Arsenal pair Petr Cech and Laurent Koscielny reportedly insisted that the squad cancel their Christmas party plans amid fears it would anger supporters.
The Gunners saw their Premier League title hopes take a huge double-blow last week after defeats to Everton and Manchester City, with the manner of their performances also attracting heavy criticism from their fans.
In turn, according to The Mirror, they decided that dressing up in fancy dress for a night out would be a bad idea and instead some of the first-team stars opted for a drink or meal in a rather low-key option.
Having now fallen nine points adrift of league leaders Chelsea, it’s not exactly the Merry Christmas that Arsenal staff, players or supporters would have wanted as they did little to silence their detractors last week who continued to question their title aspirations despite an impressive start to the season.
In all honesty, it was definitely the best decision to call off the Christmas party as it wouldn’t have reflected well on the players and they could really do without receiving further abuse right now.
Instead, Alexis Sanchez and others were with 150 young fans at a Junior Gunners party on Thursday, with the likes of Hector Bellerin, Mesut Ozil, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud joining him and as mentioned above, many are expected to go for a less controversial option.
The annual event will be put on hold this Christmas, but perhaps they’ll have more to cheer about in the New Year’s party if they can pick up positive results against West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace over the next week.