Arsenal have to shoulder some of the blame for their recent setbacks in the Premier League and EFL Cup, but everything that could go wrong for Mikel Arteta this season has gone wrong, according to Gunners expert Charles Watts.
The North London giants are on the verge of EFL Cup elimination after Tuesday's 2-0 semi-final first leg loss at home to Newcastle United, succumbing to goals from Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak as they were condemned to their first Emirates defeat of the campaign.
Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz in particular were guilty of wasting golden openings for the Gunners, who were without a handful of key players in Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Bukayo Saka and Ethan Nwaneri due to injury.
Arsenal held off on reinforcing their attack during the summer transfer window, which Watts now feels is a gamble that did not pay off, but the Gunners correspondent also feels that Arteta has not had the rub of the green injury and suspension-wise all season long.
"I don't want to make excuses for what's going on in Arsenal because it's not a disaster by any means, but it does still feel like pretty much everything that could have gone wrong for Arsenal this season has gone wrong," Watts told Sports Mole.
'One thing after another for Arsenal'
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"They've been battling an awful lot of stuff. And that's not to excuse anyone of any blame - I think Arsenal left themselves short in the transfer window. They took a gamble. That gamble's backfired. But I'm not sure anyone would have expected quite how bad injuries would have hit the squad this season. It's been pretty brutal.
"It's just one thing on top of another. And they always seem to be clustered in the same sort of areas of the pitch at the moment. We've had the right-back issues. Arsenal have got about three or four right-backs, and suddenly they're all gone at the same time. And it's the same with the attackers at the moment.
"They're not being helped by injuries, but again, I think a lot of people will look at what the business or the lack of business they did in the summer and feel that they kind of put themselves in this position."
Prior to the loss to Newcastle, Arteta confirmed in his pre-game press conference that 17-year-old Nwaneri would be sidelined for "a few weeks" with the muscular injury he sustained in the weekend's 1-1 Premier League draw with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Nwaneri became just the sixth player to score two Premier League goals before turning 18 at the Amex, but a controversial Joao Pedro penalty in the second half denied Arsenal all three points in yet another setback to their hopes of Premier League glory.
Arsenal on brink of EFL Cup exit, but are they still in the title race?
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The next day, however, Manchester United unexpectedly held leaders Liverpool to a 2-2 stalemate at Anfield, meaning that Arsenal's gap to the Reds in the top-flight table is still six points having played a game more than Arne Slot's side.
"If you thought Arsenal were in the title race before the Brighton game, I suppose you have to think they're still in the title race after it, because the gap's not got any bigger," Watts added. "You can look at it that way in terms of Liverpool's lead is still there, another round of fixtures has gone and Arsenal haven't closed the gap on them.
"But it was a tough game, the Brighton game, for Arsenal. They just looked to me like they were running on fumes in that second half. I thought the first half they were OK. They probably just about deserved to get themselves in front. I thought they had quite a bit of control of the game, weren't looking overly troubled by what Brighton had to offer.
"Brighton made a few changes at the start of the second half, I think that made a bit of a difference. But I think Arsenal, with everything that's going on at the moment, they just looked really, really tired and out of ideas. Having said that, I still don't think they looked under much pressure. I don't think Brighton would have got themselves back into that game had it not been for the penalty."
Both of Arsenal's last two games against Newcastle and Brighton have seen the Gunners come out on the wrong end of officiating decisions that led to a goal for the opposing team, as Isak escaped punishment for pushing Martin Odegaard in the back with two hands before scoring the opener.
That incident came after a more controversial call at the Amex, where William Saliba conceded the equalising penalty for 'headbutting' Joao Pedro after both players challenged for a loose ball in the air.
"The story of Arsenal's season"
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PGMOL chief Howard Webb has since defended Anthony Taylor's on-field decision to award the penalty kick, but Watts believes that the Pedro-Saliva incident is another example of an unprecedented call going against Arteta's side.
"I can understand why Arsenal felt pretty aggrieved afterwards with that one," Watts added. "In real time, I looked at it and I thought that's probably a penalty. But when I got home and I was watching the replays in slo-mo, you see that little touch that Saliba gets to the ball, it's a very harsh decision. It's something you just don't see.
"We'll watch football for another 10 years, we will not see another penalty decision like that. And for Arsenal fans, they just feel like those sort of things are going against them time and time again. All these yellow cards for time-wasting, the yellow cards for kicking the ball away, all the things we've just not seen anyone else seemingly booked for.
"And then there's another incident there that ends up costing Arsenal two points. It looked like a game where they tired, but I still feel like they would have had enough to get the win had it not been for that decision. Brighton had a couple of extra days to prepare for that one, and I think that certainly helped them get the point. I think it really does feel like the story of Arsenal's season."
Arsenal had previously won four games on the spin between December 18 and January 1, but they will now hope to avoid a third straight match without a victory when they take on Manchester United in Sunday's FA Cup third-round contest, before a Premier League North London derby with Tottenham Hotspur on January 15.
Press play on the video above to hear the full discussion between Watts and Sports Mole on the issues Arsenal have faced so far this season.
Ben Knapton
