Arsenal: 5 Things We've Learned About the Gunners This Week

Another tumultuous week for the Arsenal faithful. An embarrassing league defeat—this time against bottom of the table Blackburn Rovers—was softened somewhat by Arsenal's progression to the next round of the Carling Cup, overcoming a competent Shrewsbury Town side.

Read on for a full analysis of where Arsenal stand looking ahead to Saturday's game against Bolton Wanderers.

Arsenal Still Suffer from a Serious Lack of Leadership and Cohesion in Defence

 Two embarrassing own goals and two goals conceded to a player that was playing in the championship last season are not the hallmarks of a title-winning side.

For all the promise shown by Arsenal in the attacking third, they were let down once again by sloppiness at the back.

This has nothing to do with the high-profile departures of former captain Cesc Fabregas or Samir Nasri. No, this stems from a much older issue for Arsene Wenger: instilling the same kind of collective spirit in defence that defined the Graham era.

Title-winning sides are built on a solid and dependable backline to anchor the midfield and salvage the points when the attack is at sixes and sevens.

If Arsenal are unable to rectify this glaring deficiency quickly, they are in real trouble of slipping out of the top four this season.

Mertesacker Will Need to Step Up His Game If He Is to Warm Himself to Fans

Supposedly acquired because of his commanding presence for Werden Bremen and the German national side, Mertesacker did not endear himself to the Arsenal faithful with his dithering display on the weekend.

His detractors, who have often cited his lack of pace as a fundamental reason he won’t succeed in the Premiership,  were no doubt smiling knowingly during the below-par performance against Blackburn.

It’s early days still, but the pressure is firmly on the big German to demonstrate to the fans just how he’s going to help plug the holes in Arsenal’s leaky defence.

Arteta, Gervinho and Van Persie: An Effective Attacking Unit?

For all the negative headlines associated with the loss, Arsenal’s forward play is showing signs of significant improvement.

Returning from suspension, Arsenal new boy Gervinho caused the Blackburn defence all manner of problems with his movement in the first half; helping himself to a well-taken goal.

Arteta, too, looked lively, composed and unafraid to get stuck in the tackle, while Robin Van Persie rounds off what could potentially be a very effective attacking trio for the Gunners this season.

It Will Take a Lot for Wenger to Be Given His Marching Orders

The doomsayers were out in force heralding the "beginning of the end" for Arsene Wenger’s tenure in charge at the Emirates. 

In response, Ivan Gazidis came out publicly in support of Arsenal’s most successful manager of all time. And rightly so.

After all Wenger has achieved it will take a lot more than three defeats in the opening month of the Premiership to warrant his dismissal.

Let’s see how things are looking by Christmas before we start call for anyone’s heads...

Things Can Only Improve from Here

Arsenal also played in the Carling Cup this week and, despite a wobbly start, ended up fairly comfortable winners.

There were a lot of positives, most notably further signs of the continued return to form of Marouane Chamakh, as well as the arrival of former Southampton sensation Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Loan signing Yossi Benayoun also managed to get himself on the score sheet, and could prove to be a very useful addition to the squad based on his performance.

If Arsenal can learn from their mistakes against Blackburn and build on their strengths in the Carling Cup, things can only improve for the Gunners in the coming games.