It was another chastening night for Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium. In a Premier League-deciding heavyweight clash the Gunners couldn't lay a glove on Manchester City.
The verdicts afterwards were equally brutal from the pundits. "Honestly, it’s the acid test when you play Man City now," Martin Keown told BT Sport after the game. "Haaland and De Bruyne, they're at another level now. When those big games come around the players have really performed at a higher level and the whole stadium is used to winning things here now. City and Arsenal, you could see a huge gap between the two clubs and Arsenal are probably about 10 years behind them."
This though feels unfairly harsh on a Gunners side who are clearly closing the gap on City. There is one issue though that Mikel Arteta needs to fix in order to overtake his former mentor Pep Guardiola.
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The lack of belief Arsenal approached this game with probably stemmed from the absence of William Saliba. The Frenchman had played every minute in the Premier League before a back injury last month and was vital to the Gunners' table-topping form.
It wasn't just what he offered in terms of defensive know how, but his ability on the ball was arguably more important. In Saliba's absence Bukayo Saka has been able to influence games far less and the Arsenal build up has been noticeably slower. This is largely down to the limitations of Rob Holding, and up against Erling Haaland, those were laid bare for all to see.
If anything has become abundantly clear over the past few days however, it's that modern football is a squad game. City were also without a huge player in Nathan Ake, but they were able to replace him with a world class player in Kyle Walker.
If Arsenal want to close the gap, then it's this gap that they must start to bridge. Reducing the back up in quality from the first team down to the reserve players is essential.
In fairness to Edu though, he has provided Arteta with a player who could have made a difference last night. Jakub Kiwior has barely had a sniff since arriving from Spezia in the January window. The Polish international doesn't seem to be fancied by Arteta as things stand. He's not the only one of the Arsenal second string who Arteta has had trust issues with in recent times. Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Tavares were both omitted from the starting line up at crucial stages last season when it seemed the Spaniard didn't feel he could rely upon them.
It is here where Arsenal must find a way to improve. Arteta seemingly only has 15 or 16 players in his squad that he feels he can trust. Over the course of a season where the Gunners will battle across four competitions, that simply isn't going to be enough.
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