Arsenal implode again as their title dreams crumble

Mikel Arteta waited 84 minutes to make a substitution in this damaging draw with Aston Villa, and when he finally broke glass, his only tool was a blunt Raheem Sterling.

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE

For all Sterling’s known talents, he is a 30-year-old winger of fading impact and it was enough to wonder whether the player he was replacing, an utterly shattered Gabriel Martinelli, might still have been the better option as the minutes ticked away.

Arsenal’s lack of depth right now doesn’t entirely explain how they contrived to draw this game 2-2, having led 2-0 after an hour, as mighty chunks of their title bid crumbled away. Aston Villa deserve plenty of credit. But it was conspicuous that where Arteta made only one substitution, just minutes before kick-off here, Liverpool had snatched victory at Brentford thanks to a £60m substitute, Darwin Nunez, one of five luxury second-half changes by Arne Slot.

Football in the five-subs era is now a new game of two halves: the first hour, in which the first XIs play; and the final 30 minutes plus added time when half of the outfield players change, when tactics shift and identities morph and games are won and lost. Arsenal have lost 12 points from winning positions this season, more than in any of the previous four seasons under Arteta. Right now they are unable to muscle the result away from their opponent, unable to bend the game’s narrative arc in their favour in the way Liverpool did at Brentford, and again in midweek when Diogo Jota came off the bench to sink Nottingham Forest.

Arteta can justifiably blame key injuries to Ben White, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus, as well as knocks to winger Ethan Nwaneri and left-back Riccardo Calafiori. Yet that should not be enough to leave a title-chasing squad so thin in a key Premier League game, and seemingly unable to cope with the rigours of a title race. Certainly they seem unable to cope without William Saliba, injured here and missing for only the second time all season.