Mikel Arteta’s 200th Premier League game as Arsenal manager was not so much a celebration as a wake for another title challenge that fell short.
Arsenal’s nearly men produced another nearly performance in the 1-1 draw at Manchester United, a display that was so much of their season in microcosm, leaving them needing binoculars to see Liverpool, who lead the table by 15 points.
The Gunners weaved pretty patterns around Old Trafford with their 68.2% possession, but barely landed a serious blow on a United side short on quality and shorn of confidence until Declan Rice’s crisp 74th-minute strike levelled Bruno Fernandes’ trademark free-kick in first-half stoppage time.
Arsenal have been fading for weeks, the failure to sign a recognised striker exposed as a flawed strategy, with injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz compounding the absence of key figure Bukayo Saka.
And their failed transfer policy came into sharp relief at Old Trafford when, with Arteta’s side needing a winning goal to keep even their wafer-thin title chances alive, he turned to full-back Kieran Tierney, who is leaving for Celtic at the end of the season, rather than forward Raheem Sterling.
Sterling was a last-minute signing in the summer transfer window on loan from Chelsea, but has been unable to make any impact.
It appeared to be an Arteta vanity project as he believed he could revive a career that had come to a dead halt at Stamford Bridge, where Sterling was marginalised by manager Enzo Maresca, despite working with him during more successful times at Manchester City.
If proof of the deal’s failure was needed, this was it. It was a bad fit when Arsenal desperately needed a goalscorer.
The sight of midfielder Mikel Merino labouring as an emergency striker to no effect emphasised how Arsenal had left that key position to the fates and lost.
Arteta admitted as much as he said: “The efficiency we had in the last 20 metres wasn’t good enough. We know that.
“To come to Old Trafford and do what we did is superb, but you have to capitalise and we didn’t. We then had to try to overturn the result after going behind and you know how difficult that is here.”
This does not take into account Arsenal had 48 hours more to prepare for this game than Manchester United, who played away to Real Sociedad in the Europa League on Thursday, and have injury problems of their own.
Arsenal, who won 7-1 at PSV in their Champions League last-16 first leg tie on Tuesday, had these factors in their favour but were still not good enough to cash in.
