On the face of it, it was a comfortable win for Serie A giants Juventus in north London on Saturday night as an own goal from Granit Xhaka and a deflected effort from Samuel Iling-Junior separated the sides.
In truth, however, it was a lack of cutting edge up top that cost the Gunners what would have been a routine win as they struggled to convert their domination into tangible reward.
In the absence of Gabriel Jesus, who faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines, it was Eddie Nketiah who led the line against Juve and the difference between what the two players offer was made pretty clear.
For all his industry and willingness, Eddie struggles to replicate the sheer number of facets Jesus has to his game, which go far beyond scoring goals. The Brazilian is far from prolific, of course, but the work he does with and without the ball creates goals from nothing and allows others to flourish in attack.
In his absence, we simply don’t have the same presence up front. We struggle for a focal point, for a threat to worry opponents and, when all said and done, for a difference-maker.
In the first half of tonight’s match, Arsenal were dominant. There can be no complaints about the way they moved and retained the ball, hassled their opponents and, frankly, made them look extremely ordinary. The only thing lacking from their game was a goal or goals. For all their domination, they couldn’t put the ball in the net and, at times, looked a little sterile in the final third as they struggled to find a final pass.
Of course, their cause was hampered by the early loss of Reiss Nelson, who had looked busy in the opening stages, and the absence of several first-team personnel who are still to return to the fold, including William Saliba, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka.
That said, there was still more than enough quality on the field to keep control of the game but not enough to make the breakthrough. To make matters worse, Arsenal were sucker-punched at the end of the first half as Granit Xhaka put through his own net, giving Juventus the lead from their first foray into the Arsenal box.
Sadly, matters didn’t really improve in the second half and the game settled into a frustrating pattern which saw Arsenal huff and puff but largely remain at arm’s length. They simply lacked enough in the final third to pull themselves back into the match.
While there’s likely to be a world of difference between the line-up and the level of performance tonight and next week against West Ham, I do worry that the striker issue we saw tonight may bleed over into our Premier League season.
The injury to Jesus has left as a little exposed, as we were when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang departed last January, and we know how costly that ultimately proved to be.
It would still be foolish to panic because a bad signing is worse than no signing but something sensible needs to be done, even if it is only short-term (Joao Felix on loan, anyone?)
If teams catch on to our lack of threat up front, we become a much easier prospect to play against and, sooner or later, we will start to see points slip away as we did last season, much to our detriment. With Gabriel Jesus likely to be out for three months, it’s clear the team will need more than just Eddie to keep us competitive as we head towards the business end of the season.
All things considered, the result was no disaster for Arsenal and a two-goal win was flattering beyond words for the travelling Juve side. That said, the result laid bare an issue that is likely to rear its head again and again when the season resumes, unless Mikel and Edu respond decisively.
While we can afford a meaningless friendly on a cold north London night to slip away from us, we absolutely cannot let its lessons do the same. We need more up top and we need it now.
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