Shearer Says: “Teams have been right in Arsenal’s faces and they have not liked it”
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Alan Shearer blog
The latest Alan Shearer blog sees Coral’s football ambassador discussing the latest Arsenal struggles ahead of a home Premier League game to Boxing Day to West Bromwich Albion…
Question marks are being asked about Arsenal’s toughness once again, after two straight losses and they alone can be prove to us that they have got rid of their soft underbelly.
We’ve seen with Chelsea, who are on a great run, that it’s very important to keep the spine of your team settled.
But the loss of Mustafi for Arsenal has been a big blow and at Everton, particularly in the second half, they could not deal with the direct football that was thrown at them.
The thing I’d be most worried about though is that they were outfought in the second-half of that game and in their loss to Manchester City.
“Arsenal can end talk of being soft by winning the title”
Yet after both games, Arsene Wenger came out and complained about refereeing decisions. If I was him, I’d be looking at my team’s deficiencies rather than the officiating.
Arsenal can only end all this talk about them being soft by going out and winning the title this season.
They didn’t play well against Liverpool on the opening game of the season, and they were nowhere near their best against Spurs or Manchester City either, so in three big games against the Champions League challengers, they have not impressed.
Add to that, against Everton and Manchester City they didn’t compete when the opposition got in their faces, so teams will do that against them. They have to find a way of overcoming that if they are going to win the title.
They have to get all three points at home to West Brom on Boxing Day. Then they have to face Crystal Palace at home, who have a new manager on place by then and Bournemouth away.
Those are three games which they should be looking to take nine points from to get back on track and prove that they have the character for the title chase.
