Tuesday 24 April 2018 13:44, UK
Arsenal travel to Manchester United this weekend needing to turn around a woeful run of results away from home.
Arsene Wenger's announcement he will be leaving the club at the end of the season was followed by a 4-1 home win over West Ham on Sunday. One week on, his Gunners - who face Atletico Madrid in their Europa League semi-final on Thursday night - will need to find an answer to their problems on the road at Old Trafford.
Wenger's side are pointless away from the Emirates in 2018, losing five straight games since the turn of the year, thanks to defeats at Bournemouth, Swansea, Tottenham, Brighton and most recently Newcastle.
Throughout the campaign, they can only boast three wins on the road, those coming at Everton, Burnley and Crystal Palace. Another four draws have been earned, while the other nine matches have been lost away.
Defensively, they have been poor, keeping a mere three clean sheets in 16 away games, conceding 26 goals in the process. Even bottom club West Brom (25) have conceded fewer than Arsenal during away games.
At the other end, their strikers have little to write home about, with the team collectively scoring 17 away goals.
On average Arsenal have collected 0.81 points per game on the road, leaving them with the 12th-best away record in the league. At home it is a different story, boasting the second-best record in the league.
Overall, Arsenal have won just 22 per cent of their 57 points on their travels, the worst record of the 20 top-flight teams.
Arsenal players have committed 11 errors which have resulted in goals in away games, which is a disappointing stat considering they have only played 16 away matches.
They took the lead at Newcastle at St James' Park but succumbed to a 2-1 defeat much to the team's frustration, as it was a microcosm of their season.
Petr Cech is baffled by Arsenal's efforts when playing away, he recently said: "It is very difficult to explain why because until last season we were one of the best teams in terms of the away record but somehow it has completely reversed this season and we don't seem to find the answer for it.
"When you commit so many team mistakes, away or home, you get punished and Sunday proved that. Of course, you try to address that but clearly the same things are happening. We don't do these mistakes - the team mistakes - when we play at home. Unfortunately, it has affected our results.
"Having gone 1-0 up, we were pretty much in control. The continuation of errors for the second goal kind of sums up our season. It devalues the good things we have done with errors."
Arsenal fans will hope the players' determination to send Wenger off on a high will lead to an end to their away day troubles soon - but the test at Old Trafford on Sunday, against a Manchester United team determined to finish second in the table, will be a daunting one.
