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Many Arsenal fans remain divided over Mikel Arteta. The Gunners currently find themselves in a similar situation to the one Chelsea and Manchester United were in with Frank Lampard and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, respectively.
But while their rivals have since moved on from the aforementioned legends and brought in more tactically astute managers, Arsenal remain stuck with Arteta.
The north London outfit made a slow start to the season after losing each of their opening three league matches. However, they recovered superbly and went on a 10-game winning run that propelled them into the top four.
As it stands, though, the Gunners seem to have reverted back to default, having lost three of their last four Premier League matches.
Fragile Arsenal lose to Toffees
Arsenal’s latest defeat came on Monday against Everton at Goodison Park. Before that, they had lost to Liverpool and Manchester United, too.
In all these games, though, there’s been a running pattern: They start well, dominate possession and coil into their shell as the game wears on.
Against Everton, it was pretty much the same story. Arteta’s side was lucky not to have conceded the first goal after VAR twice ruled out the goals scored by Richarlison.
And despite taking the lead through Martin Odegaard, the Gunners simply couldn’t hold on to it. They were too fragile and this allowed Everton to grow more into the game.
The end result was a quick turnaround, as late goals from Richarlison and Demarai Gray sealed an impressive 2-1 win for the Toffees.
Gunners are regressing again
Between October and early November, Arsenal were beginning to take shape under Arteta and were playing with style and guile.
However, the team's recent performances only suggest they have regressed again. The Gunners are no longer able to control games and are conceding too many sloppy goals.
"I'm very disappointed," Arteta admitted in his post-match press conference after Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Everton, as quoted by Arsenal.com.
"I think in the first half we were inconsistent with the ball and we had some moments of control, we didn't concede anything apart from the goal that was disallowed by the set-piece, but we didn't have enough penetration or threat on the opponents' goal.
"One of the few times we did it we scored a goal from Martin and then in the second half we had to grab the game and we tried to do that, but again, in moments we were sloppy."
Arsenal have tougher games to come in the next few weeks and they’ll need to improve to be able to sail through. Anything less, and the Gunners could be out of contention for a top-four place by Christmas.
