With Arsenal in the midst of a very soft run of fixtures and in hot form, pundits had been looking forward to Christmas and forseeing Arsenal as potential table toppers coming into the festive period. They looked to have a stronger and deeper first team squad than ever, and their best players are in good form.
But yesterday’s goalless draw with Middlesbrough summed up exactly why others had cast doubt over the Gunner’s title aspirations. Arsenal were in classic Arsenal mode: dominating possession but failing to take shots when the opportunity presented themselves.
They could even have lost the game, and had Petr Cech to thank for keeping them in it.
No team win the league with 38 wins, but come the end of the season it will be frustrating results like this that will cost Arsenal the title unless they improve their ability to efficiently dispatch small teams in the way that their rivals do.