Shaka Hislop has told ESPN that victories over Norwich City and Burnley are not enough to lift all the doubt surrounding Arsenal after Mikel Arteta’s side’s poor start to the season.
The Gunners kicked the campaign off with three-straight defeats, all without scoring, to sit bottom of the Premier League. Losing to Brentford and Chelsea also put pressure on Arteta with The Telegraph reporting the Spaniard had five games to avoid a fight to keep his job.
Three games into that run, Arsenal have followed a heavy defeat to Manchester City with wins over Norwich and Burnley. Yet the Gunners’ performances have not impressed Hislop, who believes question marks are still in place at the Emirates Stadium.
But Hislop adds the biggest positive in recent weeks for Arsenal is that players are getting back to fitness. The north Londoners have been hindered by covid-related absences and injuries, including for captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and midfielder Thomas Partey.
“Let’s be honest here, on the up in terms of Arsenal, it ain’t that up,” Hislop stated. “I’m just being honest. It’s easy for me to say: ‘Yeah, Arsenal are on the up’. They started by losing to Brentford, I’m not sure how you go down from there. But they had to respond.
“Without question, Arsenal had to respond. After Brentford, you had Chelsea, you had [Manchester] City, you had Norwich, which made Norwich and Burnley absolute must-win and they’ve done that.
“It was not spectacular, it’s not one that is going to lift all the doubt over the red half of north London. But it’s a step in the right direction and most important, Arteta is getting all his players back and fit after injuries to start the season.”
Have Arsenal turned a corner, despite brutal Hislop verdict?
Arsenal ended August bottom of the Premier League to leave Hislop with no doubt that Arteta’s men had to respond. The Gunners now sit 13th after back-to-back 1-0 wins over Norwich and Burnley, but without delivering commanding performances.
Yet Arsenal host Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and can go above their north London rivals with a 2-0 win. Spurs were top of the table after three games as the only side to win each of their opening fixtures. However, Nuno Espirito Santo has overseen two 3-0 defeats on the bounce to Crystal Palace and Chelsea since.
Arsenal, then, can start to remove some of the doubts Hislop notes are still in place if they beat Tottenham. But Arteta will need to see a better performance when two sides who have only scored two and three goals respectively so far this season meet at the weekend.
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