Despite Henrikh Mkhitaryan having only made two starts for Arsenal since his move from Manchester United in January, fans are already starting to worry about that Arsene Wenger has broken the 29-year-old.
Miki’s first start for Arsenal last weekend was brilliant. The midfielder was unstoppable against Everton and provided three assists during a match his side won 5-1.
His 65 minutes on the pitch against Spurs were another story.
The Armenia was mostly anonymous during the game, only completing 20/25 passes in total (80%).
Not that Miki is known for his pin-point precision considering, even during his successful final season at Dortmund, he only managed an average pass completion rate of 75%.
Arsenal brought Miki on board in exchange for Alexis Sanchez because he’s creative and, as he demonstrated against the Toffees last week, his ability to pick the final pass, even if he only completes 80% of the rest, can be excellent.
Against Spurs, Miki made zero key passes. None. Nada.
He only had 37 touches of the ball. To put this into perspective, Petr Cech had 61, and while the goalkeeper was Arsenal’s man of the match, pulling off six saves, our attacking midfielder really should have been more involved.
When the 29-year-old did manage to serge forward and create some space, on at least two occasions he panicked and hit the ball wildly into an area where there were none of his Arsenal teammates.
Just like most of Arsenal’s midfielders, Miki was wasteful and sloppy.
It was a bizarre performance, leading Arsenal fans to question whether their club has already managed to break him after just three appearances.
Have we broken Mkhitaryan already?
— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) February 10, 2018
What on earth is wrong with Mkhitaryan today?
— Terje (@ArsenalTerje) February 10, 2018
Fear not, the real Mkhitaryan is back. pic.twitter.com/lvGClVeYB5
— The Man Utd Way (@TheManUtdWay) February 10, 2018
This is why we can’t have nice things!