GoonerKent

ARSENAL DECIMATE SPURS TO BRING US 8 POINTS CLEAR

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:

Hugo Lloris somehow puts it in his own net. 🙈

📺: @peacock #MyPLMorning | #TOTARS pic.twitter.com/aJ3XVZ2m28
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) January 15, 2023

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.

What went wrong this past week

It was just a week ago when we were flying high in pole position for the final Champions League spot. who knows, maybe we could have challenged Chelsea for that 3rd spot. In a span of two games where we lost 3-0 to Palace and 2-1 to Brighton at home, we have more than likely squandered Champions League football for next season with Spurs winning two games on the bounce against Newcastle and Aston Villa. In typical Arsenal fashion, we have choked away success, this in a different manner than how we usually did it with Wenger but regardless, we still had everything to play for and shat the bed. Let me go into the main issues that confronted and why our season is essentially over

We didn’t score more goals than the opponent: Doesn’t get simpler than this. To win games, you gotta score more goals than the other team and for some damn reason, we didn’t do that. Not sure if Arteta’s instructions to the team were to in fact not score goals, and if that was the case, they implemented that plan to perfection. Definitely an issue I’d like to be addressed going into the next games.

Arsenal’s April Outlook

Who would have thought as March comes to a close, that I would have to worry about Arsenal having a chance to compete for a Top 4 spot? For the past few years, I have been stuck hoping Arsenal win Europa League knockout rounds against Eastern European farmers such as Slavia Prague to make our season worthwhile. Usually at this point of the season, we are out of the running for Top 4 and I am just causing pain to myself by watching meaningless April games for absolutely no fucking reason. With the international break taking place coming to a close, our Top 4 hopes more than likely will rely on how we perform in these April fixtures outlined below:

I’ll go into what we can expect going into each match and the context that will be taking place around us and our opponents.

CRYSTAL PALACE: As long as Crystal Palace have Patrick Vieira as their manager, they will always be my 2nd favorite team. This game will be hard for me to watch as I’ve enjoyed watching Palace play this season but this is a must-win game for the Gunners. The game will be at Selhurst Park which has given us trouble in the past. Fortunately for us, their two wingers Wilfried Zaha and the talented Michael Olise both picked up knocks over the International break so Patty V needs to chill and let his stars recover after Monday. Even if we get lucky and Zaha and Olise are out, Palace still have an in-form Conor Gallagher who is in my current PL TOTY with how well he has played. Back when we played them in October, it was a back and forth 2-2 draw with Mikel playing Ødegaard in a deep playmaking role next to Thomas. Both teams have changed drastically so no point in delving too much into that game but as long as we somehow get revenge on James McCarthur if he touches the field, I’ll be happy. Such a fuckm that guy. PREDICTION Arsenal 1 – Crystal Palance 0, ESR to get our goal off the bench.