Leandro Trossard has rubbished talk that Arsenal have deliberately become a boring outfit.
The Gunners have lost three of their last six matches in all competitions, while failing to score in four of those games. That has led to the snipers suggesting Mikel Arteta’s troops have abandoned their previous free-flowing attacking instincts in favour of a more pragmatic, safety-first approach this season.
But Belgium ace Trossard vehemently disputes that outsider perspective, dismissing the idea their Spanish supremo has suddenly devised a new defensive masterplan in an attempt to turn his two-time title runners-up into champions.
For, although the recent goal-shy stats do not make pleasant reading, he feels that is down to chance circumstances in individual matches rather than any pre-conceived strategy.
Ahead of today’s trip to high-flying Chelsea, the Arsenal playmaker, 29, said: “No, we don’t have that mindset going into games but every game has a different outcome.
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“If you go down to ten men, or you’re at a tough place and only 1-0 up, then you have to manage games. We’ve been really good at that. From the moment Mikel was at Arsenal it showed that he wanted to play out from the back, get in good positions in the box and play football.
“There’s no instruction to play cautious. It all depends on the game state. Sometimes you have to do that. We need more goals. We know that. Everyone is working hard. At one point it will click. We will do everything in our power to make that time this Sunday.”
Arsenal endured a dry spell in front of goal last Christmas when losing three in a row and netting only once. Yet, with the critics sharpening the knives, the North Londoners responded by winning eight on the bounce in the league – and rattling an astonishing 33 goals in the process.
And positive Trossard is convinced the same can happen again. He recalled: “It was a similar path last year. People were doubting us scoring but in January we had a spell where we were putting five past opponents.
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“Every season you have a rough period and it’s down to us to get going again. The belief in the team is still really high. We have such great players. We can turn it around quickly.”
No better place for a statement victory, then, than at Stamford Bridge – with Enzo Maresca’s hosts currently above Arsenal in the table on goal difference. Trossard admitted: “Yes, definitely, because that’s what winning games does.”
Arsenal, who have skipper Martin Odegaard fit at last, actually produced 20 shots in their midweek 1-0 Champions League defeat at Inter Milan. But but only four were on target.
By contrast, Chelsea’s second string slammed eight past Armenian minnows Noah in the Europa Conference League 24 hours later. Trossard, however, is not reading too much into those respective results.
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“It’s hard to compare Inter and the team they played – and we were away,” said the ex-Brighton playmaker. Inter were Champions League finalists. They’re one of the best teams in Europe, especially defensively. We limited them to one shot on target and had 20. It’s up to us to put the ball in the net.”
As for potentially losing more ground in the title race by the end of the weekend, Trossard is not panicking as he feels those worries are both irrelevant and premature.
He explained: “We don’t busy ourselves with that. We don’t need to look at others, we need to look at ourselves. It’s too early to do mathematics. There’s so many games left.”