Europa League 2019-20: Arsenal 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt: 5 Talking Points
It was a must-win game for Unai Emery, and his players well and truly disappointed him.It was once again a night of dismay for the Arsenal fans. Emery deployed a strong line up for the game because he clearly wanted to get a big victory, something the Spaniard hasn't enjoyed for a while.
But it wasn't his day either, and this might well be the final nail in the coffin for Emery.
Well, it was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, yet again, who opened the scoring in the 46th minute, courtesy of a brilliant cross from Gabriel Martinelli. But two scintillating goals from Daichi Kamada saw Eintracht Frankfurt come back into the game and take a 2-1 lead at the Emirates.
A game of more negatives than positives, these are the 5 talking points for Arsenal as they register their first home defeat of the season to Frankfurt.
#5 Arsenal lacked penetration
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli did everything they could to trouble the Frankfurt defence, but except for a few early saves, Frederik Ronnow really did not have much to do. Arsenal struggled to keep possession, and they could not defend deep due to how quick Frankfurt's forward line and midfield passed the ball around, eventually forcing Emiliano Martinez to make some crucial saves throughout the 90.
Without the likes of Nicolas Pepe and Alexandre Lacazette, Aubameyang looked pretty helpless and Saka was often left out wide, as he was asked to dribble past two or three players on his own every time he received the ball.
Lack of penetration from the wings and from the midfield limited Arsenal's chances to win the game, and the defensive trio of Abraham, Hinteregger and Hasebe put in a perfect performance to help their team register a much-needed win.
Arsenal only had 11 shots, despite having nearly 60% of the possession. There was no creativity from the midfield as Joe Willock was almost playing as a second striker, while Xhaka and Luiz could not offer anything concrete going forward, eventually leaving plenty of pressure on the tender shoulders of Saka and Martinelli, who could not overcome it.
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