The 45-minute mistake Mikel Arteta made to cost Arsenal three points against Manchester City

Mikel Arteta very rarely makes half-time substitutions, and while I was pleased to see both Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze entering the field of play, the changes were 45 minutes too late. Less so Saka of course, with Noni Madueke having a good game once again.

Yet seeing Eze enter the field halfway through, when he should have been in from the start, while also going on to get the assist, which saved the Gunners a point, was bittersweet. Arteta has used the midfield of Mikel Merino, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi three times this season, while on the field in their structure, they have scored zero goals.

Only in Bilbao, when Merino moved further up the pitch after the substitution of Viktor Gyokeres, did the goals come courtesy of Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard. Arteta refused to explain the selection after the game, claiming that there simply was not enough time to do so.

• Bernardo Silva claims Arsenal had advantage as blunt point made over 'not fair' decision
• Viktor Gyokeres tells Mikel Arteta what he wants to hear with honest Arsenal admission

“Because I say it was the best one to start the game,” he said when pressed for a basic explanation. “Nobody asked me about the midfield three in Bilbao, nobody.”

No one asked in Bilbao because the game was won, and the attention was on the heroics, which, to be blunt, bailed the Gunners out with the Spanish side looking threatening. At home, to a title rival who many labelled Arsenal as favourites to beat, they were expecting the handbrake to come off.

A 5-1 win last season, even the 2-1 defeat in 2022, showed more from Arsenal to go and win the game. No one can discount the dominance that Arsenal had in the draw, but it was a lack of invention and variation in their attacks.

It is perhaps no surprise that the goal itself came from a long ball, and a brilliant finish. Viktor Gyokeres, for the third game against a “Big Six” side in a row, had zero shots.

The question is whether that is a Gyokeres problem or an Arsenal problem. For me, it is more so the latter because Arsenal simply did not create any of the chances that the Swede would thrive from.

It took until the 70th minute for a low, driven-through ball to be played, which ended in Gyokeres winning the Gunners a corner. He will be great in games against sides in the lower half of the division and should solve the clinical finishing aspect of the club’s shortfalls in previous seasons.

However, he simply will not solve the issue of creativity. That falls on Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, who have been injured, and then Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Ethan Nwaneri, among others, to fix.

But the manager needs to pick them, and while Madueke has been chosen and shone, when the chance came to start Eze against City, Arteta opted for safety; he opted for insurance, and it backfired.

On the topic, Arteta said, “Well, there were a lot of very good balls in the box, especially I remember three of them that he was very, very close to doing it against City.

“To have very big open chances is extremely difficult, but he's certainly trying his best and trying to do that, and we have to provide more for him, that's it.”

It is difficult, but it is possible, and Arsenal couldn’t find a way to do it despite all of the dominance they had. More needs to be seen.

Of course, Arsenal has not been afforded a more favourable opening to the Premier League season—a chance to bed in their new players and find a rhythm.

Instead, they have been thrown into three tough away trips, the third of which is on Sunday at Newcastle, and two home games, which they’ve won at a canter. There are concerns, but they’re not cracks in the foundation of a genuine title charge destined to be a continual issue; they’re more like bad weather interrupting construction.

Should Arsenal find a way to win in Newcastle, they would have earned 13 points from a possible 18, dropping just two. If the title is lost at any point, it will not be because of what has happened in these early matches.

The signs are positive and can get even better with Saka returning, Martin Odegaard fighting to be fit, and more players yet to come back too. This was certainly a match Kai Havertz would have relished, and that variety which is lacking in the number nine role, with two of three strikers out injured.

It was vital Arsenal did not lose this game. They now embark upon several games where they can build momentum into the November gauntlet and, they hope, to be in a very different place by that time.