English Football: "Red Alert" for Arsenal
Coach Mikel Arteta and his team just suffered a 0-2 defeat to Newcastle United in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, which took place on January 8. The defeat is a warning to Arsenal's leadership.
Going into this match, Arsenal is rated higher in terms of chances of winning. In addition to the home field advantage, the team nicknamed "the Gunners" also possesses a better quality squad with the presence of David Raya, William Saliba, Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz...
Unfortunately, despite dominating the match, Arsenal failed to capitalize on their advantage. Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus wasted many good chances. Despite attacking a lot but failing to score, Arsenal received a "counterattack" from their opponents.
With the above defeat, it is almost certain that coach Mikel Arteta and his team will have to stop early in the Carabao Cup arena. Because in the second leg of the semi-final, Martin Odegaard and his teammates will have to play at St. James Park of Newcastle United. A trip "less good, more bad".
Thus, in just 3 days (from January 5 to January 8), Arsenal has gone 2 consecutive matches without a win. Before losing to Newcastle United, Arsenal was held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton in round 20 of the Premier League. Currently, after 20 rounds, Arsenal is 6 points behind the leading team - Liverpool and has played 1 more match.
If they do not quickly return to a stable trajectory, coach Mikel Arteta and his team will be widened the gap with Liverpool in the championship race. Do not forget that in the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 seasons, Arsenal were out of breath in the Premier League championship race with Man City, because of the lack of squad depth.
Therefore, to avoid that "mistake", Arsenal must recruit more players in the 2025 winter transfer window. The attack line is where the service of quality new players is needed. It is known that striker Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal) is the top target of the Emirates team.
Let's wait and see if Arsenal's board of directors dares to "open their wallets" so that coach Mikel Arteta can have the most satisfactory squad, in order to compete fairly for the championship with his opponents? It should be noted that Arsenal is competing in 4 arenas: Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and UEFA Champions League./.
