Martin Keown accused Arsenal of “capitulation” after the Gunners surrendered a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 away at Watford on Saturday.
The result leaves Arsenal in sixth spot, nine points behind leaders Manchester City barely two months into the season.
In Keown’s era, there was an Arsenal fanzine called ‘1-0 down, 2-1 up’, a tribute to the club’s resilience in fighting back from a deficit. But those days are long gone, as is Arsenal’s resilience, and there was a certain predictability about Saturday’s result given the Gunners’ recent track record of allowing three points to slip through their fingers.
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“It seriously makes me look at the DNA of the Arsenal players and in the recruitment,” said Keown in the London Evening Standard. “There needs to be more of a steeliness and a determination.”
They are still without an away win in the league this season with a point against Chelsea all they have to show for their travels. That goalless draw at Stamford Bridge was celebrated by some of the more optimistic at the Emirates as evidence that they had recovered some grit after the 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool the previous month.
But recent results have shown that Chelsea are a shadow of the side that won the Premier League last season, and their 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday must have been as dispiriting for their fans as Watford’s win was for the Arsenal faithful.
“It’s massively worrying for Arsene Wenger without an away win this late into the season,” said Keown, who singled out Mesut Ozil for criticism. The German midfielder missed a sitter and radiated indifference throughout, prompting Keown to question his commitment.
“Is he really bothered?” he said. “I don’t know if he cares enough or not but he’s certainly not ruthless enough.”
The same could be said of his teammates, with Olivier Giroud also showing a distinct lack of killer instinct in front of goal, in marked contrast to Tuesday when he scored for France in their World Cup qualifier against Belarus.
“I think our level dropped in the second half and we missed many chances to kill the game,” said Wenger, who described the penalty that led to Watford’s equaliser as “a scandalous decision”.
Troy Deeney fired home the spot kick and later mocked the Arsenal manager’s assessment.
“I’ve heard Wenger’s already saying the penalty is the reason they lost,” said the Watford striker. “Well, I’m not going to be one to tell Mr Wenger about himself, but there’s a reason they lost and it wasn’t because of one penalty.”
Rather, explained Deeney, it was because the Arsenal players “backed off” from Watford’s physical approach and consequently Wenger once more finds himself under pressure.
The worry that Keown mentioned will be that Arsenal are already nine points off the pace and they’ve had a fairly gentle start to the season in terms of fixtures.
That continues this month with Everton and Swansea their next opponents but then come three matches in quick succession that will make or break Arsenal’s season.
First is a trip to Manchester City on November 5, followed by Tottenham at home and then a fortnight later the visit of Manchester United. Lose all three and surely even Wenger won’t be able to save his neck.
Premier League results
- Liverpool 0 Manchester United 0
- Burnley 1 West Ham United 1
- Crystal Palace 2 Chelsea 1
- Manchester City 7 Stoke City 2
- Swansea City 2 Huddersfield Town 0
- Tottenham Hotspur 1 AFC Bournemouth 0
- Watford 2 Arsenal 1
- Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Everton 1
- Southampton 2 Newcastle United 2
Tonight’s Premier League fixture
