During the international break Arsenal legend Thierry Henry had come under some criticism after he expressed his negativity towards Mikel Arteta.
Speaking at the Prime Video Presents Sport 2021 showcase event, he said: "I don't know if things are going in the right direction.
"I watched the Brighton game. Did you watch it? I've seen us beating Norwich before, winning at Burnley, beating Tottenham at home - because we always beat Tottenham at home."
Henry said this at a time where Arsenal had seemingly turned their season around after such a disastrous start, as wins against rivals Spurs and Burnley followed with impressive performances.
Fans felt the former Arsenal striker was being harsh due to the change in the form the Gunners had seen but after the club’s Monday night draw against Crystal Palace, the Frenchman may have been correct after all.
Alexandre Lacazette’s equaliser which was the last kick of the game against the Eagles had bailed Arsenal out from losing their first Premier League game in five matches.
But this should not paper over the cracks, as it was a lacklustre performance in general.
For the first time since the September international break the Arsenal defence were unable to bail out the toothless attack as sloppy errors led to multiple Crystal Palace goals, which the forwards were unable to rectify.
A lack of fluidity in attack has been a regular theme for the Gunners this season as the team have only scored seven goals in eight Premier League games with three of these coming in one game.
The 1-0 victory over Burnley was settled with a set-piece goal from Martin Odegaard and the win against Norwich was due to a luck deflection that fell to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who was able to tap it in.
This is a real issue for Arteta, which he has not been able to address and it causing the side to drop points due to the inability to score goals.
The defence alongside midfield being sloppy and gifting the opponent chances was a common these last season which we saw on Monday evening.
Thomas Partey’s dispossession by Jordan Ayew gifted Christian Benteke the equaliser and the team never recovered from this moment.
A lot of cracks had been papered over after impressive defensive displays led to tight 1-0 victories but the lack of attacking threat has started to be exposed in the last two Premier League fixtures.
There hasn’t been any improvement on the attacking phase of play since last season and Thierry Henry certainly has a leg to stand when criticising the direction Arsenal are moving in because the performance against Crystal Palace was not up to the standard required.
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