Premier League crisis club of the week 2023/24: Arsenal
- 90min's 'Premier League crisis club of the week series is back for 2023/24
- Arsenal have lost two consecutive games
- Mikel Arteta attacked the referees after the defeat to Newcastle
Another week, another Premier League club in crisis.
And this time it's a club that's been heavily touted to be Manchester City's biggest title rivals during the 2023/24 season.
That's right, this week's crisis club is Arsenal - and here's why.
What's the crisis?
This past week was a pretty rocky one for Mikel Arteta's side.
On Wednesday, they were beaten by a very out of form West Ham United outfit in the Carabao Cup. The Gunners, despite having 72% possession, rarely seriously threatened the Hammers' defence - mustering just three shots on target during the game.
It was a defeat and performance that would've been less calamitous had Arteta used the game as an opportunity to play a number of the younger players on the edge of the first-team setup, but he didn't. Instead, that 3-1 thumping was suffered by an ever-so-slightly rotated Arsenal lineup, with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice - all who'd been left on the bench - coming on in an attempt to salvage things.
Saka, Martinelli and Rice were all back in the starting XI for the tricky trip to Newcastle United on Saturday, and they didn't make too much of a difference to the performance level. The Gunners, once again, created worryingly little in front of goal despite, once again, dominating possession.
That lack of potency in the final third was the key reason for the eventual 1-0 defeat at St James' Park - a defeat that ended Arsenal's unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign and saw them drop down to fourth in the table.
Why are they in crisis?
Despite Arteta and the club insisting that the defeat to Newcastle was due to refereeing errors, it was more due to the Gunners' lack of cutting edge in the final third.
With Saka struggling for form at the moment - he hasn't scored since late September - star striker Gabriel Jesus out injured (again), as well as a recent injury to Martin Odegaard, Arsenal have looked rather toothless in front of goal.
"But what about the 5-0 win over Sheffield United?"
With all due respect, Sheffield United have conceded 30 goals in 11 games already this season and are very, very bad, so a 5-0 win over them isn't overly impressive.
Along with injuries (Jesus) and lack of form (Saka), key to Arsenal's issues in the final third has been the signing of Kai Havertz. Purchased for a huge £65m fee with the hope of turning him into a top class central midfielder, the German has so far flattered to deceive.
In his 11 appearances in the Premier League thus far for his new club, Havertz has mustered up a measly return of one goal... and it was a penalty against Bournemouth. Put simply, that's not good enough.
What can they do to rectify it?
The long-term solution to the issues we've seen over the last week is to go out and sign a genuinely top class striker in January.
While Jesus is fantastic, it's been made explicitly clear by his myriad of injuries over the last 12 months that the Gunners can't rely on the Brazilian to be available week in, week out. And that wouldn't be too much of a problem if they had a player of a similar calibre that could be drafted in to take his place.
Eddie Nketiah has performed admirably at times this season, particularly against lesser opposition, but in games against the better teams in the Premier League, he hasn't fared as well. His zero goals against top-half teams is proof of that.
It's clear that the signing of a better striker, like Ivan Toney for example, would improve Arsenal's potency in the final third tenfold and help them win more games when they're not at their free-flowing best.
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