A spiky Mikel Arteta has shown further signs of being rattled in the Premier League title race, following more dropped points for Arsenal.
The Gunners knew that victory at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night was imperative, especially after losing at home to West Ham last weekend.
Instead, Arsenal could only draw 0-0, with the result leaking through at Anfield as Liverpool beat Newcastle 2-0, much to the delight of the supporters.
The Reds are now 13 points ahead of their title rivals, who have one game in hand, with the north Londoners fading in recent weeks.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the Forest match, Arteta didn’t react well to being asked about his side’s lack of attacking spark of late.
“I don’t want to discuss that again, we know that,” Arteta said.
The Spaniard then went on to discuss another disappointing night for his team, with their title bid petering out by the week.
“We’re disappointed not to get the three points even though we dominated the game from start to finish without giving much away, apart from one or two situations when we gave it away in the final third,” he added.
“We certainly tried. The spirit, the energy – unquestionable – and the willingness to do it.
“But we lacked that final ball, that spark to generate something, to open them up and have more shots on target as well.”
There are clear signs of Arteta being rattled at this point, with the 42-year-old even more steely and lacking in humour than usual.
This was meant to potentially be Arsenal‘s season, having come close to winning the title in the past two years, but it looks like they will again fall short.
While injuries to four attackers is a genuine excuse for a lack of quality in the final third, it is still being overblown as a long-term issue.
Bukayo Saka is the glaring absentee, with the England international their version of Mohamed Salah, and he is an undoubted huge loss.
Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz were still playing earlier this month, however, while Gabriel Jesus got injured in January.
The trio have all come in for criticism, too, scoring a combined 18 goals in 60 Premier League appearances this season, which isn’t good enough.
It’s only four wins in the last eight league outings for the Gunners and you can see the pressure intensifying on Arteta by the week.
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