5 key issues with Arsenal FC at present

Big occasion struggles

Arsenal failed to fire when they needed it most

Another heavy defeat at the hands of a Premier League heavyweight and immediately the statistics underpinning Arsenal's top six record flood in. Now the desolate figures state that the Gunners have won just two of their last 21 matches away to a 'top six' club.

It's not only a failure to win which is disappointing however, but those results have regularly featured humiliating score-lines such as the 8-2 mauling at Old Trafford six years ago and the 5-1 drubbing by Liverpool again in 2014.

With Arsenal's first eleven by no means significantly inferior to the other five outfits on paper, it is clearly a psychological issue and it emanates from another key issue regularly brought up in the wake of such displays - the team's clear lack of a true leader.

Petr Cech was rumoured to give the players more of a dressing down than Wenger himself post-match but even he seemed silenced when Arsenal conceded the handful of goals they did at Anfield. There are no players shouting, no players directing and no players organising. When Arsenal let in goals, it seems expected by the players and there's very little anger or aggression from the individuals on the pitch.

Arsenal evidently have too many issues than can be resolved by a few more days in the transfer window and a two-week international break but a good leader is compulsory if a club is to win titles.

There is no-one at the club currently capable of grabbing the players by the scruff of the neck and telling them that their recent performances have been beyond sub-standard and until those players are directly told such home-truths, Arsenal will stagnate and fall away.