>
Losing their heads with Newcastle showed that Arsenal DO feel the pressure to be the best… but with Tottenham, Man United and City to come, Mikel Arteta must control his nerves for this season-defining race.
Mikel Arteta lost it. The Arsenal players lost it. And yet the leaders of the Premier League did not lose this game.
They drew 0-0 and taking a point from Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United is perfectly fine. It’s more than Arsenal’s London neighbors Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur got out of them.
However, towards the end of this draw at the Emirates Stadium, the behavior of Arteta and his team showed the pressure they feel at the top of the Premier League.
Mikel Arteta cut a tense and agitated figure on the touchline in Arsenal’s draw against Newcastle
The antics were a sign that Arteta and his players feel the pressure to be on top.
In their desperation to win, they lost control. In the technical area, Arteta acted like a child whose mother denies him a chocolate bar in the boxes, stomping and screaming.
On the field, Granit Xhaka, Oleksandr Zinchenko and company surrounded referee Andrew Madley. There was no calm. Only chaos when Arsenal insisted that a result was being stolen from them.
The reason for his anger was a possible penalty in stoppage time. Xhaka’s cross had been blocked by Jacob Murphy and television replays showed the ball struck the Newcastle player’s arm.
But let’s be honest, there is no conspiracy here. There is also no gross injustice because any reasonable football fan could see that this was not a penalty, despite Arsenal’s angry protests.
Murphy’s arm had to go somewhere. It was not extended or used to make itself bigger. He was hidden by his body when he slid to block the cross. The ball hit him, but Madley and VAR Stuart Attwell did well not to give in to the pressure.
Arsenal would do well to refocus and maintain their composure ahead of a crucial five-game run.
Arsenal’s anger was amplified by what had gone before, of course. They should have gotten a kickback penalty from Dan Burn on Gabriel. That was a clear foul that Madley missed, and it’s likely that his PGMOL bosses will tell Attwell that he made a mistake.
Arteta later said Arsenal had been denied two ‘outrageous’ penalties. The burned one? Absolutely. Murphy’s? Not that much.
However, he highlighted the anger of Arteta and his players towards the referees. That has become something of an eyesore in the Premier League. Arsenal is not the only one that has unleashed its fury. They are simply the last club to do it.
They face Tottenham, Manchester United and Manchester City in three of the next five games.
Maybe they can use the ‘us against the world’ mentality to their advantage. But given what’s to come, it may be to Arsenal’s best interest to keep their composure in the face of controversy.
Their next five matches say: Tottenham (a), Manchester United (h), Everton (a), Brentford (h) and Manchester City (h). It’s a run that could define Arsenal’s season.
Tottenham: A North London derby that Antonio Conte wants to use to resurrect his season. Manchester United: Another tricky test against a top four contender. Everton: who knows, they may have a new manager by then. Brentford: Thomas Frank’s team is in good shape. Manchester City: need we say more about the importance of this clash with Pep Guardiola’s team?
Creating chaos will hinder Arsenal, not help them, so they need to keep a level head in this title race.
If those matches don’t go well for Arsenal, if Arteta feels the decisions are going against him, will they react like they did on Tuesday? It was a good draw against Howe’s Newcastle.
Perhaps Arsenal could have gotten more out of the match. Perhaps Madley and Attwell should have given them a penalty, certainly for the yanking of Burn’s shirt on Gabriel.
But now is a time when Arsenal would benefit from keeping their cool rather than creating chaos.