Despite another strong performance, this time against Chelsea, Arsenal were again unable to prevent their opponents from getting onto the scoresheet. Noni Madueke’s goal means the Gunners have conceded 12 goals in their last five games.
Their next fixture is a long journey to the northeast as Mikel Arteta prepares his side to face Newcastle United. The Magpies have been scoring for fun, with one match particularly eye-catching against Arsenal’s north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Chelsea offered little going forwards and the visit to St. James’ Park will present an entirely different and far tougher challenge for the Gunners’ back line. That said, despite the Blues’ deficiencies, the time they got in behind highlighted the ever-growing weakness in the defence, Oleksandr Zinchenko.
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The Ukrainian international has been a fantastic signing for Arsenal in both a possession and attacking sense. He was involved in the build-up for two of the goals on Wednesday and continues to be a menace when Mikel Arteta’s side have the ball.
However, Newcastle will surely be looking at the “left-back” as a player they can exploit to find space to release free-scoring Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy. Speaking after the win over Chelsea though, Zinchenko admitted the level of goals being conceded simply was not acceptable.
“Well, obviously the manager has already said to us a couple of things we’ve done badly, what we’ve done good and of course, it’s not acceptable at this level to concede so many goals and we need to improve on that,” Zinchenko said. “But we’re human beings, we’re still learning and we’re such a young team as well so I hope for the future we’re going to do much better.”
This isn’t the second time that one of the two summer signings has highlighted the age of the squad as in the wake of the 3-3 draw with Southampton Gabriel Jesus also raised the point. It is a significant change from the attitude of both players earlier in the season who seemed to demand a push for the title.
“Obviously, we are I think the youngest team in the league. No excuses, but that is a thing to be thinking about.
“We have no experience of champions and then obviously, sometimes if we want to try, if we want to play good like we was playing from the start of the season we have to try and sometimes we do right and sometimes we do wrong.”
Perhaps it is something of a reality check for the club. There’s hope that in these last four games, the maximum of 12 points can be achieved to put the pressure on Manchester City as the Gunners hope their rivals will drop points before the end of the campaign.
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