Mikel Arteta and Craig Burley (Photo by Alex Pantlin/Getty Images, ESPN FC/YouTube)
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was criticized for some strange substitutions during the weekend’s 0-0 draw with Everton.
The Spanish tactician will no doubt be disappointed to miss out on all three points in a game the Gunners really should have won, but he perhaps didn’t do himself a favor by replacing captain Martin Odegaard.
ESPN FC pundit Craig Burley believes Arteta’s substitution of Odegaard was “bizarre” as the Norway international linked up so well with Bukayo Saka and provided the game’s only real of sparks.
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In the video below, Burley comments that Arsenal looked quite unbalanced due to the threat of Odegaard and Saka, who was unable to match Martinelli on the other side…
Perhaps Burley is unimpressed by the changes Arteta has made by removing Odegaard, as beating Everton has proven to be a challenge anyway.
The 25-year-old is a world-class creative player and a very important part of Arsenal’s squad, so the north London giants will undoubtedly use him as much as possible as they currently don’t have any options.
It’s perhaps a concern, though, how Arsenal rely on Odegaard and Saka to provide all the magic in attack, while others like Martinelli really haven’t been good enough for some time.
Can Arsenal still win the Premier League title this season?
| Location | team | won | draw | lost | integral |
| first place | liverpool | 11 | 3 | 1 | 36 |
| second place | chelsea | 10 | 4 | 2 | 34 |
| third place | arsenal | 8 | 6 | 2 | 30 |
| fourth place | forest | 8 | 4 | 4 | 28 |
| fifth place | Manchester City | 8 | 3 | 5 | 27 |
Arsenal are clearly not out of the title race yet, but they have had too many draws at this stage of the season to make things very difficult for themselves.
One can imagine there will be plenty of people inside the Emirates Stadium absolutely kicking themselves that this slump occurred at a time when City were finally on the decline, while Liverpool and Chelsea were coming back so strongly.
Arsenal’s performance in the second half of last season was much stronger than last season, so there may still be some twists and turns in this title race.
