Arsenal given title race verdict as Mikel Arteta substitutions vs Everton called into question

Title race over?

William Saliba’s hands sunk to his hips. Jurrien Timber launched into an immediate debrief with Gabriel Jesus. Jorginho tried to lift his teammates. There was little doubt that this was more than just two points dropped.

As the full time whistle blew the energy was sucked out of the Emirates Stadium. Only a few could muster the energy required to boo.

READ MORE: The three strange Arsenal calls Mikel Arteta made against Everton that proved costly

READ MORE: Alexander Isak sends clearest Arsenal transfer hint yet as Mikel Arteta call exposes huge issue

In an attempt to pick things up the stadium DJ tried to play Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ . There is a certain amount of irony in the fact that it had been cut off by adverts before the opening guitar solo had even come to an end.

Arsenal have already felt like they were starting this title race in the pit lane. They could not afford to play any of these games over the festive period at anything less than top gear. For a while it looked like they would achieve that with emphatic victories over Nottingham Forest and West Ham. Over the past couple of matches though they have began to stall.

These past two weekends should have been good for Arsenal. Through a mixture of bad weather and bad performance Liverpool have picked up just one point. Arsenal though, have only picked up two.

In both games they were dominant and Mikel Arteta fairly claimed that his side should have won post-match. But ultimately they failed to do enough.

You wonder now if they have run out of road in the title race. It may only be December, but Arsenal are probably in a position now where any more dropped points would be fatal. For a side who have struggled for consistency all season, it’s hard to see how they come back from this.

The Gunners are tracking for 71 points as it stands this season. That will not be good enough to win the title.

Strange subs

If this does turn out to be a fatal blow in the title race then Mikel Arteta certainly has to take a portion of the blame.

Martin Odegaard had been far from his best in the match. The Norwegian should have put Arsenal in front in the first half and had failed to create a real opportunity of note for his teammates.

Still though, you would take an out of form Odegaard over no Odegaard at all. That is unless you’re Arteta.

If it was an injury he could have been forgiven. “With Martin it was a tactical decision to try to change their rhythm on that side,” the Spaniard confessed at full time however.

The decision is odd for a few reasons. Firstly, as mentioned, Odegaard is Arsenal’s best creator, even when he’s out of form. Second, the idea that you could only have one of Odegaard or Ethan Nwaneri on against Everton at home is bizarre. In the aftermath Arteta boasted of his side’s control over the game.

“There was only one team who deserves to win - which is Arsenal,” he said. “We gave nothing away, no shots conceded, we dominated their play, didn’t allow them to run, no set pieces, high press excellent. We generated the chances.”

The reality is though, control doesn’t win you points. Goals do. Arsenal needed a creative presence on the pitch. Instead their title race swung on the ability of a 17-year-old to come to the rescue.

It’s also worth pointing out that there were other players who deserved to come off before Odegaard. It was obvious from early on that Gabriel Martinelli was enduring another one of those days at the office. Somehow the Brazilian lasted 74 minutes though, and Arsenal’s best impact player, Leandro Trossard was given just 20 minutes to impact the game.

Then came the decision to bring on Thomas Partey and flip Jurrien Timber to left back. The decision nullified Arsenal’s ability to exploit any spaces out wide and once again they were reduced to lumping balls into the box in hope rather than expectation.

Arteta moved to defend his subs after the game. “I understand,” he said of potential criticism. “If Ethan comes in and he scores a goal, it’s a great substitution. If he doesn’t, you have taken your captain out. That’s football.”

These are decisions that have cost Arsenal more crucial points though. They are his and his alone.