Arsenal are wounded.
The Gunners took on a Tottenham Hotspur team in poor form at the weekend, having seen Jose Mourinho’s side fail to beat both AFC Bournemouth and Sheffield United in the past few days.
It was the first north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the hosts were victorious.
That was despite Alexandre Lacazette’s brilliant opening goal, a genuinely rasping drive distance that beat Hugo Lloris all ends up.
They held that lead for less than two minutes, though, as a stray Sead Kolasinac pass was seized upon by Son Heung-Min, who then beat David Luiz and lifted the ball over goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Toby Alderweireld headed Spurs into the lead late on, a header that proved to be the winner, which came after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang rattled the crossbar with a close-range effort.
The result leaves the Gunners in ninth, a place below Spurs, and four behind seventh-placed Sheffield United, while also nine behind fourth-placed Leicester City.
As the campaign nears its end, it appears that plans for the summer transfer window are ramping up.
And the Gunners are set to allow defender Konstantinos Mavropanos to leave the club on loan.
That’s according to sport-fm.gr, via Sport Witness, who claim that the Greek defender is set to move to Stuttgart after undergoing a medical on Monday.
The 22-year-old has made just one senior appearance for the club this season, playing 90 minutes in the 2-2 draw with Standard Liege.
Mavropanos joined FC Nurnberg on loan in the January transfer window, going on to make 12 appearances for the German club.
Stuttgart won promotion to the Bundesliga this season, meaning he is likely to be playing in the German top-flight next season.
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
Mavropanos hasn’t really made it work in north London.
The young defender moved to the Emirates Stadium in 2018, costing a fee of £1.8 million from PAS Giannina.
However, he has struggled for first-team football, never making more than four Premier League appearances in a single season.
A Greece U21 international, Mavropanos is not likely to find his way into Mikel Arteta’s team any time soon and one has to think that his loan move could be a route to a permanent exit.
He is valued at £2.16m by Transfermarkt and one has to think that receiving any kind of fee would be good business for the Gunners.