GoonerKent

Arsenal has England rattled!

Feed me the tears, feed me all the tears!!! If you know anything about my history with supporting Arsenal, I am the first one to call out the club for their incompetence on and off the field. When we started the season with 3 straight losses to Brentford, Chelsea, and Man City, I was on the verge of my annual mental breakdown from supporting this club. After solidifying our summer transfer window, Arsenal have gone on an unexpected run to pole position for the coveted 4th spot in the league, right now ahead of Man United, Spurs, West Ham and Wolves. This climb up the table to a Champions League spot and hopping over our rivals has every other club rattled and it is fucking hilarious.

For context, Arsenal has been doing this thing this season where they are winning soccer matches instead of disappointing draws or frustrating losses. And weirdly after these matches that Arsenal are winning, they are doing this thing where they celebrate with each other to express happiness after the matches. Let me show you the absurd acts that Arsenal have been committing after matches they win:

Rob Holding and Ben White rush to congratulate Bernd Leno on the clean sheet, Gabriel goes down to his knees to celebrate. Granit Xhaka celebrates with egregious celebration by jumping in the air.

Arsenal teammates strangely celebrate with Bernd Leno after the full time whistle to celebrate a win?

Arsenal – Aston Villa Reaction

Get the fuck in! In a week where we play Leicester at home, Liverpool at home, and Villa away; to take 6/9 points from these 3 fixtures is nothing short of impressive. Through a goal in the 30th minute from Bukayo Saka, Arsenal traveled up to Villa Park and nabbed a 1-0 victory to extend our lead in the race for Top 4. For me, it never bothered me that we loss to Liverpool midweek, those results will happen to teams that are better than you. It was always going to be how we respond to losses that mattered and I have to give credit when it’s due, Mikel got the boys ready to play and they delivered massively. A well timed win going into the International break with the table looking like this:

PREMATCH/FIRST HALF – Mikel went with an almost unchanged lineup from the team that lost to Liverpool midweek with Leno, and Smith Rowe coming in for Ramsdale and Martinelli. Ramsdale is suffering from a hip injury that will most likely keep him out of the England camp. Martinelli came up with an illness that let ESR step into the team for the first time in awhile. Steven Gerrard went with a mostly unchanged side that lost to West Ham last week with Buendia, Konsa, and Ashley Young coming in for Ings, Chambers and Digne. From the start, Arsenal were all over Villa just like the old Wenger teams would do. I was pleased with how early Arteta got the boys to assert their dominance over an inferior opponent. Every time Arsenal wanted to, you felt like they were a threat especially with Saka down the right flank. Arsenal were then able to break through with a goal from Saka at the top of the box to give us the lead.

Saka fires Arsenal into the lead!

Arsenal take a 1-0 lead 30 minutes into the match.
📺: @USA_Network #MyPLMorning | #AVLARS pic.twitter.com/nmOElR88GI
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) March 19, 2022

Arsenal – Liverpool Reaction (Premier League)

If you made a carbon copy of our 2nd leg in the Carabao Cup semifinals against Liverpool, you’d come up with the exact same match today. Arsenal came up short today in what is very common against Liverpool as of late with a score of 0-2 with goals from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino being the difference. There is just a gulf in class between the two sides that we can’t overcome at the moment. In no way shape or form did Arsenal play poor today, there was just a better side on the other side and I can live with that. I predicted a 3-1 loss to Liverpool so a 2-0 scoreline feels pretty much expected with how things turned out. Liverpool are just more experienced and composed in these big-time matchups compared to us. One could say Liverpool didn’t play that well today, if you looked at Jürgen Klopp’s reaction throughout the match, he never looked please at all and they still were dragging our asses up and down the field. Everytime we looked to pose a threat, they were able to snuff out all of what we were trying to create offensively and smartly chose their moments to press and hit us on the counter when it seemed fit.

Table Outlook:

With all that being said, I think even Mikel Arteta at his core would’ve nailed this game as a loss, especially with a Liverpool team that has everything to play for in obtaining the league title. Arsenal still controls their destiny but matchups with Chelsea and Spurs away are not a given but it is more than what I could ask for going into this season so I’ll take what I can get despite this loss.

