Arsenal buckle under the pressure at just the wrong time
FROM LONDON STADIUM - After 25 minutes at the London Stadium, everything looked to be under control for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta.
For all intents and purposes, they had the game sewn up against West Ham United after just ten minutes, having raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard. Déjà vu from last Sunday when the Gunners were a couple of goals to the good away at Liverpool, albeit not quite as early on.
Arsenal's movement was fluid, their passing was crisp and their confidence seemingly sky-high against a team who had been battered 5-1 by Newcastle on this very ground just 11 days earlier. It was all too easy.
Securing victory would have restored Arsenal's six-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, setting the scene for a mouthwatering heavyweight clash on April 26 at the Etihad Stadium.
But for the second week in a row, Arteta's side hadn't read the winning script. Instead, they shrunk into their shell and made individual and collective mistakes, allowing West Ham, backed by a vocal home crowd, to get on top of them. Ultimately, they wrestled a draw away from the jaws of victory.
Perhaps the most devastating thing for Arteta is that Arsenal's downfall was all their own doing.
Kieran Tierney's weight of pass to Thomas Partey was timid, the Ghanaian's reaction to said pass equally as lackadaisical. Declan Rice picked his pocket and within 10 seconds Gabriel had put his foot into the shin of Lucas Paqueta to concede a stonewall penalty kick.
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"We started extremely well again, dominated the game, dominated the pitch, and scored two beautiful goals. After that we made a huge mistake. We stopped playing with the same purpose," Arteta rued in his post-match press conference. Indeed they had.
Said Benrahma dispatched said penalty to reduce the deficit to 2-1, after which Arsenal appeared to sit back and take their foot off the gas.
"We need that ruthless mindset in that moment to go and kill a team, when a team is there for their taking, you have to kill the game and we haven't done it," the Spaniard further admitted, bemoaning his side's inability to take back control.
Arsenal were even presented with the most golden of opportunities to re-establish their two-goal lead, when Michail Antonio clumsily stuck out an arm to concede an early second half penalty. But rather than take the chance, Bukayo Saka - one of the Premier League's best players this season - stuffed his effort wide of Lukasz Fabianski's post.
With the crowd buoyed by Saka's miss, Arsenal then committed the cardinal sin of following that mistake with another one. Aaron Cresswell's corner was cleared to Thilo Kehrer on the halfway line, with the German hoisting the ball diagonally back into the penalty area.
Arsenal hadn't cleared out of the box all at the same time, meaning Jarrod Bowen was comfortably onside as he turned towards Aaron Ramsdale's goal and raced into the penalty area. The finish itself from the England winger was outstanding technically, but it was entirely preventable from Arsenal's point of view.
"My worry is that after 2-0 we made that huge mistake and didn't understand what the game required in that moment," Arteta further conceded, before adding "we were slower in everything we did" when compared to the opening half hour of the game.
In attack, Arsenal only had three further shots on target after Odegaard's tenth minute strike, each of them a comfortable claim for Fabianski. Gabriel Martinelli faded after a fast opening, Gabriel Jesus became less of an influence and the lauded midfield trio of Odegaard, Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey were outfought by Lucas Paqueta, Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek.
Manchester City could yet go on to drop points during the title run-in, but we've seen from them over the years the kind of mentality Arteta called for at this stage of the season - a ruthless, win at all costs drive that kills teams off and wins titles.
It's not game over for Arsenal yet - they still top the table by four points and have their destiny in their own hands - but this collapse could be the first unwanted step on the road to finishing the season as Premier League runners-up, rather than as champions for the first time in 19 years.
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