Arsenal went down 2-1 to Brighton and Hove Albion away from home on Saturday in the Premier League and with this loss, the Gunners’ Champions League hopes have been dealt a huge blow.
The North London side still have to play teams like Liverpool and Spurs and right now they are eight points off the final top-four spot on the table(before Chelsea take on Villa on Sunday).
And as per Ray Parlour, the Gunners have not done themselves any good with this loss and that they are actually making negative progress.
‘This was a game they had to win,’ Parlour told Stadium Astro, as reported by The Mirror.
‘Not a lot of people would’ve given them a chance against Manchester City in a normal league period. But going to Brighton, if you’re going to compete with teams at the top – everybody’s dream at Arsenal is to get back into the Champions League, but these are the sides you’ve got to beat.
‘They got themselves in a good position by getting the opening goal, but they always give teams a chance. That’s the problem with Arsenal at the moment.
‘Fair play to Brighton, they took that chance and they scored two fantastic goals – especially the last one. It was a fantastic winner for Brighton. But the fans will be very much on their backs a little bit now because they demand more of the players. They demand wins, they demand getting closer to that top five.
‘At the moment Arsenal are going backwards.’
Mikel Arteta took charge of Arsenal right after Unai Emery was sacked in December of last year but over the past couple of months, the North London side have made very little progress under their new boss.
Initially, the Gunners managed to play some eye-catching football but their defensive gaps have just gotten bigger with time and right now with all the injuries, teams like Brighton are also taking the mickey out of the once English giants.
It will really hard to judge Mikel Arteta’s tactics immediately as we feel the Spanish boss will need a few more transfer windows before he can name a starting line-up which he really likes.
