Five Emirates Stadium stars who are simply not offering the Gunners enough this season.
Mikel Arteta
Spaniard hasn’t enjoyed life in a holding role and has been abysmal in big games and is frankly off the pace and not good enough.
On his day the former Everton man can dictate the play and play a box to box role but far far too often the 31 year old has been found wanting and has fallen between two stools. Unable to act as a buffer repelling opposition advances and has lacked the creativity to pick out a killer pass.
Lukas Podolski
German forward is suffering from the infamous second season curse and has rarely impressed.
The 28 year old has netted in just two of the 12 Premier League fixtures he’s played in, the last of which coming last December.
Has failed to offer Olivier Giroud support and is a player who flits in and out of games on a regular basis. Often leaving supporters double checking to see if he’s even on the field of play.
Olivier Giroud
At his best the French forward is decent but on the whole he’s not much more than average, as evidenced by his record against top quality opposition.
The former Montpellier man can’t be faulted in terms of effort and determination but he isn’t exactly lethal in front of goal and the attributes he does possess don’t exactly lend themselves well to Arsenal’s style of play.
Santi Cazorla
Another player who’s second term at the Emirates Stadium bares little resemblance to the efforts of his first.
The pint sized playmaker has flatted to deceive this season but perhaps more worryingly offers so little in the way of defensive duties that he’s in many ways a luxury player Wenger can’t afford to use on a regular basis.
Four goals in 24 Premier League appearances isn’t a glowing return and lacks the urgency in the final third that he perhaps possessed last season. Some may point to a lack of a proper summer break due to last summer’s Confederations Cup exertions as a mitigating factor, which is perhaps a fair argument.
Wojciech Szczesny
Whilst the Pole is adept at pulling off the occasional world-class save it appears more simple efforts on goal cause the 23 year old all sorts of problems.
Talk of interest in Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas is entirely understandable and arguably when called upon Lukasz Fabianski has looked more dependable than his compatriot.
SEE ALSO: PES 2014 best players: the 20 highest ranked players on Pro Evolution Soccer 2014.