Since the start of 2018, Arsenal have won just 6 away matches, and are the only team not to keep an away clean sheet this season. Their loss at Goodison Park this weekend highlighted the major issue once again – why is Arsenal so bad away from home?
With the top 4 race heating up, 4 of Arsenal’s last 6 matches will be away from the Emirates. The Gunners currently sit 10th in the Premier League away table, and their Champions League hopes will come down to their performance in these final 4 away matches, and it’s difficult to bet on them succeeding.
One of Arsene Wenger’s most notable downfalls in the back end of his Arsenal career was the abysmal away form of the club. In his final 8 Premier League away matches, the Gunners picked up a shocking 7 losses and 1 win, with the one victory coming in his final match against Huddersfield. What makes that record even worse is the fact that 5 of those 7 losses came to teams below them in the table – aka, teams outside the top 6.
Teams Arsenal have beaten away from home in the Premier League since the start of 2018:
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) April 7, 2019
- Huddersfield
- Cardiff
- Newcastle
- Fulham
- Bournemouth
When Unai Emery came into Arsenal this past summer, one of his major tasks was to reverse the away form. While he has improved the side to a slight extent, the Gunners are still a poor away team, especially compared to their rivals. It’s even more amusing that Arsenal chose Emery as Wenger’s successor and entrusted him with the task of improving their away form, when the Spaniard once famously went through an entire league season without an away with, just 3 years ago with Sevilla. But clearly Arsenal’s issues go beyond the manager, so what are the reasons for it?:
The mentality at the club, and especially with the players, is too weak.
This is something that has been a common narrative in football for a long time, and it has been all but confirmed with their struggles away from home: Arsenal is a mentally weak side. They simply lack the confidence, the belief, and the mentality to handle intense away fixtures and deal with adversity within those fixtures. The addition of players like Torreira and Sokratis has improved this from last season, but there is still a deep problem with the squad as a whole. People tend to underestimate how crucial the mental side of football is, but it makes a massive difference during crunch time.
Today makes you feel that Emery’s biggest challenge - changing the comfort zone culture at Arsenal - is still to come.
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) April 7, 2019
There’s an attitude within the squad of heads down, woe is us whenever they struggle away from home. It still feels too easy being an Arsenal player.
Turning around this mentality will take time for Unai Emery and his staff, and it seems unlikely that they will improve it by the end of the season, meaning that Arsenal might struggle to produce anything in these final 4 away matches. The mentality at the club has to change, that is for certain.