PREMATCH-FIRST HALF: Mikel put out an unchanged side from the team that beat Leicester on Sunday which was expected. I mentioned that I wouldn’t have minded if he switched to a back 3 for this game but don’t blame if for going with the lineup that has got us to this point. My hypocritical ass would have been the first one to come for him if he switched things up and it didn’t work. Klopp benched Salah for today’s game which was a surprise but when you have Jota, Mané and Luis Diaz leading your line, you’ll probably be just fine. The game started with Liverpool retaining a good amount of the possession. Arsenal then grew into the game and would say had most of the chances for bulk of the first half. Martinelli was having his way with Trent down the left flank just like in the Carabao Cup ties and was our main source of threat in the first half as shown below:

Arsenal – Leicester Reaction

Get in fellas! I’ll have to admit, it is weird not having to complain about this team in recent weeks and the better part of this season. It means that I’ll have to develop a personality that doesn’t revolve around Arsenal being shit but I’ll take that trade if it means Arsenal keep playing like this. An early goal from Thomas Partey and a converted penalty from Laca gave us the comfortable 2-0 win at home against Leicester. As straight-forward a win that you’d like to see from the boys especially given the tough tasks ahead against Liverpool midweek and Villa away next Saturday. This game takes us a point above United with 3 games in hand but those games in hand don’t mean a thing if we aren’t able to take points away from those games.

PREMATCH/FIRST HALF – Mikel went with the same team that has gone on this 4 games unbeaten run with Tomiyasu being replaced by Cédric with Emile Smith Rowe nursing an injury on the bench. Leicester went with a somewhat rotated lineup from their Europa Conference League clash on Thursday against Rennes with Daka, Tielemans, Ndidi and Justin stepping aside for Iheanacho, Maddison, Mendy, and Pereira. The match started and we were out guns blazing. Xhaka was stepping into that advanced role in possession with Ødegaard taking up the half spaces to receive the ball. Arsenal won a corner in the 11th minute which subsequently led to Martinelli playing a delicious ball into the near post that Thomas Partey nodded in for the 1-0 lead. One of the biggest breakthroughs this season is Martinelli’s set piece delivery as you would think you’d want him attacking these crosses. Leicester let in another set piece goal which is the 14th time they allowed a goal from a set piece this season according to Statman Dave.

Leicester City have conceded 14 goals from set-pieces in the Premier League this season, no team has conceded more.

Partey provides a dream start. 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/E2MzZUSPV8
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) March 13, 2022

Arsenal – Watford Reaction

Absolutely get the fuck in fellas. Arsenal did their best to make the match by letting Watford back in but a solid performance away from home saw us see out Watford 3-2. Goals from Ødegaard, Saka, and Martinelli saw us through in a somewhat comfortable manner. This result is a massive 3 points considering our fixture list coming up. Arsenal feel like a double-edged sword for me at the moment with every win comes more pressure, and with more pressure comes increase sadness if they mess this up. Looking at the table, we are the clear favorites for that 4th position at this point. It’s hard not to get excited to be in this position we are in currently but as Arsenal fans, we know better than to get our hopes up with this team. Future Kent can deal with whatever Arsenal does to me later, right now, let’s just be happy that we aren’t United fans.

PRE-MATCH/FIRST HALF: Mikel went out and out with the same team that started against Wolves with ESR and Tomiyasu being the notable players not in the squad today. Watford had more changes with Joao Pedro and Cucho Hernandez coming in for Josh King and Ismaila Sarr. The match started with Watford heaving it up and you could clearly tell that Ben White and Gabriel were switched off. Watford then were able to play Emmanuel Dennis through for a goal 18 fucking seconds in however Tierney “cleverly” made sure he was in an offside position. Thank fucking goodness, almost had me unwell not in a minute into the game. Then a couple minutes later Cédric, Saka, and Ødegaard sweetly combined to put us ahead with one of the nicest flicks you’ll see coming off the Norwegian’s heel.

