Homesick Gunners slip 11 points off the pace

IT HAS been scarcely three months since Herbert Chapman’s bust was lifted off its pedestal in Highbury’s marble halls and shunted 500 yards down the Holloway Road, but already Arsenal are beginning to cast affectionate glances back towards their old home.

Moving is always a traumatic experience, especially in north London’s extortionate property market, but Arsenal’s failure to settle in their sparkling new Emirates Stadium is threatening to derail their season before it has even properly begun. This was another tepid, purposeless performance and the cold reality for Arsene Wenger and his players this morning is that they trail the Premiership’s early-season pacesetters Manchester United by a mammoth 11 points. Defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday, and Wenger might be tempted to rule his side out of the title race before the leaves have started falling from the trees.

Arsenal’s board would be justified in seeking an explanation for their squad’s failure to make the Emirates a home from home, and they are unlikely to be satisfied with Wenger’s theory on Saturday that the club’s PA announcer was partly to blame. The Frenchman was peeved at the latter’s insistence on reading out long, convoluted transport updates and encouraging fans to remain in the stadium to watch Arsenal TV while his side were desperately scrabbling around for a winner in the game’s closing stages. “I was very annoyed,” he said. “I think he has to respect people because it was very disturbing.”

Gareth Southgate, Boro’s rookie manager, was more pointed in his analysis. “I just think it’s a mental thing,” he said. “So much of the game at this level is played in the mind and you are not dealing with the ghosts of the past when you come here. Everyone has got the chance to play on a fantastic stage and it’s something every player in my dressing room was looking forward to.”

And there’s the rub. While Highbury was close, cramped and crammed with history, the Emirates, with its glittering glass and shiny steel, looks and feels like an unusually roomy airport terminal.

Middlesbrough certainly found it to their liking: they had conceded 23 goals in their last four visits to Arsenal’s old home, but they could — maybe should — have won here.

“Psychologically, the fact that we were coming to a new ground was significant for us, because of our recent record at Arsenal,” said Southgate. “Other teams probably won’t have that issue with it, but it’s something for them to bear in mind.”

Southgate, too, has plenty to ponder, most obviously how Middlesbrough — the Robin Hood of the Premiership — can so consistently steal from the rich and give to its poor. A notable scalping of Chelsea and this plucky draw have been counterbalanced by heavy defeats to Reading and Portsmouth, and it was a similar story last season.

The decisive difference on Saturday was the presence of Jonathan Woodgate, signed on loan from Real Madrid, at the heart of Boro’s defence.

The 26-year-old’s steel-clad performance rendered the debut of Arsenal’s William Gallas a virtual irrelevance and suggested that, after almost three years of unremitting misery with injuries, Woodgate might be ready to reclaim his place at English football’s top table.

Woodgate has been stymied in the past by his tendency to be led astray by acquaintances. Temptations were removed during his Spanish sojourn, but a return to his native Teesside appears fraught with potential dangers.

Woodgate’s bow should have seen a victory after James Morrison’s splendid early goal, but the game was transformed just after the hour when George Boateng, the Boro midfielder, was sent off for a second bookable offence in as many minutes.

Thierry Henry took just five minutes to exploit the numbers game, levelling from the penalty spot after Emmanuel Eboue had been felled by Stewart Downing.

Opta Fact: All the goals Arsenal have scored so far have been netted in the final 30 minutes of matches.

Opta Fact: Boro have only kept two clean sheets in 23 Premiership meetings with Arsenal.