It is very difficult to write in these moments of anger and frustration because at the rawest level those are the exact feelings I have right now. Arsenal were the masters of their own downfall, or rather Cedric Soares and Rob Holding were.
It is a frustration that Arsenal lost this game in the manner they did, although there is some reprieve that I will explain shortly. Mikel Arteta picked the best XI of the players available to him. The only debate regarding the selection would be the sides that the full-backs were deployed on.
However, Cedric on the left is a nightmarish scenario to defend against Dejan Kulusevski. Nuno Tavares’ defensive vulnerabilities have cost us goals against, with respect, lesser opponents. Plus, Holding has largely been very solid defensively and would be expected not to be the calamitous presence he was.
