Arteta has questions to answer
In bouncing back from three straight defeats Fulham were excellent. Arsenal were as pallid as against West Ham. When even Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, two of the most durable footballers in the game, are running on fumes it may be time to consider the rotation policy. The recent links with Ivan Toney are centred around the Brentford striker being the final piece in the jigsaw but a heavy workload has blown other holes in the squad. Arteta’s chasing of the game by loading up on forwards to leave Rice fighting alone in midfield against the excellent, superior João Palhinha and Tom Cairney was a risk too far. Arteta was restrained on the sidelines as defeat neared but his team have a tendency to panic when the pressure is on. He did them few favours by leaving them shapeless rather than keeping faith in their quality to dig themselves out. John Brewin
