Are Arsenal's Away Struggles Really Over?

For a club of its size, budget and team quality, the 131-mile flight to Cardiff should have been one embarked upon with relaxed belief, safe in the knowledge that Neil Warnock's Bluebirds would naturally approach the game as underdogs.

Yet, for the Unai Emery led Arsenal, there were a number of concerns.

Prior to strutting into Cardiff stadium that afternoon, the North Londoners had won just one of their opening three league fixtures - losing to Manchester City and Chelsea, before the 3-1 defeat of West Ham at the Emirates - but it was the nostalgic feeling of having lost eight from it's previous nine away fixtures, that bothered the travelling supporters more.

Nine minutes from time, with the scoreboard reading 2-2, Lucas Torreira's well-timed pass found Alexandre Lacazette in dangerous territory, the Frenchman swivelled and fired home for his first of the season.

With the scoreline at 3-2, the North Londoners had their first away victory in 2018/19, in what was Unai Emery's second win as Arsenal Manager, but the road to triumph in Cardiff had been cold and unfruitful.

Last season, the Gunners picked up just one point in their first four games on the road. They lost to Stoke, Liverpool, drawing Chelsea, and then lost 2-1 to Watford at Vicarage road midway October. But the trip to Goodison provided hope in the eye of the storm.

Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Alexis Sanchez all got on the scoresheet as Arsenal broke their away jinx in a 5-2 victory over Everton.

Between November and December, the North Londoners managed narrow wins at Turf Moor and Selhurst Park. Other than that, it was pretty much the same story; defeats to both Manchester Clubs, and agonizing stalemates vs Southampton, West Ham and a drowning West Brom at the Hawthorns, put Arsenal's top four hopes in jeopardy.

However, as the fog thickened over the Emirates, and the disgruntled supporters remained disgruntled, and Wenger's final months in North London unfolded, Arsenal maintained a relatively impressive home record.

In the second half of 2017/18, bar the 2-2 draw vs Chelsea, and the 3-0 defeat to Champions elect Manchester City in March, the Gunners won every other game at the Emirates, yet, their away day struggles seemed to get worse.

At the Vitality stadium in January, against Bournemouth, with want-away Alexis Sanchez absent, Hector Bellerin's scruffy finish put Wenger's men ahead on the stroke of the hour-mark. Unfortunately, efforts from Callum Wilson and Jordan Ibe turned it around for Eddie Howie's men inside four minutes, compounding Arsenal's woes; their fifth defeat of the season away from home.

On the sixth day of May 2018, as a campaign of discontent and open rebellion entered its final weeks, the Gunners gave Arsene Wenger the perfect farewell against Burnley; A 5-0 trashing of Sean Dyche's men to give the Frenchman his 475th Premier League win as Arsenal boss.

Yet, for all its significance and momentary glamour, this was a game sandwiched between two away defeats - A 2-1 loss at Old Trafford no thanks to Marouane Fellaini's last-gasp winner, and a 3-1 defeat to Leicester at the King Power Stadium.

In 2017/18, Arsenal lost a total of thirteen league games, but their nineteen fixtures on the road consisted of eleven defeats, four wins, and four draws. Perhaps, this was the cause of all their problems in Wenger's eleventh and final season in charge.

While the major area of concern was the Premier League, there were glimpses of this away fever in Europe as Arsenal failed to win in Cologne, Moscow and the city of Madrid, where familiar foe Diego Costa singlehandedly brought their Europa League campaign to an expected end.

The Gunners finished their season with a 1-0 victory over Huddersfield at the John Smith stadium, their first away victory in eight adventures - Bournemouth, Swansea, Tottenham, Brighton, Newcastle, Manchester United and Leicester joined the happy list of teams to have benefitted from Arsenal's benevolence to league hosts.

AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal - Premier League

This is 2018/19 and all that seems to be in the past now. In their last three away games, Arsenal have managed an impressive six points from a possible nine; losing to Chelsea in a five-goal thriller at Stamford Bridge, but taking maximum points from victories over Huddersfield Town and newly promoted Cardiff City

Whether or not we've seen the last of Arsenal's away struggles remains a matter of uncertainty, and whatever happens at Newcastle, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth in the coming weeks, another round of reckless performances on the road is definitely something Unai Emery will be keen to avoid.