In Arsenal’s quest for perfection, the small errors carry big consequences

For all the work that has gone into widening the ‘small margins’ Mikel Arteta and his players reference so often, Arsenal continue to undermine themselves. Two underhit backpasses sealed their fate in Bournemouth on Saturday night, with Leandro Trossard’s one leading to a William Saliba red card and Jakub Kiwior’s resulting in the hosts scoring a decisive second goal late on.

This 2-0 loss was the third time Arsenal dropped points in the Premier League this season, with each of those occasions accompanied by a red card for one of their players.

Declan Rice and Trossard’s dismissals in the draws against Brighton (1-1) and Manchester City (2-2) respectively were more debatable than Saliba’s here. Even so, Arsenal putting themselves in these positions is not a sustainable recipe for title challengers.

“We’ve kicked ourselves in the foot three times in eight games and we got away with it at home to Brighton and away at Manchester City,” Rice told Sky Sports, the game’s UK broadcaster, after their first defeat of the season. “We can’t make silly mistakes.

“You need all your best players on the pitch at all times. The belief is so high and we will stick together. This is football. Whatever happens, the most important thing is that you stick together and stay in the right direction.”

Some perspective is important.

This was Arsenal’s first away Premier League loss of the calendar year, with Arteta’s side winning 10 and drawing two before their trip to the south coast.

That record stretches back into last season, a campaign that deserves to be revisited properly. While Arsenal were excellent after the new year, speaking in the summer, captain Martin Odegaard said: “It is easy to look at one game but you have to look at the whole season. We didn’t have the consistency to win it. We have to earn it. We know we can improve. That’s what we are working for. It is just small details and how to deal with a long season.”

In 2023-24, Arsenal’s consistency wobbled in relation to how they gifted teams away goals in the first half of the season. It saw them drop seven points at home against Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham at home in a season where they finished two points behind champions City.

On Saturday, those kinds of wobbles were seen again in Trossard and Kiwior putting Saliba and David Raya in precarious situations.

Arteta was correct in his post-match press conference when saying: “They (the players) have the best intentions. Willy (Saliba) has never done anything like this and he doesn’t do it on purpose, or what happened with the second goal.” It was the first time Saliba had ever been shown a red card in his seven seasons of league football.

He was also correct to call it “an accident waiting to happen not to get the points” after going down to 10 men on 30 minutes when Saliba was sent off for tripping Evanilson as the Bournemouth forward chased Trossard’s wayward ball.

All Arsenal could do for the rest of the first half was react to the situation they found themselves in and survive. They understandably showed more personality in possession with 10 men against Bournemouth than they did against City last month but once again, a match hinging on split-second decisions is not helping them.

Gabriel Martinelli had a positive impact in his first few minutes on the pitch after replacing Trossard but should have done better in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. His shot to the far post, one that he has despatched many times previously, was telegraphed and proved to be yet another turning point. Bournemouth were 1-0 up mere minutes later after Ryan Christie finished off a clever corner routine Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover would have been proud of.

Jover’s work at set pieces has been one of the key reasons behind ‘small margins’ working more in Arsenal’s favour in recent years. The 18 Premier League red cards received since Arteta’s first game in charge on Boxing Day 2019, five more than any other team in the division over that period, go some way to closing them again but not by themselves.

Sometimes, a plan may not come together as envisioned. Arsenal seemed to be drifting even with 11 men as their midfield trio of Mikel Merino, Thomas Partey and Rice struggled to flow properly.

Rice and Merino had freedom to roam across midfield in that first half-hour but Bournemouth’s aggression out of possession made progressing the ball into that part of the pitch difficult.

In his pre-match press conference, Arteta said: “Next week will be crucial to understanding how close (the injured Odegaard) is.” Those two home games against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday and Liverpool next Sunday will likely be too early for the Norwegian to return from the ankle problem that has already sidelined him for over a month but how Arteta sets up his midfield — and now his back four — will be an area of debate.

Ethan Nwaneri came on for what proved another confident cameo. Despite Arsenal already being 2-0 down, he still had a zip to his passing and even took over corner-taking duties from Rice. A start against Liverpool would be unlikely but Shakhtar’s Champions League visit could provide a decent chance to see how the 17-year-old performs as the side’s creative spark in midfield for longer than the 10 minutes he got here.

In defence, Kiwior stepping in as a right-sided centre-back replacement was expected. He first filled in there during Saliba’s injury absence in 2022-23 and has done so occasionally since. His substitution after the mistake for Bournemouth’s second goal, where the Polish defender’s underhit backpass allowed Evanilson to seize on the ball before he was brought down by Raya, setting up Justin Kluivert to score from the spot, was slightly unexpected, however.

Pre-match, Arteta also said that Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jurrien Timber were all “quite close” to making the matchday squad. White and Zinchenko did so, with Timber missing out. This won’t be an issue against Shakhtar, as Saliba can play, but ensuring Timber is fit for Liverpool could now be vital.

Kiwior did not play badly, other than his error, but trust will be needed in whoever replaces Saliba next Sunday. Timber has built that at both left-back and right-back. If fit, he could be the problem-solver Arteta is looking for, with both the Netherlands international and White able to play either at right-back or central defence.

Just one match into a third block of games this season, Arsenal have already been more regularly stress-inducing than their manager, players or supporters would have liked. Despite all this, even if they lose further ground to Liverpool and City when they play their matches today, it is too early in the season to catastrophise.

How they responded in the absence of their captain last month, with five wins and two draws, showed how Arsenal could adapt to survive in the Premier League. It would be nice, however, if they went one weekend without needing to adapt to absurd circumstances.

(Top photo: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)