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Men's Football Arsenal are running out of time to turn it around

ARSENAL is a bleak place to go at the moment. The Christmas trees are up at the stadium and their vast hospitality halls might be decked with boughs of holly but nobody is feeling very cheerful.

A dismal patch of form has taken the Gunners nine matches without a victory in all competitions, their worst run since 1977. The top four is now almost out of the question as they sit 10 points off the pace, but with just four points between them and the relegation spots, it throws into stark reality the importance of a result in tomorrow night’s trip to West Ham.

Most damming is the fact that this evening’s clash brings to a close their easiest run of games all season, having managed only seven points in their last eight games since meeting another “top-six” side.

The atmosphere between players and fans has turned toxic once again with a chorus of boos ringing around Ashburton Grove after each of their last two home games which both ended in defeat by Frankfurt and Brighton respectively. Even the introduction of club legend Freddie Ljungberg as caretaker manager hasn’t been able to get the team back to winning ways.

Following the departure of Arsene Wenger, under whom Ljungberg won two Premier Leagues and three FA Cups, many fans were realistic enough to consider that things were going to get worse before they got better. Nobody feared that the situation could get this dire.

Appointing former players as managers is certainly in vogue at the moment and a glimpse across at Chelsea and even, to an extent, Manchester United, would have led you to believe that, if not success would flow, then at least some sort of stability.

Although the Swede has held various coaching roles in the club’s academy since 2016, including U23’s manager and first-team assistant coach to Unai Emery, it’s quickly become clear that he is out of his depth.

While his position was always seen as a temporary fix rather than a long-term solution to the club’s woes, the presence of Ljungberg on the touchline has not had the galvanising impact that head of football Raul Sanllehi and technical director Edu had hoped for. With that not forthcoming, the search for a permanent suitor has become increasingly urgent.

Despite that, Ljungberg was unequivocal when asked whether he would like the job full time. “100 per cent I can do it, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “But it’s difficult. When confidence is low, it’s low.”

The job of building that confidence is nigh on impossible when rumours have been circulating that star strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are both considering a departure next summer when their contracts expire. Both have been visibly frustrated by the lack of togetherness within the squad and fractious relationship with fans.

Indiscipline has been a recurrent theme for the Gunners in the past season and a half and when it centres around their key players like Mesut Ozil, Granit Xhaka and Aubameyang, who are supposed to be demonstrating leadership to their younger teammates, it compounds their gloomy predicament.

With West Ham also in a desperate run of form at the moment, tomorrow night’s game has massive implications for both sides but especially Arsenal. 

Ljungberg knows it is a tough place to go having spent the 2007-08 season after leaving the Gunners, and he’s called on his big players to dig deep and “change this downward spiral.”

But his team selection has raised a few eyebrows with some of the most promising players, like Nicolas Pepe and Kieran Tierney, not receiving starting berths yet under the interim boss.

“We have a big squad of course so I haven’t said I’m going to build the team around specific players,” he said.

“I felt I wanted to play the experienced players when it’s such a difficult situation as it is at the moment. I made a conscious choice to pick older players to take that responsibility and change the games.”

Ljungberg is no doubt doing his best with the tricky situation he finds himself in. However, sympathy for him will start to wane if his side falls even further into the uncharted abyss. 

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