Saka out with an illness, Saliba out indefinitely, Tomiyasu out for the season, Man City battered Liverpool 4-1 earlier today, not what you want to see as an Arsenal going into this Leeds game but we handled them with a second-half onslaught to take us back to 8 points clear with a game in hand despite all those things going against us with a 4-1 win over relegation fodder Leeds. Gabi Jesus got back on the scoresheet with two goals, Trossard got himself another assist, Xhaka got a goal, Thomas Partey didn’t get injured and I didn’t have to suffer through a roller-coaster of a game. All to play for with 9 matches left, 9 cup finals, let’s do it fellas.
In our best Drake and Future voices: “What a time to be alive”. This team man, I swear, is going to be the end of me, good or bad. This team’s belief in all their matches, the relentlessness, and the refusal to give in, is incredible. And they showed it again today with a comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 over Bournemouth at the Emirates. Just incredible scenes to fight back in a must-win game. I have been preaching all year you can’t lose your home games if you want to win the title and these guys did their best to fuck it all up to the league’s worst team. Can’t really explain how, can’t really explain why, they just did it again in 90+ plus minutes, the third time in the 2023 calendar year, Arsenal secured a winner in stoppage time to keep their 5 point lead at the top of the table.
After disastrous defeats to Everton and City and a disappointing draw at home to Brentford, Arsenal has fortunately rebounded with two huge away wins at Villa and at Leicester today with a 1-0 victory. Arsenal have extended their lead at the top to 5 points and gives us room to breathe while City playing Bournemouth in the coming hour.
Table: Arsenal have now extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points, albeit perhaps briefly, as Manchester City travel to Bournemouth this evening, with kick-off moments away. #afcpic.twitter.com/nXVbcOFLOO
All things considered, Arsenal seemed to have somewhat stabled and righted the wavering ship, games against Everton midweek and Bournemouth are prime opportunities for Arsenal to pick up points and put pressure on City.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
Leicester was dreadful. Leicester who still has so much to play for in their quest to not get relegated were objectively poor today, considering the circumstances of playing at home, with the league leaders coming into town, and they just stood back and soaked all the unnecessary pressure. Arsenal playing teams that dive into a low-intensity low-block is my favorite type of team to play. They offered no staggered pressing at all to switch things up like Brentford did, they had no cohesive strategy whenever they did win the ball which left Kelechi ridiculously isolated between Gabriel and Saliba, just an all-around disaster from Leicester, not complaining by any means, just saying the biggest driver to Arsenal’s 1-0 victory.
Martinelli rollercoaster continues: In the first half, this man was driving me crazy. Every decision he made, was the wrong one. As a right-footed LW, he seems satisfied with just going down the line to play on his weaker foot, not even giving the defender an inkling of doubt that, you know, he might want to get on his right to wrap a right-footed shot at their shit keeper. Just maddening, as well as the few times the ball got stuck to his feet when we were intricately playing around the box and he just fucked it up. But to be consistent with what he has done all year, he gets us that all-important goal to solidify the 3 points with a devastating run for the easy finish. Just an enigma for me right now, but as long as he is scoring, I won’t say a word.
And just like that, Arsenal dropped another two points at home to mid-table Brighton with a 1-1 draw at the Emirates. Very frustrating afternoon considering the opportunity we had to rebound from a 1-0 loss to Everton last week, and we were at home, it was all set up for us to smack Brentford before Man City on Wednesday and it was not good enough, to say the least. 4/10 and 5/10 all over the pitch for Arsenal players, with all to play for is disappointing but we move to Wednesday against Man City.
THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST HALF: Arteta started with the same starting XI we have seen for most of this season and I think we are at a point where we need a change or two to spice things up. Arsenal saw a lot of possession to start the match as you would expect but Brighton unlike the earlier matchup between the two teams was well-organized and stood up to the Gooners at every turn. Martinelli, Eddie and Xhaka for me, were way below the standards we had set for ourselves heading into this match, never getting and coming into the match like we needed them to, made life easy for Brentford whenever they received the ball around the box. Just a lack of cutting edge from our standout players this season. If we are being honest, Brentford had the more clear-cut chances in the first half with well worked counters between Mbuemo and Ivan Toney up top where Arsenal didn’t cope with the pressure well at all. Rico Henry had a sitter where he incredibly hit it off target and Toney hit the crossbar with a wide open net as well. The chances for Arsenal were few and far between where there were spells of well-worked possession and intricate passing around the box but we were never able to open the low block/5 defender set that Brentford set themselves up with, leaving both teams going into the half tied 0-0.
THOUGHTS ON THE SECOND HALF: Arteta seemed to have gotten into the Arsenal players at the half as we came out of the blocks with may more intent and pressure than the first half. Arteta knew what was at stake and before the 60th minute mark, got Trossard ready to come in for Martinelli which was surprising, given the fact that Arteta usually waits on subs instead of being aggressive to make changes. Trossard who benefitted from the tired Brentford legs was lively from the start and was giving Roerslev the runaround a bit before Saka found space and time on the right to whip in a cross which was was well-finished and well-timed by Trossard:
It was a perfect moment. Arsenal had broken the deadlock and secured themselves 3 points to extend the lead before this debacle:
Just terrible, fucking terrible. Zinchenko getting pinned off, Saliba was dominated by Pinnock, Ramsdale all at sorts, and Toney had the easiest goal in his life.
BUT Lee Mason, that disgusting human being who was on VAR assignment for the game failed to take into account Christian Norgaard’s positioning for the goal. He did not draw the offside line for the Danish midfielder which then allowed for the goal to stand for Brentford. Just an abysmal performance from the Premier League, PGMOL, and Lee Mason for not doing the bare minimum for their job. Like the only reason VAR should exist is to get the objective parts of the game right, and they have failed in VAR’s tenure to do that consistently. It’s so basic, so frustrating.
Brentford's equaliser against Arsenal was wrongly allowed to stand because of human error. VAR failed to check whether Christian Norgaard was offside before crossing for Ivan Toney. Story @TeleFootballhttps://t.co/iivb7Ssigf
🚨 It is understood that VAR operator Lee Mason had instead focused on a possible offside offence a few seconds earlier, involving Ethan Pinnock & Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães, before failing to ‘fully investigate’ Christian Norgaard’s positioning. [@SamJDean] #afchttps://t.co/LTSHRcBxEvpic.twitter.com/FwA1u9fwwP
At the end of the day, Arsenal weren’t good enough over the 90 minutes to get the 3 points, fair to say Arsenal are hitting their current low point of the season and needs to get their heads back yesterday before things unravel even worse, no better time to do it then against title challenger City on Wednesday.
MATCH RATINGS:
Ramsdale: 5/10: Made decent saves throughout but in the biggest moment of the game, came up short
Ben White: 5/10: Been pretty poor for the past few weeks
Saliba: 5/10: Outdueled by Toney for most of the game, lost out to Pinnock for the goal
Deep down, all Arsenal fans were waiting for this moment, when our backs are against the wall against a team we are undoubtedly better than player for player. Everytime this season, we have been able to back it up and collect the 3 points but this wasn’t meant to be at one of our bogey grounds, against 19th place Everton at Goodison Park. We haven’t won at the ground since Alexis Sanchez and Ozil were on the team and looks like we have to wait for next season to lift the curse as they nicked us 1-0 to stall our lead at the top of the table, through a Tarkowski back post header off a corner, kill me.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
Where does this put the title? Don’t panic. This match halts our title league aspirations for sure, keeping us 5 points ahead of City but games like these were bound to happen. What we can’t do is panic as there is so much football left to play. We have City twice, City at multiple points throughout this season have looked vulnerable to dropping points this season as they actually drew Everton first time they played this season. Too early to panic, just take care of our business and we will be fine.
