Picking out the three worst Arsenal players of the season so far isn’t easy.
Not because I’m too nice to criticise them but because there have only been seven Premier League games, two Europa League fixtures and one League Cup clash.
What’s more, the players who I feel have been the poorest aren’t actually statistically the worst performing, so plenty of people are bound to disagree with my choices.
When the season started and Arsenal lost 4-0 to Liverpool during their third league game of the campaign, I would have struggled to pick the bottom three players but for completely different reasons.
As it stands, the Gunners have improved since that upheaval and I can give a more honest, less bitter opinion.
Granit Xhaka
Xhaka has been sloppy so far this season, which is disappointing after his Man of the Match-winning performance against Chelsea in the Community Shield.
The Switzerland international’s passing has been awry and during the opening games of the season, he made three errors which directly led to the opposition scoring.
While he’s improved slightly with the rest of the team, he’s not been up to the standard we saw in pre-season.
I really rate Xhaka, so it’s not as if I don’t want him to succeed. I just think he’s going through a rough patch at the moment.
Shkodran Mustafi
While the likes of Squawka actually rate Mustafi as Arsenal’s third-best player, mistakes he’s made against the likes of West Brom, when he could and should have conceded a penalty after bringing down Jay Rodriguez in the box, and BATE Borisov when he couldn’t deal the Belarusian side’s passing, have let him down.
Sure, the Gunners have kept five clean sheets and that’s probably boosted his stats, but individually I think he’s been poor.
Alexis Sanchez
I realise that most are probably going to disagree with my choice here since Alexis is still a lot of fans’ golden boy. I’m also aware that the 28-year-old has scored once and assisted twice for Arsenal this season. I’m not ignoring that.
However, in terms of how the Chilean has played since returning from his extended summer break, I believe he’s been one of the worst players in the team.
Stats tell one story and for once he’s not among the highest rated in the side.
However, his attitude after attempting to force a move away to Manchester City over the summer, combined with his selfishness on the ball and apparent inability to pay any attention to the other nine outfield players (except when he’s rolling his eyes) who are still very much his teammates is beyond disappointing.
Perhaps I am biased because I’m still mad as hell at his behaviour but I don’t think that anyone can argue that Alexis is playing anywhere near how he was last term.
In my mind, that lack of professionalism warrants his inclusion in the bottom three players so far this season.