It’s easy to overreact to the league table early in the season, but once you get close to being a quarter of the way through the season then you do have to worry if your team isn’t living up to the early expectations.
In truth, it’s hard to tell what Arsenal fans should realistically expect from their team just now, but it seems fair to suggest that struggling to win games against mid-table sides and finding themselves even lower in the table isn’t okay.
Tonight’s last-minute equaliser against Crystal Palace will paper over a few cracks but the result still isn’t good enough, while Odsonne Edouard showed his class by scoring for Palace after being linked with a summer move to the Emirates.
They’re still only four points off a top-four place after the result tonight so perhaps it’s too early to panic, but they also have tricky fixtures coming up with the likes of Aston Villa, Everton, Man United, Liverpool, and Leicester City so drawing at home to Palace can’t fill anyone with confidence.
It’s fashionable to turn on the manager after a poor result these days and Mikel Arteta did oversee a mini-revival of sorts before the international break, but the knives are out again from a section of the supporters on Twitter:
The reaction to the draw shows that Mikel Arteta is only ever one poor result away from disaster at this point, while fans will be split between the result not being good enough and being happy that the team managed to fight back and claim a draw.
The bottom line is that Arsenal can’t tolerate being a bottom-half side in the Premier League, so the next few weeks could be crucial.
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