Arsenal Share Points With Brighton on Boxing Day

Arsenal were unable to give their fans a pleasant Boxing Day present as they settled for a draw away at Brighton. Even as it was not a loss, it was a disappointing result going by the fact that they played against a side they should have recorded victory over without stress.

A shabby performance from a number of tired legs who played as though they have toiled in the quarry all day put the Gunners in a position where a top four finish by the end of the season looks almost unattainable. It was a situation in which singling one or two players out for blame would be unfair because from what we saw, the whole team looked disjointed. There was barely any link between the midfield and attack. In fact, it would go down as one of the worst, if not the worst second half performance seen in the league so far this term. It was the first time we failed to score in the second period since losing to Chelsea back in August.

Arsenal went ahead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s curling shot after impressive work from Alexandre Lacazette in the seventh minute but failed to take advantage of some other chances afterwards before the hosts grabbed one to come on level terms. No wonder Unai Emery expressed his disappointment while briefing the press post-match. According to him, the first half was enough to get us in a comfortable position.

Today proved that we really need to go into the market for players by the time the winter transfer window opens in January. In our defence for instance, there is an urgent demand for young legs. Look at Stephan Lichtsteiner. He was guilty of the equaliser. His header aided Jurgen Locadia, making it possible for him to round Bernd Leno in the thirty-fifth minute. Laurent Koscielny too needs to take some rest. In my opinion, he shouldn’t be starting games with such form. I understand that a host of our top defenders are injured. However, this is happening because we do not have decent backups for them. We have to address this next month or be prepared for the worst.

Arsenal temporarily stayed in fourth place ahead of Chelsea’s game which is still 1-1 at the moment. By weekend, we will be playing our last game of the year 2018 and that will be against Liverpool at Anfield. A tough fixture it is and if we are to get any point from that match, something has to change. This is the time we need our injured players back. We have suffered a lot in their absence.