At the time of writing, our Arsenal supporters here in the Football Transfer Tavern were left feeling flabbergasted after the simply awful performance they watched their team produce away at Southampton late on Boxing Day.
Going down 4-0 at St Mary’s, it looked as if all of the Gunners’ squad were on a Christmas Day bender rather than training with so many of the side that had beaten Manchester City just six days earlier looking off colour.
Sadly for Gooners, these contrasting emotions in such a short space of time have become the theme on which many rival punters, pundits and experts claim Arsene Wenger’s side STILL can’t win the Premier League this season.
For whatever reason, Arsene Wenger’s men just weren’t at the races against the Saints and it really is hard to put your finger on why when the club had just defeated their major title challengers with this surely breeding confidence instead of a lack of it?
Naturally, eyes have been cast on Arsene Wenger yet again who must surely be culpable for why his side seem intent on not taking their chance to leapfrog their way up the standings with Leicester City having lost only their second game of the season away at Liverpool earlier on Boxing Day.
We’re taking this moment in the tavern to devise a list of Arsenal supporters’ five biggest fears this 2015/16 campaign.
[ffc-gallery]
Click on the image below to reveal Arsenal fans’ five biggest fears this 2015/16 campaign.
[/ffc-gallery]
The club are shopping in Poundland again with the title at stake!
With the January transfer window pretty much upon us now, at least it looks as if Arsenal are looking to strike early this time with the Mohamed Elneny transfer speculation now having reached BBC Sport with David Ornstein confirming that the Gunners are in talks right now.
While the Egyptian international boasts a winning mentality having won three league titles with FC Basel in a short space of time, the fact remains that the 23-year-old isn’t exactly a household name who seems a ready-made reinforcement to take the Gunners to that next level.
With no other side in the race for Elneny, his impending signature looks a gamble on paper and a lot of our Gooners in the tavern crave a player such as Southampton’s Victor Wanyama.
Considering Elneny is set to arrive for around £7 million, it appears Arsenal are shopping in Poundland again when perhaps they should be shelling out top dollar on established professionals given this is their best shot at landing the league title in years.
Travelling to middle-of-the-road venues like Stoke City away
How many seasons do Arsenal seem to save truly awful away performances for the likes of Southampton and Stoke City away?
For so long, the Gunners have struggled in the traditional top four battles but with their fortunes changing against the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City in recent times, it appears they’re struggling to dispatch ALL the lesser sides yet again.
While football fans accept that they’ll lose the odd game here and there, the fact Arsenal have dropped points to clubs in no form whatsoever such as West Bromwich Albion, Norwich City and Southampton is extremely disappointing.
Considering the Gunners travel to their number one bogey ground in Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium on January 17th, they really need to finally grind out a positive result there because otherwise, it’ll be the same old story of Arsenal fluffing their title chances against sides which they should have the beating of on paper.
Injuries to key cogs such as Petr Cech or Laurent Koscielny
Arsenal fans’ hearts were in their mouths when Petr Cech took a knock at Southampton on Boxing Day but fortunately for Gooners everywhere, their safe pair of hands was okay.
In all honesty, Cech was even poor himself in a forgettable encounter but since joining the club from Chelsea in the summer, you can see that he’s made a world of difference in this Arsenal team with standout performances against Liverpool and Bayern Munich at home in particularly.
Were Cech to suffer an injury for the same length of time as a Francis Coquelin or Santi Cazorla, perhaps you could kiss goodbye to Arsenal’s title chances because in David Ospina and those before him, we’ve seen that those goalkeepers always seemed to have a mistake in them.
The same can be said of Laurent Koscielny who despite being poor against the Saints is usually a hugely reliable member of Arsenal’s first team.
Were he to suffer an injury for a long period of time, it could be curtains with Gabriel Paulista and Per Mertesacker’s best performances saved for when either of them are a partner of the French international.
The fact fans don’t know what Arsenal team will turn up
The recent week in which Arsenal defeated Manchester City yet were stuffed at Southampton serves to confirm just how inconsistent this Gunners side is.
You always hear the pundits claim that those 4-0 kind of results are in this Arsenal team and it’s hard to disagree with Gunners fans now not totally sure of what Arsenal side will be turning up in any given fixture.
Prior to the club’s incredible 0-3 get out of jail card against Olympiakos, you could say that the Gunners were capable of that kind of result but a large majority of Gunners may have claimed they could do it without really believing it.
The cold hard truth in the matter is that Arsene Wenger’s side need to display far more consistency and eradicate these freak kind of results such as at Southampton.
While credit must be given to the Saints who were excellent on the night, you must conclude that Arsenal helped their cause massively in giving the ball away time and again while making individual errors that cost the club dearly.
The fact Arsenal keep fluffing the chance to go clear
In a season that many have billed as a crazy one in which no single team seems hell bent on going clear at the top, the finger can be pointed at Arsenal regarding their lack of ruthlessness.
While Southampton have proved a refreshing addition to the Premier League in recent years, if you could’ve picked one team that were hugely out of form to face on the back of Arsenal’s morale boosting win over Manchester City, it would’ve been the Saints.
With Ronald Koeman’s side picking up just one point out of a possible 15 prior to the Arsenal game, nobody could have ever foreseen the eventual 4-0 scoreline.
This isn’t the first time this term that Arsenal have fluffed the chance to give themselves some breathing space at the top of the table however with Leicester City having lost at Liverpool earlier in the day.
The fear amongst Arsenal fans is that the club’s failure to complete the job in the Premier League is now becoming something of an epidemic with a handful of fixtures against the likes of Stoke City, Southampton and Swansea City now becoming a pattern each and every season in completely derailing the Gunners’ title hopes.
