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Arsenal drew 2-2 with Manchester United on a night where both teams could have won, and the match was quite open ended. Arsenal gave away a bizarre goal, and also scored a bizarre goal as neither team came up with neat finishes to clinch three points.
Arsenal were not up to the levels shown in the North London derby as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to get on the scoresheet even after a lot of openings made by The Gunners through the United defense.
As has been the case throughout the season, Arsenal played with more purpose in the second half, and it was their complacent defense for the second United goal which left the traveling fans disappointed.
United meanwhile will be ruing the fact that one of the best goal-keepers, David De Gea, committed a school boy error to give the initial edge to The Gunners.
Here are the three reasons why Arsenal came out with only a single point from the match.
#1 Injuries
It was a nightmare for The Gunners medical staff as player after player were getting injured. It started with Rob Holding in the first half. Arsenal missed Holding in the second half as he is the fastest center half The Gunners have, and the lack of pace was exploited by Lingard in United’s second goal.
Aaron Ramsey, the main creator of the day had to limp off at half time, and could not take the field in the second half. Mkhitaryan looked good, but Ramsey’s drive was missed in the second half.
Torreira took 3-4 knocks in the match and it will be surprising to see if he returns to action fully fit during Arsenal's next match. Xhaka’s absence also made The Gunners midfield an overrun one as his positional play and creating from the back was missed.
Most of the injuries were caused due to this overrunning, and Unai Emery will be keenly interested in knowing which players will miss out completely in the next match.
#2 Shaky defense
The Gunners looked shoddy in defense
Right from Bernd Leno’s not so great clearance in the first half which led to the first United goal, to Mustafi’s many lunges which could have been punished by the referee, The Gunners looked shoddy in defense. Great thing for Arsenal is that their attackers are constantly scoring goals in all matches, and saving the defense from being questioned a lot more.
Sokratis looked cool through the night, but Mustafi and Holding looked nervous at the start when United had a decent amount of possession. Leno whose ball play has been praised in the press committed a basic error of not clearing the free kick with stronger hands as it gave United the opportunity to bounce back into the match.
The back three which looks like it is here to stay given Arsenal don’t have a great center half, is a bit confusing for Hector Bellerin, as his ability to defend is suffering due to the wing back role which he has been given.
#3 Bench strength or the lack of it
Danny Welbeck’s injury a month back is haunting The Gunners as most of the scoring burden has been transferred to only two players in Lacazette and Aubameyang, and Iwobi looks like he will take ages to score again. He is not confident enough in the final third, and too many times he loses the ball in important areas.
The Gunners need to bring in some bodies during the January transfer market to sustain a challenge for the top four positions in the league. Also, Ozil’s future with Emery as coach is in doubt, with Unai not giving the creative midfielder much importance.
Arsenal needs at least a defender, a striker, and a creative midfielder as Ramsey will also leave next summer, and there are some holes to be plugged.
Even in yesterday’s match, injuries caused Unai to make some changes in the first half, and so was not left with any creative or tactical choices to be made in the second half.
