Arsenal remains winless in the Barclay’s Premier League in 2012 after a wasteful draw against 17th place Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium.
The Gunners were able to stop a streak of three league losses in a row, but were not able to make up any ground on fourth place Chelsea. The North London club now find themselves in 7th place, grasping desperately at any chance of qualifying for Champion’s League football next campaign.
Arsenal have taken only eight of the previous 24 points on offer.
Wasted Chances
Among the many missed opportunities for Arsenal included Theo Walcott’s wasted chance when he was in clear on the Bolton keeper and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s miss off a feed from Robin Van Persie. Van Persie, who was the best player on the pitch by a good distance, nearly used his class to break the deadlock, but twice hit the woodwork in the second half.
The missed goal chances against Bolton have led toa big picture missed chance. With Chelsea drawing at Swansea yesterday, Arsenal had a chance to get within three points of 4th place heading into the weekend. With Arsenal taking on Blackburn at home and Chelsea playing Manchester United, the Gunners could have feasibly been even on points after Sunday.
The draw with Bolton erases any chance of that happening, and the current form of the team has seen Liverpool and Newcastle pass them in the table. Arsenal must begin to win games or this conversation will start to include supporters questioning whether the team will qualify for the Europa League.
Questionable Substitutions
For the second straight league game Oxlade-Chamberlain was removed around the 70 minute mark of the match. In this case, he was lifted for Thierry Henry, so for the most part supporters have not questioned the move. The Ox had not been having his best passing game, but was still threatening going forward. Other than RVP, honestly the young Englishman has been our best player going forward lately. So why take him off in a 0-0 game?
Oxlade-Chamberlain was much better in this game covering defensively. His overall game is very impressive for such a young player, and he will only get better with experience. At this point, he needs to be playing the full 90 minutes unless he is injured or extremely fatigued. The Ox is the only player (other than our captain) who when in possession of the ball, I expect something to happen. He also seems to be the only one who will take a chance on a pass to create a scoring chance.
Possession is great, but not when it leads to nothing. This squad seems to spend a lot of time possessing the ball without any real feel that they are headed anywhere. Oxlade-Chamberlain seems to be looking for the pass to break the lock on the defense. He always looks confident. I cannot say the same about a lot of the squad at the moment.
Needing a rest
Aaron Ramsey has certainly made leaps and bounds since his comeback from a broken leg. He has played a vital role this campaign. But at this point, he looks fatigued. Ramsey has not been injured this season, and has been a regular in the starting eleven nearly every game. Lately, his play has looked a bit off.
I blame fatigue, both physical and mental. He came into the season knowing that Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri were both gone, and he would have to carry much more of the load. Couple that with the seemingly everlasting injury to Jack WIlshere and Ramsey has had to play major minutes this season, something his body is not used to.
Hopefully Ramsey will get a break before he hits the “red zone” that Wilshere hit last season, when Arsenal knew he was fatigued but chose to play him anyway.
We’ve seen the result of that. Arsene Wenger needs to learn from it. At this point, Tomas Rosicky is fit and is an able alternative to Ramsey.
The Big Picture
This match certainly looks like two dropped points for the Gunners. The question is: how many more points can the club afford to drop before 4th place is out of reach?
If Arsenal fail to reach the Champion’s League, it will become increasingly difficult to sign quality players. Eden Hazard, for example, has said he will probably head to England next season. Hazard has long been a player on Wenger’s radar, and is the cousin of Thomas Vermaelen. He has also mentioned Arsenal and Liverpool by name as clubs he may be interested in joining.
Would Hazard join Arsenal if there’s no Champion’s League football? If missing out on the Champion’s League means it will be difficult to make quality signings, will we be able to re-sign Robin Van Persie?
It’s a domino effect that Arsenal cannot afford to take a chance on allowing to happen.
Of course, who am I kidding? Wenger wouldn’t spend 30 million pounds on a player anyway.
FORWARD
Arsenal need a win against Blackburn at the Emirates on Saturday to get back on track. If the miss-fires of today continue, the club is in serious trouble.
The points need to start coming thick and fast to turn the campaign back in the right direction. It’s not over yet.
You can follow Jimmy Gossard on Twitter @JimmyGossard
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