal job. 

And he’s made mistakes. There have been ‘watershed’ moments on the way. The decisions to dispense with Aubameyang and his cronies were wise. The injury to Willian that forced him into that fortuitous selection of Emile Smith Rowe against Chelsea worked out extremely well. Replacing the injured Saliba with Rob Holding and not Kivior last season; not so well. And in  these last two games, Captain Hindsight has told me that the manager got both selections wrong; and at a crucial time. 

And the way that this season in general has been managed? Well, if it turns out that the wall has been hit again - and it remains an if - then I would suggest that it has been a lack of rotation that has caused the problem. I accept that Liverpool and - especially - City have bigger squads than Arsenal. But perhaps Arteta doesn’t fully trust enough of his squad outside of the first 14/15 names? Clearly, long-term injuries to Partey and Timber, and to a lesser extent Tomiyasu, haven’t helped, but I for one would have wanted to see a bit more of ESR and Vieira, for example. 

.Whether the lack of a 20+ goal a season striker will finally bring Arsenal down, I’m not really sure. They remain the league’s top scorers. But for all the money spent I still suspect that Arteta feels that he’s still being obliged to fit square pegs into round holes. And may also be thinking that perhaps he needs to dispense with one or two of the more established players. We shall see.…

Look; it’s not all over. The fat lady hasn’t even started clearing her throat. But Arsenal can ill afford a single slip from now on. 

Do I still believe? Yes; just about. COYG!