Dreadful in attack today: Outside of Saka, I thought Martinelli, Ødegaard and Nketiah were absolutely dreadful today. Everton came in playing with a brand new manager and the new manager bounce is always possible but at the end of the day, champions win against 19th place opposition no matter the circumstances and these 3 were terrible today. Not once, maybe Eddie on one dribble in the second half, did they take responsibility for any attacking pressure to Everton, it was just lifeless from all 3 of them as Saka throughout the match did put Mylolenko in a body bag, he just didn’t get the support from his teammates.
Xhaka may be feeling tired? Xhaka today was also someone today that stood out today as being absolutely useless. Every opportunity he picked up the ball in the half-spaces between Martinelli and Eddie, he gave it away. Because if our inability to retain possession properly, Everton were able to counter Thomas and Gabriel/Saliba at ease with Zinchenko and Ben White also isolated high up the pitch. We may need to look to give him a rest or he needs to get his shit together for Brentford next week.
Gabriel has become our best CB at the club: Saliba will get all the plaudits for how good he has been in his first season and Ben White has been tremendous at RB but Gabriel as of late has become a monstrous colossus at the back for us. His ball-winning, ball retention, aerial duels, etc. He does it all for us at the moment. Many many times he was isolated onto Dominic Calvert-Lewin and every time he bulled the englishman and he’s pretty much taken care of every opposition he has come against. Maybe its the motivation on missing out the Brazil World Cup team, but he has been our best defender the past few months, fully deserving of this new contract extension.
5. Trossard might need to start next week against Brentford over Martinelli: not permanently, but just to rotate our squad a bit and give us a new look going forward. I have been on Martinelli the past few weeks on being too-one dimensional in our fluid attack and things haven’t gotten better. We were able to put paper over the cracks with Martinelli’s goals but that well seems to have dried up dramatically and maybe a new change of pace up top might be the answer for the time being.
6. Bounce back against Brentford at home and take care of City and we are back on track: Lot easier said than done for sure, but time to man up. Put up or shut up time for the boys, you’d wish it wasn’t prompted after losing at Everton but that is the position we find ourselves in, time to put things right these next few games.
Nobody knew what to expect tonight when the PL leaders Arsenal and City faced off in the FA Cup. Maybe some people were expecting a barn burner of a game with two high-pressing, high-octane offenses would clash for the first time this season and instead, they got a cagey, kind of dull, lethargic FA Cup tie. City squeaked out a 1-0 win at the Etihad to advance in the Cup but you won’t find me pressed about it.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
PREMATCH: I played every scenario of what I thought would happen tonight. With City, there is always a possibility of getting smacked, look at their 6-3 win over United and their 4-0 win against Chelsea in the last round. The tough guys would say play your starters full throttle, don’t be afraid of City so on and so forth. As cool as that is, the players are human beings and deep down it wouldn’t be the same for them in a FA Cup 4th round when they know they face these guys in the league in a few weeks. City also have the ability to smack us with 4 goals with all of our starters if we don’t show up as well so not giving them the chance to have that mental edge on us is something I was cognizant about before the match. You also don’t want to play a lineup with all reserves which could also have its own significance in a harmful way if beaten handily. If I were Arteta, I would have started the match exactly like he did: a mix of starters and capable reserves to shore out and respect a vaunted City side (Turner-Tomiyasu-Holding-Gabriel-Tierney-Thomas-Xhaka-Saka-Vieira-Trossard-Eddie). That is 6 changes from the usual PL starting XI we put out as City essentially put out their best XI in regards to their latest matches which shows what Arteta and Pep thought about today’s game. Arteta looking to rest some of his key players and fully looking at the league with Pep looking for City to make a statement and after the match today, you’d have to say Arteta won.
FIRST HALF: I thought we edged the first half by a decent margin. You can see from the start that Arteta kept his principles the same and had the boys pressing from the start. There were times that it worked but you can tell that there is no better team in world football that is capable of breaking a press like City. Trossard picked up some good moments early, going at their young RB Rico Lewis. Noticed that he doesn’t mind going down the line with his weaker left foot and forced a decent save out of Ortega. He also earlier crossed the ball with his weaker foot which found a surging Tomiyasu who caught all of the ball but Ortega did well to get a strong hand on it. Other than that, City were admittedly poor given the stakes and who each team was fielding. Haaland’s touch was all over the place, Mahrez and Grealish were non-existent, Gundogan and Rodri were just passengers etc.
