It would be fair to say that, on paper anyway, last week was Arsenal’s toughest so far this season.
Therefore, Mikel Arteta’s side should be pretty happy with seven points from nine in games against Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.
However, while the North Londoners were exceptional in the first two encounters, they were uncharacteristically poor away to the Blues, and that has understandably taken the shine off somewhat.
Moreover, while there were underwhelming performances across the pitch for Arsenal, one player in particular was really disappointing and currently looks miles off what fans saw last season.
Arsenal's underwhelming starters vs Chelsea
Starting at the back, and while he has arguably been one of Arsenal’s players of the season so far this year, Ricarrdo Calafiori looked way off the pace on Sunday evening.
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Aside from a well-timed last-man tackle on Estevao in the first ten minutes, the Italian looked far shakier defensively than he has all year, losing two of the three tackles he made and getting a silly yellow card when he lost Reece James.
It wasn’t much better going forward either, as the former Bologna man failed to deliver a single cross for the attackers to get onto, and was understandably hooked at the interval.
Things didn’t go much better for Eberechi Eze, as following his hat-trick last weekend and assist against Bayern, the former Crystal Palace star was utterly ineffective at Stamford Bridge.
In fact, while it sounds harsh, it would be a fair assessment to describe him as anonymous on Sunday, as was Gabriel Martinelli, whose most significant contribution was a shot from outside the penalty area in the first half.
Finally, while they were not terrible, Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie were clear downgrades on the Gunners’ usual partnership.
Moreover, on top of being less defensively solid, it was clear that they were less confident starting together, which massively impacted the team’s build-up.
With all that said, there was another Arsenal star on Sunday who looked way off the pace, and unfortunately has done all season.
The Arsenal star who has taken a step back
Unfortunately for Arteta, the poor performances on Sunday evening were not limited to the starters, as Myles Lewis-Skelly’s cameo off the bench was one to forget.
The Hale Ender was sent on to replace Calafiori after the Italian picked up his silly yellow card, but just nine minutes into the second half, he got one himself.
That moment sort of summarised the teenager’s display, as while there were a few moments of quality, like a run through the middle of the pitch towards the end, he largely struggled.
He offered little going forward and looked less than secure defensively and in possession, so much so that there were more than a few occasions when you could see Rice getting frustrated with him, notably when under no pressure at all, the youngster played the ball straight to a Chelsea player on the left-hand side of the pitch.
Unsurprisingly, the watching press were not hugely impressed with the youngster, with Arsenal writer Charles Watts awarding him just a 5/10 match rating at full-time.
Minutes
45′
Expected Assists
0.01
Interceptions
1
Ground Duels (Won)
4 (2)
Aerial Duels (Won)
3 (0)
Fouls
1
Key Passes
0
Dribbles
0
Shots
0
That might sound harsh, but his statistics justify it; in his 45 minutes, the 19-year-old produced an expected assists figure of just 0.02, lost 50% of his ground duels and 100% of his aerial duels, didn’t play a single key pass or cross and committed one foul.
The worrying thing is that Sunday was not the full-back’s first poor performance of the season, as he also looked the weakest of the club’s starters against Bayern.
With that said, it would be unfair to blame this entirely on the youngster, club insider Hand of Arsenal, dubbed a “future captain,” as he’s just not been given enough game time.
One of the things that allowed him to play as well as he did last year was that Arteta picked him time and time again, in turn building his sharpness and understanding of the team’s rhythm.
Therefore, while it’s true that Lewis-Skelly has taken a step back this season, fans shouldn’t worry too much, as more games on the horizon should give him more opportunities to play and rebuild that sharpness.
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