Once more falling to defeat at Newcastle - the second season in a row that a 1-0 scoreline has left Mikel Arteta frustrated at St James' Park - things are just a little off for Arsenal. Be it via red cards or injuries, the Gunners have struggled to put together a full 90 minutes of imposing football, often falling well short of this mark.
Compare that to what had come before for much of this calendar year and it is quite the contrast. Arsenal had been unerringly relentless, pushing City all the way, seeking out every last sinew of energy and quality that the squad has.
Maybe things have been unfortunate, maybe there is no juice left for the majority after a mentally and physically draining title race. Whatever it is, Arteta is suffering.
Too many of the signings he has made in the past two years have struggled not on the pitch but in actually getting onto it. Jurrien Timber missed almost all of 2023/24 with a knee injury and has been sidelined since his return already this season. The 2022 summer recruits of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus have found themselves more readily unavailable than available for almost 18 months.
This causes a wave of problems for Arteta - a manager who already works with a small and select group of players in order to deliver togetherness and a tight-knit, tactically cohesive display. The trickle-down is not only that players cannot be rotated when opportunities arise due to a lack of backups, but also that he has nowhere to turn to when issues arise.
On Saturday lunchtime, for example, coming off a 3-0 midweek win over Preston away from home in the Carabao Cup with a strong XI selected, Arsenal were without at least three players who would consider themselves in with a genuine shout of starting regularly in the league. Ben White made the bench as he was looked after, only able to come off the bench.
Martin Odegaard remains out with an ankle injury, whilst Riccardo Calafiori - like Timber - is dealing with yet another fitness setback. It is telling that the statement summer arrival was at home as Arsenal lost their second game in two weeks.
He posted online with the game on TV. Already 1-0 down when he put up an image onto his Instagram story alongside two younger children, it is needed evidence of the problems Arsenal have suffered.
Calafiori being unavailable is one of many injury absences for Arteta to deal with. At this stage of the season it is a growing concern just how much the physical state of his squad is being felt, and it might be having an irreversible impact on how the entire campaign plays out.
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