Thomas Partey Remontada

In early December 2021, Thomas Partey in an interview with Sky Sports rated his season as a 4/10 at that point explaining how his inconsistency has caused him to struggle a bit with him needing to contribute more to the team. If there is any characteristic I appreciate in a human being, it’s self-awareness. Thomas telling the media and fans around the world that he has been shit compared to his world class standards lets us all know that we can be more honest in the way we live everyday. For example, I can admit that I care too much about this dumb sport and it is almost to the point of pathetic how I let this team’s performance affect, but credit to me for admitting that. Anyways, ever since Thomas gave the honest assessment of his season to that point, he has been close to flawless for us. His performances have had everything Arsenal fans expected from our £45 million mediocentro from Atlético Madrid. Since he made those comments to Sky Sports in early December, the only time Arsenal lost in the league was to Man City who we outplayed on the day with Partey putting in a MOTM performance and had me in tears how good he was on that day.

Thomas Partey at his absolute best is our calm, composed, regista in the center of the park. Turning away from pressure, pinging diagonal balls out wide, winning tackles, and breaking the lines with his passing or dribbling etc. are all skillsets that Thomas possess that makes me happy and not want to gauge my eyeballs out when watching Arsenal. This in-form Thomas Partey can all simply be summed up with one word: CONFIDENCE. Nothing more and nothing less. I’m a simple man, a center midfielder who can turn away from pressure to start attacks is a kink of mine. Thomas at his best for these past few months has helped us beat the press through body feints and a sense of poise we haven’t had in the center of the park in years as shown below:

Nico Pépé Time

After looking at the busy transfer period before the 2021/2022 season, even though it is early, we can count on a good amount of transfer busts across the Premier League from Romelu Lukaku, Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho, Emi Buendia, etc. Despite Arsenal’s successful transfer window this season with Ben White, Tomiyasu, Ramsdale all playing a pivotal role in Arsenal’s place in the standings at the moment, it is fair to say our most expensive transfer of all time Nicolas Pépé can be deemed a “bust” as well. It might be harsh to say that for someone who scored 10 league goals last season (16 goals in all comps) and had double digit goal contributions the year before, but for the price tag we spent to get him, he should be contributing more, fighting for team of the season honors etc. With that being said, our run-in to finish the season in Top 4 with our lack of depth could be Nico Pépé’s make it or break it time with Arsenal, as his contributions or lackthereof could be the reason why we are playing on Tuesdays/Wednesdays next season or Thursdays (kill me immediatley if this is the case). Here are the reasons why this is the case (why Nico is important, not why Europa League makes me not want to live):

Useful right foot: As magical of a left foot and stroke he has, what alarmed me in his debut season with us was how reluctant he was in using his right foot, making him very easy to defend that initial season. What I think greatly improved his goal-scoring output last season through goals/assists last season was becoming more unpredictable with the threat of this right foot. My favorite goal last season was Wolves away when he absolutely destroyed Semedo and Neves while finishing off with a powerful right footed shot as shown below:

Here Pépé megs Semedo playing on the left-wing for a change

He then gives Neves the same treatment he gave Semedo

Pépé lasers a finish with his weak foot to give Arsenal the lead

Arsenal-Wolves Reaction

Let’s gooooooooooo!!! 3 points are all that matters and the boys got the job done today. This match had typical Arsenal screwing it up when the pressure is on at home, the crowd gets all amped up, and then Arsenal usually would find a way to fuck it all up. But today, not sure what deal Arteta made with the devil but the opposite happened. It wasn’t pretty, it was sloppy, it was damn ugly, it made me not want to live for most of the game, but we made it out with 3 points and moving onto the next match. Arsenal nabbed a goal in extra-time to take us past Wolves at the Emirates with a score of 2-1. With Spurs losing to Burnley yesterday and Wolves fighting for top 4 with us, this match ended up being a 6 point swing between us and Wolves as you can see from the league table before this week’s matches:

And now after….