Football Daily | Arsenal take a ‘punch in the face’ but will it really be a knockout blow?

CANNON AND BAWL?

They say that if you’re expecting a kick in the swingers but only receive a punch in the face, you can probably consider it a good result. Because he probably wasn’t expecting his Arsenal players to ship a hoof to the collective crown jewels from Bournemouth on Saturday, Mikel Arteta understandably failed to find any positives as he told one post-match interviewer after another that his listless side’s thoroughly deserved defeat felt like “a big punch on the face”. Whatever about their toothlessness up front, devotion to sideways and backwards passes and an at times almost comical inability to beat the Bournemouth press, the manner in which Arsenal’s players seemed genuinely paralysed by terror will be of the greatest concern to their equally terrified fans. Whether the sight of an extremely agitated Spaniard bouncing around his technical area like Basil Fawlty thrashing his Austin 1100 with a tree branch does much to alleviate the cloud of anxiety that has descended upon the Emirates Stadium is open to extremely one-sided debate.

While defeat by Bournemouth may have been a punch in the face, it need not necessarily be a knockout blow. Despite their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, each passing poor performance renders those who questioned the mental fortitude of this Arsenal squad before a ball was kicked in August increasingly smug. At the time, their concerns were angrily dismissed as nonsense and part of some imaginary anti-Arsenal agenda by assorted Arteta extremists who have now turned their ire on their own team. Having heard his side booed off on Saturday, Arteta offered up few excuses because there were none. “Apologise, take it on the chin and that’s it,” he sighed, when asked what message he had for fans who had booed off their team. “What I’m trying to do is give our best to the club, give the responsibility to the players. And I know that the atmosphere, the fans, the support, the energy in the stadium is the best in the world.”

While Arteta’s policy of sending his excellent players out to play largely risk-averse, belt-and-braces football with the handbrake on will ultimately be deemed a triumph if it ends up winning them the league, defeat against the swashbucklers of Manchester City (who also have a game in hand against the cannon-fodder of Burnley) would put Pep Guardiola’s side firmly in the box-seat to win a title that looked beyond them a couple of months ago. “We have done a good three games but the best team in England so far is Arsenal, the best team in Europe so far is Arsenal, because the numbers are there, the consistency they had,” parped Guardiola, laying on the trademark patronising praise after watching his side dismantle Chelsea in a match featuring a camera cutaway to a City fan glugging from a bottle of Arsenal tears. It’s a salty beverage they’ll be selling on tap in the Etihad Stadium’s bars if City triumph against their title rivals next weekend.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“She’s a trailblazer and it was a matter of time anyway. Congratulations to her and [Union] Berlin. It’s exciting and it shows again that football is moving up. There are women in society everywhere – and the next step is also in football” – Sarina Wiegman praises Marie-Louise Eta, who became the first female head coach of a men’s team in the top five leagues when Union Berlin gave her the interim job on Saturday.

Good luck Marie-Louise! Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

double quotation markManchester City’s luminous monstrosity of a kit at Stamford Bridge made them look like 11 operatives in search of their missing bin lorry. Maybe Chelsea thought the same too, which would explain why they were rubbish in the second half” – Phil Taverner.

double quotation markRoberto De Zerbi has reportedly said he’s going to stay with Spurs until they win the Premier League. Maybe he should share his secret on eternal life” – Andrew Bryant.

double quotation markHas the Spurs/Brighton game next Saturday been given a nickname yet, or is ‘Ze De Zerbi Derbi’ still an option? Assuming he’s still in charge by then, of course!” – James Vortkamp-Tong

double quotation markRe Friday’s Memory Lane (full email edition): I’m sure many readers will have fretted away the weekend wanting to know more. Marks & Spencer played Invictas twice in June 1933. The first game, a trial match on 21 June, was played at Oakley Road and the Invictas won 4-0 ‘but did not necessarily prove themselves the better team’, according to the Bromley and West Kent Mercury. A week later at Queen’s Mead, M&S took revenge with a 1-0 win in the Broom-Day Gala match. The goalscorer, L Hallam, is second from the right in Friday’s photo” – Jon Gregory.

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