Being one of the premier clubs in the world means that some of your players will end up in the World Cup. But that should also mean that most of your players in the World Cup have a chance to advance to the next round. Unfortunately for Arsenal supporters, the team’s representatives in Russia have had a woeful time with a number of the Gunners bowing out in the first round of the competition.
Before focusing on the negative, there have been a couple of bright moments for Arsenal players at this World Cup. Granit Xhaka scored one of the goals of the tournament for Switzerland in a comeback win over Serbia in the group stage. And David Ospina recorded two clean-sheet victories in the group stage, despite his struggles in an Arsenal shirt. But outside of those moments of brilliance, the five Arsenal players who escaped their groups weren’t elite by any means.
Two of the five Arsenal players who have made the knockout stages of the World Cup have failed to see the field. Nacho Monreal of Spain and Danny Welbeck of England may be in quality sides, but have not contributed to that quality with their play on the field. Swiss captain Stephan Lichtsteiner was forced to miss the round of 16 due to the accumulation of yellow cards. While Betfair World Cup betting tips may be backing England and Switzerland, thanks to their overall quality, these Gunners have not helped the cause much.
And that is before focusing on the four Arsenal players who failed to get out of the group stage. Of the four Arsenal players who failed to move on in the tournament, one was a part of the most high profile flameout in recent World Cup history. That player is Mesut Ozil and his German squad were the disappointment of the tournament in failing to get out of the group as defending champions. This was the third straight World Cup that the defending champions failed to escape their group.
Most of Egypt’s World Cup campaign was focused on Mo Salah and his public relations crisis. And the play of Mohamed Elneny certainly didn’t do much to help the team. He didn’t create much of value for Egypt, and was a part of a team that lost all three of their matches in Russia. Alex Iwobi of Nigeria and Joel Campbell of Costa Rica both recorded one positive result with their team during the World Cup, but both players were anything but electric and couldn’t help their teams avoid elimination in the first round of the tournament.
So far, Arsenal players haven’t done much to inspire confidence during the World Cup. And with new manager Unai Emery surely watching the performances of all of his players as he continues to make personnel decisions, one would think that Arsenal players are feeling the pressure to perform in Russia. So far, they have folded under that pressure, to say the least.