SECOND HALF: You can tell that Pep got in their asses and City came out a bit faster with more purpose in the second half. They were imposing themselves or trying to at least but I think Arsenal handled it as well as they could for the most part before Ake squeezed a shot past Turner. We got some of the big boys on to get something out of the game but it was a bit too much at the end. We definitely had our chances and picked it up after we conceded but the energy and drive to get that goal was not the same when trying to compare on how we chased that winner against United. Just different class and scenario for us and we bow out of the FA Cup to City. Not a bad result at all, matched them for 90 minutes away from home with a rotated squad while they played their best XI. You obviously don’t love to lose but this match just cemented how we should smack them when they come to the Emirates when the league is at stake. You can penalize us for not being as motivated as we should for this game but you would have to double that on how City performed with who they fielded during a home game against the PL leaders.
What a match, what a performance, when everyone kept asking questions about when this Arsenal team would slip up, they do it again. This time, with a 3-2 victory over an in-form United team at the Emirates, bring some revenge from the defeat they handed us at OT in September. This match had everything, lead switches, world class goals, shit goals, last minute goals, it 100% felt like an old-school United/Arsenal match that we haven’t been able to see in years when both teams were dominating the league. I’ll go into the details from this match, but Eddie’s last minute tap in to give us the victory kept us 5 points clear of City with a game in hand and served as a platform to improve upon during this busy February-March stretch when the Europa League games come in.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
Not the best match from the starting XI but they showed heart when it mattered most: The hallmark of this Arsenal team all season was the blistering and relentless pace we set from the start, especially at home and it seemed that way for the first 5 minutes but United were able to weather the storm much better than other teams. Thomas, Ben White and Martinelli all in my opinion were not at their best. Both CBs did fine given the enormity of the match, Ødegaard and Saka played well, Eddie was incredible and Zinchenko just continues to impress me. We won’t always be at our best, but all that matters is that we get the 3 points when it does happen and that’s what happened today. This Arsenal team though, they are built different. They took the lead through a Rashford goal and hit us back to 2-2 with a shit clusterfuck of a goal and every single time, we responded just like we have for the most of this season, which is why we are where we are.
Our best players didn’t show up today but the rest of the squad was able to pick up the slack: Thomas Partey, the one who I have relied upon all season and in my opinion, our most important player, came up a bit short this game, gave the ball cheaply a few times, and Rashford did him in to take the lead at 1-0. Ben White’s touch was off from the start, which is quite unfair from the high standard he set for himself this season which is part of the reason Tomiyasu replaced him at halftime. Martinelli’s limitations have become quite clear more and more as this team excels. I think its quite clear he is the weak link in our starting XI now and why we went so hard for Mudryk this window. Not entirely his fault, just think he has become too one-dimensional. Ramsdale with a complete howler for their second goal. BUT for all those mistakes and dud performances, Saka, Eddie, Zinchenko, Ø, Trossard all stepped up for the lads which cements our position in the league table and why this Arsenal is so different from past teams.
I have no words for Saka anymore: There have been many players that have improved and caught the league’s eyes this season such as Ø and Martinelli but the one constant, one shining light from the past shit seasons, has been Bukayo Saka, Arsenal’s own Bukayo Saka. Just an insanely world-class goal when we needed it most. This boy keeps impressing me week in and week out. Our starboy.
