Five Gunners stars who aren’t cutting it right now.
This weekend’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium continued Arsenal’s difficult start to the season, with Arsene Wenger’s side now drawing three in a row in the league.
There are clearly several players not pulling their weight or not up to the standard required at this level, with the Gunners still looking short of being a title-winning side based on what we’ve seen so far.
Here are five players picked out by fanatix as not looking good enough for Arsenal at the moment:
5) Mesut Ozil
Certainly the biggest disappointment for Arsenal at the moment has to be the form of Mesut Ozil. Their club-record signing looks to have gone backwards even more this term after a mixed campaign last time round. Appearing lazy and ineffective, it’s hard to see what the German playmaker offers the team at the moment, and he surely needs to be dropped before long.
4) Mathieu Flamini
A hard-worker and committed player, but still not one quite up to the standard needed at Arsenal at the moment, Mathieu Flamini has had a disappointing second spell at the Emirates Stadium. The experienced Frenchma failed to track back properly on Manchester City’s first goal on Saturday, and it is no surprise to see the Gunners being linked with the likes of Sami Khedira and William Carvalho to come in and improve in that position.
3) Lukas Podolski
A player who has done little to impress so far this season, Lukas Podolski looks to be edging slowly out of Arsene Wenger’s first-team plans as he was also linked with a move to Juventus late on in the summer transfer window. The World Cup winner doesn’t seem to have a best position and simply doesn’t fit into this Arsenal side at the moment, with improvements clearly needed in that area.
2) Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
A promising young player, but one who needs to start delivering on his superb potential with some more consistent displays in the Arsenal first-team. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could perhaps benefit from a season out on loan, as he simply isn’t doing the business for the Gunners at the moment and perhaps faces too much quality competition for places to expect a regular game.
1) Nacho Monreal
Kieran Gibbs can’t return from injury soon enough for Arsenal, with Spanish left-back Nacho Monreal looking sluggish and off the pace in recent games. The 28-year-old is not a bad backup player, but is showing his weakness with regular games in the starting lineup, particularly on Manchester City’s opening goal at the weekend when he was beaten far too easily by Jesus Navas on the right-hand side.