Over & Out: THREE Reasons Why Arsenal Have Failed In Their Title Quest

Looking back at the Arsenal’s first game of the season, a 3-1 loss to Aston Villa at home, it showed signs of a disappointing campaign to come. Yet with the late purchase of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid and the quick, total-football style of Arsene Wegner, fans began to see the Arsenal of old.

However 2014 has not been particularly kind to Arsenal, and after a 6-0 thrashing from Chelsea at the weekend, their title chances have dwindled to nothing, in my eyes.

What happened to the imposing Gunners of yesteryear?

Well it can be narrowed down to three key points that inevitably have seen Arsenal’s league title slip between their fingers.

Form against big teams

As previously mentioned in the opening paragraph, Arsenal copped a whacking 6-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea at the weekend. Yet this isn’t Arsenal’s first hammering of the season. They have suffered defeats to fellow title contenders Liverpool and Manchester City, conceding five or more goals on both occasions.

As this year’s Premier League is a close battle wins against fellow title contending teams are highly valuable points that will escalate the team’s hope of title glory. However when Arsenal last came up against their title competitors a lack lustre performance saw them played off the park.

The three points lost against these teams looked to have knocked them out of the title race.

No replacement for Giroud

Olivier Giroud has showed the Arsenal faithful that he can be the man to lead the frontline this year, scoring 12 goalsto date. However, with no adequate replacement Giroud has had an immense amount of pressure placed on his shoulders to continually perform, not only in the league but in Europe and domestic cup ties.

Rumours were that Arsenal were in the market to sign a striker during the January period, though this did not transpire and may have proven costly for Arsenal. By having a replacement player of equal or greater ability of Giroud, the Gunners may have been able to provide more of an attacking threat, when Giroud struggled for form.

Mentally fragile as a defensive unit

When Arsenal take leads they are an unstoppable attacking machine. However when they concede a goal, the defensive line seems to drop their head and the flood gates open. As seen in the Chelsea game after conceding; the Arsenal defensive line seems to switch off mentally.

The defenders go from a zonal marking system to a full assault on the ball, leaving space for offensive players to run into. This leads to goals being conceded, and a lot of them. Even with Arsenal's experienced defensive line, this mental fragility has cost Arsenal when they needed stability in the backline.

Currently Arsenal should be stable with a top four finish and reappearance in Champions League this year. However this may be seen as a season of disappointment as they watched the league title slip away.

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