Arsenal's season threatening to implode with Mikel Arteta facing huge problem

Losing in the semi-finals of the Champions League was bad enough. Now Arsenal also face the prospect of being remembered as the Premier League team that finished third in a two-horse title race.

The Gunners’ season is threatening to implode - and you can be sure that all the old questions about whether Mikel Arteta has a team of serial bottlers will start to be dusted down. What made this defeat worse, against a team that has now done the double over Arsenal this season, is that Arteta sent out the strongest team he could.

Even with the challenge of trying to overturn that damaging 1-0 first-leg defeat at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain looming on Wednesday night, the Gunners’ boss felt that he needed to make a statement of intent despite the title already being celebrated in Liverpool.

It appeared to be going so well when Declan Rice added to his canon of quality goals by putting the home side ahead in the first half. But Andoni Iraola’s side enjoyed a famous win over the Gunners in the autumn - and they made it a double in their own quest for European qualification with two goals in eight second-half minutes from Dean Huijsen and Evanilson.

Arsenal go to Anfield next Sunday. By the time they perform a guard of honour for Arne Slot’s side they could be level on points with Manchester City. First up is a trip to the Parc des Princes and an opportunity to rescue the season - and reputations.

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One of the problems Arteta must solve in the French capital is how to win a midfield battle that went overwhelmingly the way of Luis Enrique’s men at the Emirates.

The Rice-Martin Odegaard-Thomas Partey axis was back in tandem against the Cherries. Partey was back in full swing after missing the PSG game with a ban that appeared more damaging with every foray Enrique’s team cut through Arsenal’s midfield last Tuesday night.

The Ghanian’s presence allowed Odegaard to produce flashes of quality and Declan Rice to show why there is currently no better box-to-box central midfielder in the business. Rice had already had three efforts on Kepa Arrizabalaga’s goal when another forward burst in the 34th minute was matched only by Odegaard’s raking pass through the middle.

After cleverly evading Arrizabalaga's desperate attempt to snatch the ball off his toes, the midfield fired into an empty goal and took a bow by the corner flag that was richly deserved.

At the Stade de la Meinau in Strasbourg, Enrique was taking no chances. With first-leg match-winner Ousamane Dembele troubled with a hamstring problem, the PSG coach made 10 changes to his team with the Ligue One title already secured.

Bournemouth, with their quaint 10,000-capacity stadium, a manager in Andoni Iraola who is surely destined for bigger things, and a group of players who like to hand out bloody noses, have become everyone’s second-favourite team this season.

But the Cherries have spent close on £350million in the last three years to build an ambition beyond just surviving in the Premier League. And while they will get much of that investment back if they decide to listen to offers for Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez and Antoine Semenyo like they did for Dominic Solanke last summer, the bottom line is that only some creative financial thinking has enabled them to meet PSR.

An eighth place finish will probably bring a passport to Europe this season and after conceding a last-minute equaliser to Manchester United last week, the need for some kind of return from the Emirates was obvious.

They got it through sheer persistence and more than a touch of excellence. Huijsen equalised in the 67th minute when he leapt unopposed to meet Antoine Semenyo’s long throw to head home.

And then Evanilson put their travelling fans in dreamland when he out-muscled Odegaard to bundle in the winner with his stomach.

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