MILAN — The uncertainty around Arsenal grows. Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to Internazionale is not a severe blow to their UEFA Champions League hopes, but it does make a top-eight finish and the automatic qualification that comes with it more doubtful.
It continues a difficult week where uncertainty arose off the field in unexpected fashion with the abrupt departure of sporting director Edu Gaspar and questions grow over their durability in the Premier League title race after falling seven points behind leaders Liverpool. All three situations can be rescued and resolved, but the Gunners have been a picture of stability and sustained progress for more than two years. This is in danger of feeling different.
The breaks aren’t going their way at present. Injuries have disrupted their rhythm and manager Mikel Arteta was visibly frustrated with the officiating here at San Siro after Mikel Merino was denied a penalty at one end before conceding one at the other. With 28 minutes on the clock, Merino appeared to be taken out by goalkeeper Yann Sommer but VAR must have detected the faintest touch on the ball as a corner was awarded.
On the stroke of half-time, Merino handled a free kick in the box in one of those unfortunate incidents where the ball strikes his hand in what this competition’s interpretation of the rules deems an unnatural position, yet at the same time, it appears difficult to see what else he could have done. Arteta could not conceal his frustration.
“I don’t understand [the handball] decision,” he said. “There is no danger at all. You cannot react because the ball is very close. But OK, they decide that is a penalty.
“But if that is a penalty, then the one on Mikel Merino where he punches him in the head has to be a penalty 1,000%. These are the margins in this game and it’s very difficult to accept.
“We were told at the start of the season that wasn’t a penalty. That was clear. Today, it was a different story.”
Hakan Çalhanoglu stroked home his penalty and Inter had a lead to defend. And defend they did, as Inter had one shot in the second half as Arsenal dominated possession and probed for an equaliser.
They carried a greater threat than in defeat at Newcastle United last weekend but set pieces were their main weapon until a late onslaught pushed the total number of crosses into the box to 46 but nobody in the form to capitalise on them. It all felt a little predictable.
“The concern is the result and that in both boxes we didn’t do what we have to do,” said Arteta. “And then we didn’t, someone else didn’t. For sure this is the way I want to see my team.
“All the big games we have played in Europe, this is by far the best one that we played in the last few years.”
That final line is stretching the credibility of a manager defending his players somewhat, but it is a further sign Arteta believes there is nothing fundamentally wrong, more another case where luck and fine margins went against them.
Yet, there are too many players struggling below their best at present. This was another evening where Leandro Trossard took a backward step, Gabriel Martinelli looked blunted and Kai Havertz looked more like the player lost at Chelsea than the one found by Arsenal. The oft-repeated criticism that Arsenal should have done more to strengthen their attacking options in the summer transfer window will grow louder after this.
A lot is riding on Martin Ødegaard to restore the cutting edge to their football. Ødegaard made his long-awaited return from an ankle injury that has sidelined him for the Gunners since Aug. 31 in stoppage-time, but by then it was too late to really affect anything with Inter’s trench dug deep in their own box.
The Arsenal captain is a sublime player capable of knitting together a stuttering team, but it is a big ask to do so immediately following almost two months out. He may well only have come on against Inter because Havertz had to leave the field following a clash of heads that left him requiring stitches. And so, Arsenal ended beaten, bloodied and bowed.
Arteta insisted they will soon turn the corner. “If we play the way we played, we have a good chance to win against Chelsea,” he said.
“I told them I’m proud of them. I haven’t seen them play in Europe in the manner they have today. And we are very disappointed because we didn’t get what we wanted out of the game that’s for sure.”
It’s now three defeats in six games, which includes two in a row for the Gunners. They need a result at Stamford Bridge if that feeling of uncertainty is not to develop into something more ominous.
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