My biggest game of the year, bar none. Out of the 38 games we play all season, Spurs away is the most important for me. Winning at that stadium just gives me joy that only Old Trafford away kind of rivals. And for us to do it today, the way we did, the first time in that shit new stadium they have, has put me in heaven. We went 8 points clear after a 2-0 demolition of Spurs in their toilet bowl stadium. Just from start to finish, it was an Arteta masterclass. The boys came out guns blazing which has become an Arsenal staple this season with champagne football with high intensity and pressing. In the second half, we were defensively superb with Spurs growing into the game and Arsenal not giving an inch defensively, winning all our duels, putting our bodies in front of shots. Almost would have thought Spurs would have had a better chance if Harry Kane played.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
Arsenal players won their matchups all across the pitch: We started our regular starting XI of Ramsdale, Ben White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Thomas, Xhaka, Ø, Saka, Martinelli, and Nketiah and credit to them all, they all won their respective matchups. Gabriel and Saliba had Kane all tied up in their pockets, Saka had Sessegnon on strings all game at RW, to be fair to Ryan, he was trying to get up as much as he could to help the Spurs attack but since we were able to put them through a spin cycle of possession, there was so much space for Saka to operate like this goal right here:
Zinchenko was dragging Kulu all over the pitch, almost seemed he had Kulu as a RB with Zinchenko’s positional flexibility. Thomas and Xhaka pushed aside Højberg and Sarr like they weren’t there. It was just a masterclass by the Arsenal lads all over the pitch.
2 points dropped and we move. Arsenal was held 0-0 to3rd place Newcastle at home and it feels like a crushing loss. Yes, I am a bit emotional about the match now and might be a bit dramatic but you have to win the home games. You gotta win your home games if you want to win the league or are serious about winning it. I don’t care against whom, when, or the weather, you just have to do it. I’ll get into the details later but I thought the Arsenal performance was solid with everything that was on the line. We dominated most of the possession, were industrious in the middle of the park, worked hard defensively, just maybe lacked a bit of precision going forward which can be up to a lot of reasons. All in all, we take the point and we move on to the FA Cup before our match against Spurs on 1/15.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
I will be dramatic about this but understand we are perfectly fine: Given the boys’ circumstances and performance, I am proud of them. They stood up to the Newcastle clowns and gave them all they could handle, credit to Newcastle for getting the draw they played for but it wasn’t for lack of Arsenal effort, and at the end of the day, that is all I can really ask of as a fan. We got a point that could be valuable towards the latter end of the season and the performance, which I emphasize repeatedly, will average out for most of the season, so simply said, we play like that, we most games. If you just go off the simple statistics, the boys fought their asses off against an organized opponent and fell just short of the elusive goal. Chin up, head up, we move.
2. Horrendous officiating: Andrew Madley had himself a game and made sure that his presence was felt throughout (which isn’t a good thing for an official). I also had no clue Bobby Madley had a brother, why in the hell are we hiring siblings from an incompetent referee? Makes no sense. Anyways, Arsenal were robbed of 1.5 clear, stonewall pens. Are they penalties in that a team deserves to have a spot kick 12 paces out? Probably not. Are they penalties that are given in 2022/2023? absolutely yes.
I mean what are we doing here? How blatant can we get. This is not even the controversial one
Ødegaard and Nketiah were both booked for shirt pulls / blocks to stop counters tonight, yet Dan Burn tried to rip Gabriel’s shirt off as the ball was coming towards him, and VAR said no penalty. #Arsenal were playing against 12 men tonight. #ARSNEW
Xhaka then got by his defender before putting in a cross that goes off Jacob Murphy’s arm. Is it harsh? Maybe, does it suck for Newcastle to give up a penalty in the 95th-96th minute? Sure Do I give a shit? Absolutely fucking not, call that handball, I have seen that foul being given 10 times over the past few years, its a hand ball in the penalty box, its a handball in the center circle, its a handball in my house, you call that every single damn time, I don’t care where. I also loved the Arsenal players hounding Madley after the no-call, yeah its petulant and annoying but who cares, nobody is going to give you a pen, sometimes you have to ask and yell for it, it worked for United for years under Fergie.
Like what is the point of VAR if we are missing errors like that? (I am 100% bias and can feel and type whatever I want lol).
