Arsenal: 4 players who have let them down this season
With over a half a season gone, we find Arsenal sitting 6th on the Premier League table, well off the pace compared to the other top 6 sides. The Gunners have struggled after Christmas, winning only once in six matches across all competitions.
The team has already been eliminated from the FA Cup and their League Cup campaign could also reach its end next week as they take on Chelsea in the second leg of the semi-finals. In the league, Arsenal are eight points adrift from a top 4 finish.
Not playing in the Champions League should've been a big plus for Arsenal regarding their league ambitions, but instead, they are in danger of finishing outside the top four again.
Here are 4 players who have let Arsenal down this season:
#4 Petr Cech
Petr Cech was a real coup for Arsenal in 2015 after the Czech goalkeeper was deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea following the arrival of Thibaut Courtois. The club hadn't had a strong figure between the pipes ever since David Seaman called it a day.
Cech had a great debut season at Arsenal, recording 16 clean sheets, the joint-best in the league. The second year wasn't bad either with a saves percentage of 75.5, only bettered by Tottenham's Hugo Lloris (76.5 percent).
However, one of the greatest goalkeepers in Premier League history has struggled this season. His saves percentage is only at 62.2, which is the sixth-worst in the league among goalkeepers who have played at least ten games.
He's been on the cusp of becoming the first Premier League goalkeeper with 200 clean sheets but hasn't managed to do it for a while.
Cech has conceded ten goals in five games since having the first shot at the 200th clean sheet against Liverpool on 22 December. On average, he's allowed 1.3 goals per game this season. It's a very lowly mark, considering that the top goalkeepers are all allowing less than one goal per game.
During his two and a half seasons at the club, Cech has also failed to save any of the 15 penalties he has faced, diving the wrong way 12 times. That's a very worrying stat for a team that's conceded the most number of penalties in the league since the start of the 2016/17 campaign.