Mikel Arteta leaned over, placed his hand on his forehead and let his head slump. When he raised his head, he had his thumb and forefinger in front of his eyes. It was the fifth minute of added time, Leandro Trossard had just fired a shot wide and Arsenal’s last chance was gone. With this, perhaps, so do their hopes of winning the league. At the very least, Wednesday’s gains have been returned.
It turned out that Trossard, who had been Arsenal’s most dangerous striker, may have been slightly offside anyway, which might have been the more appropriate conclusion. In the previous eight minutes, Mikel Merino had seen a shot on goal deflect off Kai Havertz’s hand and hit the inside of a post. There was a sense in these final stages of destiny, or at least Arsenal’s chronic inability to seize the moment, of being against them.
Related: Ollie Watkins completes comeback as Aston Villa shakes Arsenal’s title bid
Arsenal, who played a game more than Liverpool, had reduced the gap to four points and it is now back to six. But it’s not just a question of numbers. Liverpool scored twice in added time to win; Arsenal lost a 2-0 lead. Liverpool turned a draw into a win while Arsenal turned a win into a draw. It wouldn’t have taken much for the gap to be reduced to two points and the pressure was really on Liverpool. As things stand, Arsenal have very little margin for error.
What will hurt the most is the feeling that once again, this was a game they should have won comfortably. Not the first time in recent weeks they have struggled to turn their dominance into chances and goals and then, after getting the second ten minutes after half-time, were undone by carelessness extraordinary. Villa’s opening goal was the result of a fine cross from Lucas Digne and the courage of Youri Tielemans to place his header in front of Merino’s foot. But what seemed characteristic was the way Arsenal calmed down afterward.
Tielemans hit the post after Myles Lewis-Skelly had given away possession, then a half-cleared corner was headed back into the middle by Matty Cash for a completely unmarked Ollie Watkins, who had moved away from Thomas Partey, to score. Arsenal rallied and could have won late on, but eight minutes of nonsense had wasted all the good work they had done. It will be no consolation that they have had the better xG in 20 of their last 21 games.
Arsenal have been unfortunate with injuries this season. It’s not just that they lost the fifth most days to injuries, it’s also about who’s missing. Arsenal have only started 12 of their 33 games this season with Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard in the team, neither of them losing. With the two together, their winning percentage is 67%; without it, it’s 52%. For Gabriel Jesus to suffer what appears to be a serious knee injury after he had started scoring again – albeit mainly against Crystal Palace – seems desperately cruel.
Although Opta data shows that they have actually outperformed their xG this season, the feeling over the last two years has been that Arsenal lacked a vital ruthlessness. They get bogged down against teams who are deeply opposed to them. They often dominate periods of play without taking their chances. They have to play well to win games. A top centre-forward seems an obvious solution, even if it has repercussions on the balance of the midfield and the flow of play. One of the great fascinations of football is its holistic nature: that which solves a problem can lead to a whole series of others.
In the context of injuries, the summer arrivals of Riccardo Calafiori and Merino, although they strengthened the team, could be seen as having failed to solve the most pressing problem. While such criticisms are easy to make in hindsight, no team is entirely immune when injuries conspire to attack a specific function; just as Tottenham suffered the loss of their three front-line centre-backs – it is also unrealistic to expect Havertz, a hard-to-define striker and advanced midfielder, who only reached twice in his career double the league goals in a season, to be a lethal presence in the box. Set-piece prowess can make up for the deficit to a certain extent, but only to a certain extent.
But while Arsenal often struggle to score, here the biggest problem was at the other end. William Saliba’s absence didn’t help, but the way brains scrambled in the minutes following Tielemans’ goal cannot be explained by the absence of just one man. Arsenal are struggling to score and if they concede too easily it will be very difficult for them to close the gap on a Liverpool side who this season have proven to be masters at getting positive results .