“Bring your lunch, bring your dinner”. That was the rallying cry from Mikel Arteta ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
However, while the fans did bring all of their energy, the players did not. Let alone forgetting their dinner, they rather forgot to turn up, such was the anonymous and turgid nature of their display this weekend.
While the Gunners did fight back through a Viktor Gyokeres penalty, not many on the home side offered much of a fight besides the Swede.
Arteta’s men were condemned to a 2-1 defeat, surrendering precious ground in the race to win the title. At the root of their woes was Martin Zubimendi.
Martin Zubimendi’s fall from grace
Arsenal were one of the biggest winners from last summer’s transfer window. However, when does that ever equal success? Very rarely.
In actuality, it looks like Andrea Berta and Co simply bloated the squad with a number of players who have not taken Arteta’s team to the next level.
While you could argue that none of last year’s arrivals have been a complete disaster, the utilisation of Zubimendi is fast seeing him become something of a flop.
At the start, the Spaniard looked like a first-rate addition. He popped up with two fabulous goals against Nottingham Forest and set the tone beautifully from the base of midfield.
Declan Rice has even hailed his midfield colleague, noting that “our understanding of each other has been outstanding.”
Yet, in recent months, Zubimendi’s performances have waned. When a defensive mistake happens, the Spain international is usually at the crime scene. It was his concession of the ball that led to Richarlison’s long-range goal in the first north London derby of the season. It was his errant back pass that led to Bryan Mbeumo scoring when Manchester United came to the Emirates.
On Sunday, it was Zubimendi’s failure to track Alex Scott that led to Bournemouth’s winner.
It’s becoming abundantly clear that the midfielder lacks the press resistance to play in the Premier League and his passing ability has also faltered in recent weeks.
Perhaps it could be the amount of football he has played this term? After arriving from Real Sociedad, Zubimendi has played more minutes than any outfield player at Arsenal.
That being said, he’s not the biggest problem in the team, far from it. At the top end of the pitch, it’s turning into a bit of a disaster.
Arsenal have a bigger problem than Zubimendi
Cast your mind back to the 2022/23 season. Arsenal’s attack was free-flowing. It was vintage football from an Arteta side surfing the wave of a Premier League title charge.
Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all scored 15 goals each. How times change. How things look very different now.
While Arsenal may well be the Premier League’s top scorers this term, a stat that perhaps defies belief given the struggles they’ve had in the final third, it has certainly not been plain sailing.
Indeed, the biggest issue once again this term has been the lack of potency among the attacking line. It all stems from a lack of creativity.
On Saturday afternoon, Arsenal’s expected goals tally from open play stood at a dismal 0.18. It was hardly a surprise, though.
Gyokeres did score from the penalty spot but beyond that, there was a distinct lack of threat from anyone in forward positions at Arsenal. It said it all that Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz and Martinelli were brought off before the hour mark. Eberechi Eze, Leandro Trossard and Max Dowman were brought on, but it was more of the same.
The fact of the matter is that Arsenal struggle to produce goal-scoring opportunities. No player has more assists than Declan Rice’s nine this term. Most of those have come from set-plays too.
Therein lies the problem. Arsenal are too reliant on set-plays and they’ve missed Odegaard. Whatever you might say about the skipper, he knows how to open up a defence.
In that regard, Havertz is not the answer, he never has been in midfield. On Saturday, with the Norwegian missing yet again through injury and Eze only just returning from his own problem, the German started just behind Gyokeres in the front four.
However, as was the case in the Carabao Cup final and as was the case against Southampton, it did not work. Across those two games and the loss on Saturday, the German only produced one key pass.
At times, the £65m spent on Havertz has been money well spent. As a striker for Arsenal, he has scored 21 goals in 55 games, also supplying 12 assists. However, by default, he is not a striker. He was not signed as one.
Arteta initially signed him as a midfielder, as someone to replace Granit Xhaka. It is in that position where he has persistently underperformed. The evidence has been there again in recent weeks.
It raises the question, as it did in the opening months of his time at the Emirates, why did Arsenal sign him? It felt like a luxury signing at the time and that viewpoint has not changed nearly three years on.
Given the misprofiling from Arteta and the vast sum of money, there is a sense that this is Arsenal’s worst signing since the £72m acquisition of Nicolas Pepe.
Like with the Ivorian, Arsenal have simply failed to see much of a return on their investment. There have been some abject signings since the days of Pepe – you could argue Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko are up there – but at least they changed the dynamic with which Arsenal played. They revolutionised Arteta’s team for a period of time.
Havertz, on the other hand, has been more of a hindrance. He had that purple patch while playing as a striker but what that has all led to are the current problems this attack faces today.
For years, this group of players were playing into a striker who didn’t run in behind. It is hardly a surprise that Gyokeres – someone who loves to run in behind – has struggled so much for the majority of his first season at Arsenal. The fact he has scored 18 goals feels like something of a miracle.
£65m for a player who fails in his favoured position is a disaster, no matter which way you look at it.