LONDON • No team is too good to go down as Newcastle, West Ham and Leeds can attest.
Arsenal have only once been relegated before – in 1912-13 – and boast the longest streak in the English top flight but that is the fate awaiting them if they do not stop the rot.
Gunners manager Mikel Arteta has admitted his players are in a “big fight” after slipping to their eighth league defeat of the season at the hands of high-flying Everton on Saturday.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side provisionally moved to second place, five points behind city rivals Liverpool (31) after beating the visitors 2-1 in front of 2,000 fans at Goodison Park.
At the other end of the table, the Gunners find themselves just four points above 17th-placed Fulham (10), who are above Burnley – the Clarets have two games in hand – only on goal difference.
After just one win in their past 10 league games, Arteta’s position is under intense scrutiny just four months following their 13th FA Cup triumph.
Red cards undid Arsenal in their previous two games and much of the damage was again self-inflicted, as Rob Holding’s own goal opened the scoring for the Toffees. Nicolas Pepe’s penalty briefly levelled the scores, but Yerry Mina’s header after Arteta’s side switched off on a corner on the stroke of half-time secured a third consecutive win for Everton.
To exacerbate the situation, captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was ruled out before the game with “a small strain” that is set to keep him out for one to two weeks.
Arsenal have made their worst start to a season since 1974-75 but Arteta was still defiant as the sack rumours grow louder.
“We reacted really well,” the Spaniard said. “We dominated the game… We hit the bar. We don’t have the luck.
“There is no question, the results are not good enough and not acceptable for the standards of this club, and this is the challenge and the fight that we are against.
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14
Arsenal’s tally of 14 points from 14 league games represents their worst start since the 1974-75 season.
“It’s a really complicated situation, but I am very encouraged from what I see from the players to continue doing what we are trying to do.”
But pundits feel Arteta is in trouble as his players do not have the stomach for a relegation dogfight.
Former England captain Alan Shearer told the BBC: “Awful, no creativity, players going through the motions, not working hard enough and not closing down.
“Mikel Arteta should be a worried man relying on that group of players trying to save his job, 12 goals all season, they have no options.”
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS