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Arsenal has not won an away game since they won at Bournemouth by two goals to one in November last year. So this means they are seeking their first away win of 2019. The match against West Ham was an opportunity to change that, especially considering the fact that West Ham had not beaten the gunners for about three seasons before last Saturday.
Unfortunately, the Gunners could not hold their own and allowed West Ham to snatch a 1-0 win over them. However, the cracks in the Arsenal team have seemed obvious all season and not just the West Ham game.
The only positive with the team presently despite the loss is that unlike Arsene Wenger's reign as manager, the team still created a couple of chances even despite losing, although it is not enough to just create chances, you have to put them away in modern day football.
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Let us take a look at some of the reasons why the Gunners have not shown the same consistency that saw them keep an unbeaten run of over 20 matches in all competitions at some point this season.
#1 Arsenal's lack of skillful wingers
In modern football, this forms an important cog of any team. Some teams have the propensity to defend very deep when they play teams in which they feel are superior to them or when they are trying to preserve a lead or possibly a scoreline.
This is especially important in the Premier League where many of such teams exist. Look at the top teams in England, they possess skillful wingers who draw opposing defenders and create space for other teammates to exploit. They do not just have one( as seen in the case of Arsenal with Alex Iwobi) but they have two or three skillful wingers who are quite fast-paced.
Manchester City have got Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahez, Chelsea have Pedro. Willian and Hazard and the talented Calum Hodson Odoi. Tottenham have got Lucas Moura and Son and we all know about the deadly Liverpool duo of Sadio Mane and Salah.
Arsenal do not have quality in depth in this department of the squad and it has been their undoing at times this season. They need to use the opportunity of this winter transfer window to get a skillful winger to complement the effort of Alex Iwobi and give Arsenal more options to break down opposition defences.
#2 The usage of the highline tactic
Unai Emery is a coach who often uses his full backs to go all out in attacking the opposition. He explained this in a recent interview on Arsenal.com. Apparently the Spaniard often uses the pacy full backs to add numbers in the attacking third of the opposition, leaving holes in the defence for the opposition to exploit.
This makes the centre backs to push up a bit higher up the pitch and hope to run back when they need to defend their goal.
Very often this season, we have seen that Arsenal's lack of pace at the back has resulted in the opposition playing a high ball over the top of the defence, creating problems for Arsenal. This has been Arsenal's greatest undoing this season and Unai Emery needs to sort it out.
Even his use of three centre backs to improve the defensive frailties of the team has yielded little results.
In the game against West Ham, Marko Arnautovic often exploited this, which often created chances for West Ham.
#3 Lack of defensive discipline
This is Arsenal's pronounced weakness. Their defending this season, at times , has been comical. Individual errors has often caused them points. We have seen games where some player's indecision in the 18-yard box has led to goals being conceded or players not clearing away danger properly when the ball is in the 18-yard box.
Emery needs to ring it to the players what it means to defend properly. Granit Xhaka has often be the culprit this season and against West Ham, his inability to clear the ball properly presented the opportunity for Declan Rice to fire a one time ball into the roof of the net, leaving Bernd Leno with no chance.
#4 Lucas Torreira's form has dipped
The Urugauyan was Arsenal's standout player for the first half of the season, snapping at the heels of the opposition to win the ball back for the team and making few mistakes.
However, for some games in recent times, he has been somewhat lethargic in games and was culpable in one of the goals scored by Liverpool in the 5-1 defeat at Anfield as well as the goal scored by Fulham in the gunners 4-1 win at the Emirates a couple of weeks back.
He is key to how the gunners play with his ball winning abilities. Emery must find a way to instill the confidence in him as he is a very talented player.
However, he could be suffering from burnout which may be responsible for his uninspiring displays in recent times and may partially explain the reason why he has started some games off the bench in recent times.
