Arsenal suffered a 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The Gunners are in the final stretch with a nine-point lead at the top of the table, but their loss on Saturday complicates things in the title race.
Who was Arsenal’s worst performer against Bournemouth?
If Manchester City win every one of their remaining games and manage to finish the season with a better goal difference, they will win the Premier League.
That is a big blow, and Arteta will have to look back at some of his decisions against Bournemouth now – especially one he made before the game even began.
Mikel Arteta changed Arsenal’s leadership group order vs Bournemouth
Mikel Arteta finalises his leadership group at the start of every season, and he rarely ever makes any changes to it.
For this campaign, the five-man Arsenal leadership group included captain Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Magalhaes, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino. Gabriel Jesus ranked sixth on that list.
Tony Adams has constantly urged Arteta to make Rice the new Arsenal captain, but that hadn’t happened all season.
However, on Saturday, when Odegaard and Saka were both out injured, the Gunners boss named Rice as the captain ahead of Gabriel.
That move surprised many fans, and some even felt that it could be the start of something new at Arsenal.
However, it completely backfired because the Gunners showed almost no fight and deservedly earned nothing from the game.
What did you think of Declan Rice being made Arsenal captain instead of Gabriel Magalhaes vs Bournemouth?
Mikel Arteta should stick to the basics as Arsenal struggle
Arsenal are in the most important part of the season, and the last thing Arteta should be doing is making unnecessary changes.
Yes, Rice is a leader, and an argument can be made that he should be the next captain.
However, Gabriel has always worn the armband when Odegaard and Saka were unavailable, and there was absolutely no reason to change that.
Adams probably would’ve been delighted with that decision, but it backfired, and Arsenal have now found themselves in a really difficult position in the Premier League title race.
It now remains to be seen if Arteta will change it back again in the coming games.
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