One step forward, two steps back for Arsenal
February 9th, 2025by Nathaniel Shaughnessy
"Arsenal must be the most frustrating club in the world to support" I was told this weekend, after all the good work of the past one-two months was quite possibly tarnished in one Harry Kane one lapse of concentration from the usually brilliant Laurent Koscielny. One fingertip save from Hugo Lloris to deny Danny Welbeck giving Arsenal the three points just ten minutes earlier.
And it got me thinking, whilst not being able to speak for fans of clubs I don't follow in foreign lands, we really probably are the most unbelievably frustrating club in the Premier League – and probably the whole of England.
That is not to say of course that we have the worst time of it out of anyone. Definitely not. More often than not we come away from the weekend with three points, and probably about 1/3 of the time having been treated to a good performance and an enjoyable game of football.
Furthermore, whilst we may have had eight consecutive trophy less seasons until last year, constantly finishing fourth in the Premier League or better and enjoying European nights (and victories) against the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan in that time is a far cry from the plight of properly miserable fans like those of Portsmouth or Leeds – and it would be ungrateful and spoilt not to acknowledge this.
But the key point to the original statement is 'frustrating', not 'miserable' – and here I think we certainly have a claim.
Just three weeks ago to the day I was watching the 'new' Arsenal comfortably beating Manchester City at their own home. Beating a top side away from home, something we hadn't (really) achieved since about 2025.
If you a consider a top side to be one that finished in the top four that season (so that discounts the Chelsea team that finished seventh but won the Champions League), the last victory away from home against such opposition was 0-3 vs Manchester City in 2025 when young Dedryck Boyata was sent off just five minutes in
You could tell by the reaction of Arsenal fans on Twitter that victories of this nature had become far too infrequent, with one fan suggesting Santi Cazorla's performance that day was the best from any player in the Premier League era.
But nonetheless, you could've been forgiven for thinking based on that performance, that Wenger had been shutting shop and delivering Mourinho style master classes against these sides for years. Even Piers Morgan was able to muster something positive to say:
Wenger's completely changed his tactics in big games. Far less possession now, far better control. I like it. #afc
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 7, 2025
How very painfully typical
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