In the past two weeks Arsenal have seen their Premier League title hopes take a serious nosedive after giving up leads against West Ham and Crystal Palace en route to a pair of draws. In that time, defender Per Mertesacker has been observing from the sidelines and recently expressed how disappointed he was in the team’s performance.
The veteran Arsenal back expressed concern to the Daily Mirror over how the team has played over the past few weeks.
‘It’s about discipline,’ Mertesacker said.
‘We lacked a bit of that desperation, even when we were 2-0 up at West Ham, to defend and get everyone behind the ball
‘To come back to that level is absolutely important in the Premier League, and if you don’t you will get punished.
‘These details are very important to us and everyone can see it, it is obvious,’
Arsenal have claimed just 9 of the last 21 available points, beating Everton and Watford but losing to Man United and Swansea City while tying the Spurs, West Ham and Crystal Palace during the seven-game stretch.
As a result, Arsenal fell to fourth-place on the table this past week after their draw with Palace combined with Man City’s win over Chelsea – their lowest position on the table since November 2015.
The Gunners would be eliminated from the Premier League title chase with one more Leicester City win in the final four weeks.
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