What a sport, what a match. All things considered, could have been worse, could have been wayyyyy worse for Kent. Everything to play for, for Arsenal, extend our lead to 8 points at our haunted ground, win for the first time since Podolski and Cazorla, it felt like a win would all but give us the confidence to go on and win the league and then just like that, a 2-0 lead turns us into hanging onto dear life and now leave Anfield with a 2-2 draw. Easily could be a loss. Given the context of the game, felt like a 2 points loss to a point gained with Ramsdale making 3 incredible saves at the end to secure the draw for the good guys.
6 point lead with a game in hand and a game at the Etihad still around the corner. It’s looking bleak for us right now as Haaland and his dumb face and Julian Alvarez’s acne breathing down on our necks toward the end of the season. (I apologize Julian but I’m down bad now and lashed out) Hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
I am going to be so insufferable and need somebody to humble Arsenal quick cause I am FEELING myself. Arsenal got rid of our Klopp voodoo curse and pulled out a 3-2 win at the Emirates over Liverpool. Klopp has essentially owned me and Arsenal since he stepped foot in England, you can say since Klopp arrived at Liverpool, this was the first time we have convincingly beaten him over 90 minutes in a football match. Just outrageous but we managed to pull it off today. Two goals from Saka and a early one from Martinelli carried us to victory despite Liverpool able to peg us back twice.
It’s tight at the league’s top, but this victory puts us back on top. We are well entrenched into this “title” race as long as the standings say so but more importantly, it more than entrenches us into the Top 4 race as we are all on stand-by with Haaland wrecking City to the title. THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
My guy Tomiyasu is back – Arteta went with pretty much the same XI that has carried us this season in the league except for one huge change, at LB with Zinchenko out due to injury, he selected RB Tomiyasu at left back instead of Tierney. Huge call by Arteta which would cause controversy anyway it turned out and it turned out in his favor today. Tomiyasu absolutely pocketed Salah from the start. Salah basically went missing for the duration of match and a search team is absolutely needed to find his whereabouts. Just a tactical masterclass by Arteta using the defensive-minded Tomi to keep an eye on Salah knowing full-well Tomiyasu has experience playing as a left-sided CB for his country 🙂 . Happy for Tomi, his performance today made me think that whenever we play a match, he is part of our best XI, not sure where he belongs, but it definitely on the pitch.
Martinelli is a problem – Every chance Martinelli got, you could see him wipe his tongue across his face as he knew it was time to feast on poor Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Not even a minute into the match Gabriel Martinelli outs Arsenal on top!
Martinelli’s pause on Arsenal’s 2nd goal sent Henderson and TAA back to Liverpool as it completely took them out of the game and left it on a plate for Saka to finish. Every time we needed a consistent threat, Martinelli was there for the call, whether it be Gomez, TAA, or Henderson, he cooked them all. It was so bad, Klopp subbed out TAA at halftime (he said it was cause of injuries, probably wasn’t), subbed off the RCB (Matip) , and subbed on another CM for coverage. What a game for Martinelli.
3. Thomas Partey Masterclass – outside of Rodri, is there a better CDM in the league? I thought he was brilliant, especially in the second half. We do not have one individual who can do half of what this man does for us. His timing and pacing of his passing just keep us ticking and going all match long. He did everything required to keep us on top throughout the match, making tackles, resisting their press, pinging balls out wide that you wouldn’t even notice if you didn’t pay attention. I just love this man so much. Just watch this comp and admire his greatness. I want Arsenal staff at his beck and call 24/7. I want all of his needs attended to at all times of the day. When he eats, when he dresses, when he goes down the stairs, we must all come together to make sure Thomas stays healthy for the whole season cause without him we are hopeless.
4. Calm down – When we scored within the minute, you could feel the buzz throughout the stadium and that transferred to the players undoubtedly. However, that only hindered our performance as we were all gas no brakes when we should have slowed down and our stamp into the game. Too many times after we got out to the 1-0 lead, we were just directly feeding our front line instead of building our possession through the midfield. This allowed Liverpool back into the game and getting the deserved goal to draw level at 1-1. Too many times when Thomas received the ball and had no support from Xhaka and Ø as an outlet which then would cause him to play back to the defenders who would then hoove the ball forward. Just played right into the hands of Liverpool which allowed Henderson and Thiago time and space to operate despite being in poor form this season. There was s glimpse of that naivety that ran its ugly head during the United game, we were able to counter with a second goal before the half but we need to see these moments better in future games. To be fair, we were much better in the second half, when we asserted our dominance, you can tell, the midfield trio of Ø, Xhaka and Thomas get more involved within the game, Martinelli and Saka get isolated onto their defenders etc. We were a better team throughout the full 90, just need to see the tough moments out better.
5. Martin Ødegaard confuses me – He had that minor injury right before the international break which hindered his form a bit but there were times throughout the game when I felt like he went missing. Especially in the first half where Liverpool grew into the game, we needed to find our playmakers to take the sting out of their momentum but he was nowhere to be found. However he played the sumptuous ball to Martinelli on the first goal. He will have moments of pure brilliance out of nowhere but its the consistency throughout the match where I feels like he goes missing at times. As our captain we need him showing for the ball and putting his stamp on the game, I don’t care if he loses it, we need his touches on the ball regardless cause more times than not, his touches on the game are pure quality.
6. Gabriel man, I don’t know what I am going to do with this guy – This guy man, he is straight out of a Six Flags amusement park, a damn roller coaster. He takes you through all the emotions. He will have moments of pure madness, gives the penalty away against Spurs, gives the goal away against Fulham etc. but then he will turn around and produce brilliant moments such as his goal against Fulham to win the match and then his dummy to set up Saka. Just an absolutely mad player that isn’t healthy for me. He got away with a questionable hand ball today as well in our box.
7. Rotation is key right now for Mikel – with the Europa League games coming hard and fast, that means the Thursday-Sunday cycle is well and truly on, so he needs to start resting players like Martinelli, Gabriel, Xhaka (maybe or maybe not) in order to preserve our player’s health through this busy part of the season. The back four I’m not too worried about as we have Ben White, Tomiyasu, Gabriel, Saliba, Zinchenko, Tierney and Holding for four spots. It’s the midfield that worries me as Sambi is the only replacement we have when Xhaka and Thomas goes down. I’d like for him to try a Sambi- Fabio pivot during the Europa League games, see if he can cut it as a deeper 8. The front 3 speaks for itself as we have Marquinhos and Reiss now back into the fold for our wide position with Eddie backing up Gabriel Jesus.
8. Got my eyes on you Jordan Henderson – Undoubtedly, this is the game of the year so far in the Premier League. Emotions were running high for both teams. There are rumors circulating of an incident between Gabriel and Jordan Henderson that had racism stemmed in there, whether it’s true or not, who knows but hopefully more details come out in regards to it.
Jordan Henderson’s exchange with Gabriel Magalhaes during today’s game, what do you think he has said? #lfc#afcpic.twitter.com/osqVAIaPc9
