Mikel Arteta has revealed why he thinks his side are under-performing in the Premier League in comparison to their Europa League form.
Arsenal have been inconsistent in the league winning four, losing four and drawing one of their nine games so far. Throughout they have looked devoid of creativity and averaged under 10 shots per game. Only Burnley, West Brom and Sheffield United have scored less than the Gunners who have now gone over eight hours without netting from open play.
In complete contrast the club's Europa League form has been scintilating. A 3-0 victory over Molde on Thursday meant that they qualified for the last 32 of the competition with two games to spare. The Gunners have won all four of their opening group games in a European competition for the first time since 2005 when they eventually went on to reach the Champions League final.
Arsenal appear to play with much more freedom on the continent, and as a result look a much more dangerous outfit.
The worrying disparity in performances has been a concern for all associated with the club.
However, it is worth noting that the Gunners have been in contention in all of their Premier League matches, losing by more than one goal on just two occasions. Speaking after the victory in Norway Mikel Arteta was keen to emphasise this.
"Yeah it's true that as well in the Premier League that the teams are winning the games by very small margins apart from one or two," he said when asked about his side's differing domestic and continental form.
"You see the games when they win, lose or draw it's very small margins. We've been in all the games probably apart from the last 20 minutes or 25 minutes against Aston Villa."
Arteta has gained a reputation for his straight-talking nature when it comes to dealing with the press though and was brutally honest when explaining why it is that the Gunners are struggling to come out on top in these close encounters.
"At the end the boxes are defining what you do in games" he said. "It's true that in the opponent's box we haven't been as resilient and ruthless as we have to be and we've paid for that with some results.
"And as you've probably said in the UEFA we've found ourselves with more flow, with more creativity in the final third I would say and a more 'let's go for it and express ourselves'.
"But obviously the opponent some days is not the same but yeah something to look at."
The Arsenal manager was upbeat about his side's chances of repeating their European form domestically going forward though, and provided an explanation of how he intends to get the best out of his team in the league.
"Well we try to encourage them to do that and to play with that freedom," he said when quizzed on his plans for his side.
"It's true as well that we have a lot of rotation in the team for many different reasons. For injuries, some of them for the performances.
"And obviously the challenges that we face is in the big teams that we faced already in the first nine games of the Premier League. That's one thing that we have to improve obviously and we are trying to improve it."
