“It’s Part of the Game” – Arsenal Legend on Recent Struggles, Injuries and the Premier League Title Race | OneFootball

Arsenal Legend Alan Smith on Recent Struggles, Mikel Arteta and Injuries

The past couple of weeks have been hugely frustrating for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, with defeats to AFC Bournemouth and Newcastle United. Consequently, Arsenal find themselves down in fifth place in the Premier League table, despite early shouts of being title favourites prior to the season. Seven points now separate the Gunners and Liverpool at the top of the table, and perhaps more crucially there’s five points between themselves and the current champions Manchester City.

We spoke exclusively to Arsenal legend Alan Smith, who gave us his thoughts on their recent struggles…

Recent Struggles

“Obviously, the Martin Odegaard injury has hurt them,” began Smith, “They haven’t got a replacement in that style and ability but you have to find a way of getting by without him.” It’s an interesting point raised, with Leandro Trossard recently being re-shaped into an attacking midfielder by Arteta, which really hasn’t worked.

Photo IMAGO

Odegaard’s injury has also opened a path to the first-team for 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri, who has managed to impress so far this season. Arsenal will surely be starting to regret their decision to sell Emile Smith-Rowe in the summer, who is having a brilliant season for Fulham.

Smith also recognised a key turning point in Arsenal’s season, saying: “The Saliba red card at Bournemouth definitely knocked them off heal and they’ve found it hard to recover from there.” Since that defeat at Bournemouth, Arsenal have only managed victories over Shakhtar Donetsk and Preston North End in the UEFA Champions League and Carabao Cup respectively.

Injury Talk

“There’s a lot of talk about injuries at the moment and Pep Guardiola is also struggling with it at Manchester City,” began Smith, “But we all know that it’s just part of the game.” The two most notable injuries currently are Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori, who had a strong start to the his debut Premier League season before picking up an injury.

Photo: IMAGO

However, in order to compete for the biggest honours in world football, the world’s best squad should be able to continue to compete with two key injuries, which Smith acknowledged. “I think every manager knows that they have to find a way of coping without key players and Arteta still needs to do that,” claimed Smith.

Premier League Title Race

Following Arsenal’s Champions League clash with Inter Milan, the Gunners travel to Stamford Bridge to face rivals Chelsea in a huge clash in terms of their title pursuit. As mentioned before, Arsenal are currently seven points behind league-leaders, Liverpool.

Smith was keen to point out just how crucial this game is for Arsenal, saying: “A defeat to Chelsea would be a big blow and if Liverpool were to beat Aston Villa and that gap grows to ten points, people within the club will start to have doubts.”

Smith continued, “On the flipside though, if you can beat Chelsea, it’s a completely different ball game.”

However, before that Arsenal face Inter Milan as they look to continue their strong start to their UEFA Champions League campaign in what will be a huge test for Arteta’s side.