Louis Saha's Premier League title take shows what Arsenal have to deal with this season
Arsenal were nailed-on title winners just a matter of days ago. After one bad result and performance, the tide has quickly shifted away from the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta's men were well beaten by Brighton on Saturday, in what was a rare poor performance from the Spaniard's team. They were outfought, outpressed and ultimately outplayed by an athletic side who had their number.
The nature of the defeat will certainly concern Arteta, although the tactician won't go overboard. Arsenal had won seven games in a row in all competitions before this clash, while they had won nine league matches on the bounce prior to the trip to the south coast.
Some perspective on this result is needed, although it's fair to say much of the pundit class aren't taking this nuanced approach in their analysis.
Before the season started, Arsenal were overwhelming favourites to win the title in most people's books, while Chelsea were widely tipped to challenge the Gunners for this piece of silverware. Fast forward five weeks, and City are now being dubbed the best team in the land, while the Blues have been cast aside as overhyped flops.
This is the reactionary world of football discourse we live in today. The results on any given matchweek can flip the narrative instantly, and there's little we can do about it.
Speaking on Sky Sports after this weekend's action, former Manchester United striker Louis Saha claimed that City look 'frightening' at the moment and that Enzo Maresca's side are the 'strongest' team in the league.
"It's frightening."
Louis Saha on why Manchester City are his favourites to win the league this year 🏆 pic.twitter.com/JBGy1Y7o7R
"I think everyone can say that Arsenal had the best momentum, even if they lost it towards the end [of last season]," he said.
"I think now City understood their mistakes; even if they have young players coming in, they have experience. Their combination of strength and creativity is enormous in midfield, so I do think they are the strongest one. On the bench as well,[they are strong] because Jeremy Doku is coming back; it's frightening."
No one would doubt that the display at the Amex was poor from Arsenal. However, it was also very uncharacteristic of Arteta's side. They looked physically vulnerable, struggled with the opposition's press and were exposed defensively at times.
In almost all of the Gunners' games over the last few years, none of these descriptions of their performances would've been valid. So, for the time being, the Brighton showing can be pushed aside as an anomaly.
If these struggles persist post-international break, then there may be a case to be made that there are concerns for Arsenal to address. However, just days ago, the Gunners were being talked about as one of the best three or four teams in Europe, while some weren't quite convinced by the early days of Maresca at City.
For this take to radically change in such a short space of time is ludicrous, but Arsenal will need to grow accustomed to these sorts of shifts in the discourse. Many are incapable of holding fire with their opinions, and thus, the Gunners will have to put up with hyperbolic nonsense throughout the season on a week-to-week basis.
If Arteta and his players can block out this noise, then they will have nothing to be concerned about regarding their title credentials.
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