By the end, Mikel Arteta had crouched down on the touchline, hand pressed on forehead.
He’s an emotional character, for sure. The Spaniard’s heightened reaction to his side’s many methods of dropping points is not new.
Where this was slightly different, however, was his sheer exasperation, the kind which mirrored the groans of Arsenal supporters in the rows behind.
Both he and they could not muster how and why the Gunners managed to squander a two-goal cushion to leave with a draw.
For all their squad faults, it’s an underlying theme. Arsenal have now dropped 12 points from winning positions in the league this season, their most in a campaign since 2019-20 (21 points).
In comparison, Liverpool have just dropped four such points so far. Last season, title winners Manchester City ceded 10 in this fashion across their whole campaign and Arsenal haemorrhaged nine.
A despondent Mikel Arteta could not hide his emotion after Arsenal’s draw with Aston Villa
Ollie Watkins scored Villa’s second in 10 minutes to snatch a draw at the Emirates on Saturday night
The Gunners have surrendered 12 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season
An abysmal pattern which doesn’t match the typical ilk of a team chasing the title. It also presents opponents, regardless of whether they’re in the ascendency or not, the feeling that they have a chance of clawing themselves back into a game.
That was seen in Aston Villa’s side on Saturday. Once Youri Tielemans finished Lucas Digne’s excellent cross on 60 minutes with a diving header, their tails were up.
So much so, Tielemans struck a post less than two minutes later, and then Ollie Watkins mustered their second goal within the following six minutes.
In previous Arsenal matches, both at the Emirates and away, fan anxiety of the door being left open for opponents to make hay is a recurring mood.
They need to address this matter urgently, if Arteta’s men are to continue in the title conversation. Of the previous four seasons, the most points dropped by title winners Manchester City from a winning position was 13. It is that stark a factor.
Of course, the enforced rotation of personnel in the back four doesn’t help matters. An 11th different back four set-up in 22 league matches this season was used by the Gunners on Saturday, featuring Jurrien Timber at centre back for the first time in a league match due to William Saliba’s injury.
That can’t be helped, owing to the injuries of Saliba, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori. It’s an impressive roster for a backline, which is why before this recent weekend the Gunners had conceded the fewest goals across the league.
But what Saturday did highlight was the colossus impact of Saliba. In the other league match he missed, against Liverpool on October 27 due to a red card suspension, Arsenal squandered a winning position twice to draw 2-2.
Arsenal were without defensive stalwart William Saliba, who missed the clash through injury
And then his sending off against Bournemouth saw the north London club concede twice in the second half to lose 2-0.
The Frenchman isn’t fazed by one-on-one encounters on counter-attacks, a method Unai Emery’s team banked upon in periods. He also imbues a calmness at the back, leading by example. Arsenal could have done with this in the moments after Tielemans goal, which sparked the game into an end-to-end affair.
It goes without saying that the gaping hole in the Gunners’ attack has been the issue which has often cost them most.
Against Villa it was more deeper than this. They scored twice in the first hour and could have had at least two more if it weren’t for Mikel Merino’s strike hitting Kai Havertz’s arm before the ball landed in the net, or Leandro Trossard, who registered two assists, shanking the ball wide in injury time.
Their sheer lack of squad depth in a range of attacking areas on the pitch was apparent from looking at the teamsheet.
Villa had Jhon Duran, Leon Bailey and Donyell Malen on the bench. Duran has struck seven league goals this season, Bailey is a useful player out wide and in attacking midfield, and ex-Arsenal academy forward Malen signed from Borussia Dortmund earlier in the week.
For the Arsenal attacking areas, Arteta just had Raheem Sterling and academy pair Ismeal Kabia and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji at his disposal.
To rub further salt into the wound, Liverpool were able to get over the line earlier in the day against Brentford thanks to injury-time goals from substitute Darwin Nunez. They also had Federico Chiesa, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott on the bench. It makes the difference in depth all the more striking.
Raheem Sterling was the pick of Arsenal’s attacking options on the bench against Unai Emery’s side
Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table after securing a dramatic late win against Brentford
On Liverpool’s late win, Arteta said afterwards: ‘There are moments — obviously they (Liverpool) managed to do that. They made the subs and the subs made the impact and they managed to change the game.
‘In our side it was the opposite, even after conceding the two goals very close to each other.’
That appeared as shove rather than a nudge from Arteta to the Kroenke owners that signings are desperately needed in January.
They do need incoming players, a striker most urgently. But they also need to stop leaking from winning positions. A new forward can’t solve that.
