The Gunners have suffered a humbling fall from grace over recent weeks, but why have they dropped off to pile pressure on their beleaguered manager?
January 22, 2017: Down to 10 men, pegged back by an Andre Gray penalty in the 93rd minute and with Arsene Wenger embroiled in a childish shoving contest with the fourth official after being sent from the touchline, Arsenal were not in a happy place.
In the 98th minute, though, the Gunners were awarded a penalty, Alexis Sanchez converted and three points were snatched from a dogged Burnley side – few could have accused the hosts of not caring on an emotionally-charged afternoon in north London.
At the final whistle, the home side had stretched their unbeaten run to six games in all competitions and were celebrating a fourth victory in five Premier League outings – with a remarkable comeback from three goals down at Bournemouth representing the only blot on that particular copybook.
Wenger told the BBC afterwards: “Every week and every game is an unbelievable fight for everybody.”
Wales international midfielder Aaron Ramsey had previously said of a title race being dominated by Chelsea, but a battle Arsenal were still very much in: “It’s going to go right down to the wire and we don’t want to have any slip ups which might cost us in the end.”
February 4, 2017: A mere two weeks after battling their way past Burnley to keep optimism building around the Emirates, Arsenal trudged off the field at Stamford Bridge having been second best throughout against capital foes Chelsea.
Four days earlier, a terrible start against Watford had condemned Wenger’s team to a 2-1 defeat in a contest which can now be regarded as offering the first signs of the wheels falling off the Arsenal bandwagon.
March 18, 2017: Progress has been made to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, but the Gunners find themselves in a dark place as Tony Pulis once again proves that he holds an Indian sign over Wenger in a 3-1 victory for West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.
Arsenal are now at their lowest ebb, with a humbling 10-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich having seen their Champions League dreams crushed at the last 16 stage for the seventh successive year, while four defeats in five Premier League fixtures have cast serious doubt over their involvement in that competition for 2017-18.
There is, of course, mounting unrest off the field to take into account as well, with feelings of frustration regarding the direction the club is taking under Wenger that have been left simmering for several years suddenly coming back to the boil – with protests taken from the streets to the sky.
No comments:
Post a Comment