**Arsenal**are at the top of the Premier League table, faultless in the Champions League, through to the **FA Cup**fifth round, and await a Carabao Cup final next month. Derby day delight belongs to the red half of North London, and the team’s talismanic attacker has signed a new long-term contract.
Yet, on the whole, supporters have been far from satisfied with what they are seeing from the side. Before the 4-1 thrashing of Tottenham, the team had won just two of their previous seven **Premier League**games. The blue shark of **Man City**is circling, and anxieties are creeping up from the past.
Few will forgive the Gunners if they do not take any titles this year. Not just because of their healthy position. Not just because it will be the fourth season in a row of fruitless fighting for a major honour. But because the manager’s failings can no longer be justified by one significant stumbling block.
A summer spending spree to strengthen the squad
The 2024/25 season stretched the **Arsenal**squad to their limits. The first pillars to fall were **Martin Odegaard**and Bukayo Saka, who were injured during September and October international breaks respectively. Along with Ben White, who underwent knee surgery in November, the pair were key parts of the team’s attack through the chemistry and relentless rotations on the right side of the field.
Saka then suffered a Grade 3 hamstring tear in December that kept him out of action until the start of April. In the absence of the talismanic figure, the Gunners exited both domestic cup competitions and also ended up far adrift of runaway league leaders Liverpool. Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli both had more minor hamstring injuries that stripped the attacking roster down to its bare bones.
To top it off, Gabriel Magalhaes had a hamstring tear at the start of April in the win over **Fulham**that marked the return of Saka. Wear and tear had taken its toll on the spine of the side, and if the Gunners were going to compete adequately on multiple fronts, then the group needed reinforcements.
Andrea Berta came through the door, and the board acted appropriately in the transfer window.
Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie offered cover across the back four. Martin Zubimendi stepped in as the signature midfield signing while Christian Norgaard was meant to become the experienced backup behind the Basque newcomer. Noni Madueke made sense as cover on both wings, Viktor Gyokeres was the long-awaited number nine, and **Eberechi Eze**added stardust.
At best, the ceiling of the team was to be lifted through the outlay on the offensive roster, and the burden on Saka was to be lifted. At the worst, the key players in the group all had new individuals with whom they could rotate to lessen the load of minutes in what would be a gruelling campaign.
Questionable cases of minute management
But dreams do not always turn into reality, and tough times have produced scrutiny upon Arteta.
From their faltering run of results in the new year, the Gunners have given up advantages in three of their last five league fixtures (a 3-2 loss to Man United, 1-1 draw with Brentford, and 2-2 draw with Wolves). It is a far cry from the impenetrable reputation of the team’s defensive unit back in October, indicating that legs and minds may be getting wearier and less able to uphold the same standards.
In certain positions, it is certainly right to question whether the manager has maximised all his roster.
The most notable case is Norgaard, who has filled in as a central defender in cup competitions and recently excelled in a rotated midfield unit in the 4-0 triumph over Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup. Yet he has played a mere 34 **Premier League**minutes this season, appearing four times off the bench.
Fatigue for the first-choice midfield has been a bigger talking point lately— especially for Zubimendi who has not missed a league match in his debut campaign. And it seems senseless to make little to no use of a veteran that should be primed to help the team manage more difficult moments in matches.
The situation of two talented Hale End products should not be forgotten too. **Myles Lewis-Skelly**and Ethan Nwaneri nailed down starting spots during last season, showing themselves to be capable first team squad members for Arteta’s plans. Yet, the Spaniard has shown little faith in the pair this year.
The case of Nwaneri is particularly interesting: a player who offered more risk and goal threat than Odegaard in the 10 role and proved himself as a backup for Saka struggled for any playing time. He is now on loan at Marseille, and in the absence of Mikel Merino, his presence would be welcomed.
But maybe the most important example of mismanagement involves the defensive unit. Hincapie and Mosquera have been beneficial additions to the back four, but their opportunities have almost only come after injuries to the established starters: Gabriel, William Saliba and Riccardo Calafiori.
The Italian is both a key element of the left side of the attack, thriving alongside Leandro Trossard, and a historically injury prone figure. If Hincapie had not been so gradually brought into the group, one of the team’s few functional relationships in the final third might not have been taken away.
It is here that Arteta arguably has the most to answer for.
The quest for chemistry in attack
**Arsenal**are a team that relies on solidity and stability: an identity that has produced a high floor for most of their performances and prevented strings of losses. But good is sometimes not good enough.
It is worth remembering what type of attacking unit **Arsenal**are. Set pieces have been their typical gamebreaker, and this is not a team that prioritises platforming individual quality to beat teams. If the defence is firm, you get the string of clean sheets from the start of the season. But if the margins go the wrong way, you get more of the frustrating stalemates (four in the last seven) from the new year.
Above all, Arteta is asking more of himself to be the solution provider for the side, finding the right relationships to get enough attacking of his team. Right now, it feels like he could be doing more here.
Traditionally, the right sided trio of Saka, Odegaard and **Ben White**was the firmest foundation for the **Arsenal**attack in open play. But Jurrien Timber has forced his way into the lineup as a more solid option at right back, and Arteta has been reluctant to rotate in White for more fluidity on that flank.
The tandem of Trossard and Calafiori was pivotal in the first half of the season, but it relied on the fragile fitness of the left back. Without him, Arteta has struggled to engineer the same type of threat.
Against Nottingham Forest, the manager used Timber as an inverted left back, refusing to put trust in Lewis-Skelly, and gave Gabriel Martinelli little help against a low block. He also used the Brazilian instead of Trossard against Wolves, but the presence of another deep defence frustrated the forward.
None of these observations are new to this campaign. If **Arsenal**are not reinventing the wheel with old pieces, new players in the puzzle might be the individuals to get the team over the finishing line.
Gyokeres gets joy from the spaces he saw as a substitute against Sunderland, but he was suffocated in duels against **Brentford**and **Wolves**as **Arsenal**were under the cosh. He is not a ‘target man’ or a figure to link up the play and his preference for quick service does not suit the system of this side.
While Eze has proven himself in England’s top tier, that has not mattered to Arteta. He has not got a look-in as a left winger in 2026, and his appearances as a 10 have not lived up to expectation either.
But both players bagged braces against **Tottenham**on derby day, and their performances proved how Arsenal can take the game away from opponents if they lean into taking risks to get bigger rewards.
The excuse of a Havertz shaped hole will no longer be condoned— especially after derby day. Players are who will win or lose you games and there is enough talent at Arteta’s disposal to get the job done.