3. Newcastle are now on the list: These guys were by far the most annoying team we have played this year, that includes Spurs/Scum, United, and Chelsea, my triumvirate of hated teams). They fouled, they parked the bus, they defended as if their lives depended on it, and to their credit, it worked. They got the point they wanted, the point they played for, and the point they deserved. They were a pain in my and Arsenal’s ass all night. Every chance they got, the midfield of Bruno G, Willock, and Longstaff put their body into Odegaard, Martinelli and Saka. Add Joelinton to the mix, and you have him, Dan Burn, Botman and Schar defending crossess, imagine trying to win a header off those giants. They were a nuisance to play against all night and they have been that way for all teams all season long. 6 matches on the bounce they haven’t allowed a goal and you can easily see why that is the case. Just a crazily annoying and frustrating night watching that match from an Arsenal’s fan perspective but credit to Newcastle, they were good. Also add in Nick Pope’s brilliant keeping.
4. Off the mark a bit offensively for the fellas: After our four-goal onslaught against Brighton, we weren’t as precise against Newcastle and that is where the margins lay between the two results. We scuffed some shots here and there, some of our incisive passing was off, Eddie’s shot a bit wider goes pass Nick Pope, Martinelli’s crossing was a bit off.
5. Thomas Partey and Zinchenko were imperious tonight: I thought these two were outstanding, everytime we needed to get a grip on the match, they seemed to always find the ball at their feet. Thomas, I felt outmuscled and outplayed Bruno G and the Newcastle midfield. Zinchenko felt like another CM on the pitch considering the areas he picked up and you wouldn’t be able to tell he was a LB. Just magnificent they way we used him as an outlet to relive pressure in possession. We need to keep these guys healthy going foward.
6. This game is crying out for transfers in attack: Arteta used only one sub in a game where we needed a goal for an RB (Tomiyasu for Ben White). In a game where we were desperate for a goal, Arteta rightly or wrongly didn’t trust any of our offensive subs to make a difference (mostly a shot at Fábio Vieira). With Gabi Jesus and Reiss Nelson out, ESR doing lord knows what with his injury, we need to make a transfer this window to solidify our squad depth. Mudryk sounds like the answer but this game was definitely the wake up call we needed for our title apsirations.
7. FA Cup on Monday, total rotation, please! This Monday we have Oxford United in the FA Cup. I expect total rotation if possible, Turner in for Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Holding, Cédric (if he isn’t sold to Fulham), Tierney all in, Lokonga and Elneny in, Marquinhos and Vieira in as well.
Player Ratings:
Ramsdale: 6/10 – Didn’t have a lot to do all game. He had one bad moment where he almost cost us a goal, but to his credit, he has cut that shit out mostly this season, just can’t let it happen again.
Ben White: 7.5/10 – He impresses me more and more every time I see him play RB. Just a pleasure to watch defending and is getting better and better going forward. Newcastle had nothing on him
Saliba: 7/10: – Much better today
Gabriel: 7.5/10: – Dominant, should have won us a pen and almost had a goal himself.
Zinchenko: 8/10 – Imperious
Thomas Partey: 8.5/10 – My MOTM, love this guy, we can’t lose him
Xhaka: 7/10 – Grew into the game in the 2nd half, created a pen that wasn’t called
Ødegaard: 6/10 – Not at his best
Saka: 6.5/10 – gave Dan Burn the runaround, just wouldn’t come off.
Martinelli: 6.5/10 – provided a good outlet, was his direct self all game, just wouldn’t come off.
Eddie Nketiah: 7/10 – I thought Eddie played his ass off all game, not as good as Gabi Jesus, of course, but the man put it all out there for us. Proud of him.
What can I say at this point? These guys won’t just stop winning games, just a relentless machine at the moment that looks scarily obsessed with grabbing the PL title. Arsenal finished off 2022 with a bang with a 4-2 win against Brighton on the South coast. With Newcastle and City dropping points today, Arsenal find themselves 7 points clear at the top of the PL standings with 16 games played. Still a lot of football left to play this season but Arsenal don’t look closer to dropping any points compared to their rivals for Top 4. Arsenal opened the match scoring 66 seconds in and then scored about 100 seconds into the 2nd half and didn’t look back. Things got eerie towards the end of the match, but we took all 3 points at a tough away ground and now have great momentum with our clash with Newcastle on 1/3/2023.
