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A Late Night Against Porto and Brentford Reaction.
Oliver Reeves • March 20, 2024
Welcome back to the blog!
Porto:
Arsenal secured a spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League last week for the first time in fourteen years, beating Porto via penalty shoot-out after the teams were tied 1-1 on aggregate after both legs.
It was a late and tense night for fans at the Emirates Stadium. But ultimately the job was done, and we are now one of eight teams left in the competition. It’s something we’ve been waiting for a while to say, and will face German giants Bayern Munich (surprise surprise) in the next round. A mouth-watering tie, but more on that to come..
It was another frustrating 90 minutes (and then some) of football. Porto continued their game-plan to frustrate and limit us to playing as little football as we possible could.
Now the dust has settled and the emotion subsided, I have to say that - as frustrating as it was - the Portuguese outfit came with a plan and executed it for most of the match. They didn’t let us play our usual game, limiting our chances, time-wasting and not allowing us to get a real foothold on the game. Sure there were moments where we exerted pressure, but it wasn’t the same level of sustained pressure we’ve come to see from this team recently. Arsenal needed a player to grab this one by the scruff of its neck - cue the captain Martin Ødegaard. His work rate high up the pitch to win back possession was followed by a moment of genius - a slick drag back and a lovely pass into the feet of Trossard who made no mistake with the finish. The Gunners went 1-0 up on the night, levelling the score on aggregate. Trossard hadn’t been having his best performance up until then but he certainly pulled out an excellent finish to curl the ball past Costa in the Porto goal.
A massive goal. Not just in terms of the scoreline, but belief within the ground as well. The crowd sounded immense at times in that first-half (and through-out the game), but Porto had done well to curtail the noise we heard circling within the ground at the beginning of the match. The goal injected fresh noise and belief - not just in the stands but in the team as well, and we started the second half pretty well.
Arsenal should have had a second goal shortly after the restart, in fact we had scored - Ødegaard was running into the corner to celebrate after stroking the ball home into an empty net, some applied pressure from Havertz instigated miscommunication and a mistake between Pepe and Costa at the back. The referee, and incidentally the VAR panel, had other ideas however. The goal was quickly ruled out after the softest of fouls was deemed to have been committed by Havertz in the build up. No goal for the captain, and we were still level on aggregate.
Moments later we had another big opportunity when Ødegaard should have scored, shooting just wide of a gaping net.
From then on in the game became quite scrappy and nervous. Jesus came on and almost scored from his first touch, but apart from that there were not many chances and the game seemed destined for penalties.
I can't write put my finger on why, but I always felt confident should we end up deciding the round on penalties that we would go through.
Shooting first and in front of the North Bank was instrumental, the fans got right behind the team, doing their best to be as off putting as possible when the Porto players stepped up. A shout-out to the fans inside the Emirates who did a great job in creating an amazing atmosphere on the night.
In the end, David Raya was the hero with two huge saves.There seemed to be no doubt about any of the Arsenal penalty takers however, each player expertly converting form the spot.
Raya’s second save sealed the win and sent Arsenal fans (including myself watching at home) into a frenzy. A huge win and huge relief. A really tense evening that would not have been good for the hearts of many supporters - certainly mine at least - but these are also the nights that we have craved for - big European games with everything to play for.
On a side note, I thought the refereeing was atrocious throughout the two legs. I could write a whole piece on how poor the officiating was in this game, but to be honest I cannot be bothered. Arsenal won, and that’s all that matters.
Moving onto Bayern Munich in the next round then (of course it would be either them or Barcelona). There will be more specifically on that closer to the first leg at the Emirates. In many of the seasons gone they've had our number but I think the two teams are in different places now and it will be a close tie in which Arsenal do have a real chance in progressing.
We saw Porto deplore all the old tricks of European football, but I think with Bayern it will be more of a case of two teams trying to beat one another by playing actual football - which will suit us a lot more than the style of Porto.
Brentford:
Prior to the Porto game we had another tense affair versus Brentford in the Premier League. After everything that happened in the Champions League this seems like an age ago, but it was a vitally important win in the context of the title race with both Liverpool and City dropping points to each other later in the weekend. It meant with their 2-1 win over Brentford that the Gunners are top of the table. I will try to keep this as succinct as possible as this could be a whole post in itself.
Overall Arsenal undoubtedly deserved the three points in this one. The first half was absolutely dominated by the Gunners, Declan Rice adding another goal to his tally with a superb header to put Arsenal ahead. Just as it looked like Arsenal were going into half-time with a one goal lead, Aaron Ramsdale (in the team to replace the ineligible Raya) was caught taking too long with a clearance. Brentford’s Yoane Wissa came charging in and managed to block Ramsdale’s clearance, the ball subsequently ricocheting into the back of the net, and Brentford had equalized on the stroke of half-time.
It was horror moment for Ramsdale, with much of the focus on how he would perform surrounding this match due to the goalkeeping saga that hovered over us earlier in the season. I have to say that I personally felt really sorry for him. Of course it was a huge error, but it just seemed so typical and summarized what has been a tough tough season thus far for the England international.
In fairness to Ramsdale he didn’t let it effect the rest of his game. His head could have dropped but he kept going and was instrumental in us getting the win, pulling off two massive saves in the second half to prevent Brentford taking the lead. The west London team continued to be resilient and hard to break down in the second-half with something now to hold on to. However, the last fifteen minutes Arsenal really turned the screw and eventually we found the back of the net, Kai Havertz heading in the winner from a Ben White cross.
Obviously there’s been all the chat regarding whether Havertz should or should not have been on the pitch. To be honest (and yes I am biased) I do think it would have been harsh had he been shown a second yellow for diving earlier in the game. It was an incident where there was contact - albeit minimal - with the Brentford defender. Even though it wasn’t enough for a penalty, there was still contact. In the current football climate players go down if that happens, especially in the penalty area. Yes you might not agree with it, and yes it would have been soft - but it doesn't mean it’s a dive necessarily. Moreover, Arsenal should have had two penalties that weren't given when Trossard, and later Gabriel, were bth pulled down in the box.
So, all-in-all, I do not think Brentford can have anything to complain about.
Alright, I have been rambling on far too long. We have an international break coming up so we can all take a deep breath and then prepare the nerves for an almightily important clash away to Manchester City when Primer League football resumes at the end of the March. That is going to a hugely important game for us, obviously there be more on that later. There will also be a podcast up this week.
Thanks as always for reading,
Oli
Arsenal 2 - Wolves 0 Aston Villa 0 - Arsenal 2 Hi all and welcome to the blog! The 24/25 Premier League season is officially under way and the Gunners have started in fine form with a maximum six points from their opening two games. The performances so far might not have been five stars, but at this early stage in the season - where players are still building towards full match sharpness - the results are the most important thing. Let’s start with our opening day win at home to Wolves. Calum and I spoke about this one on the pod last week. It was a solid performance from the lads - bar a twenty minute period where Wolves seemed to gain some momentum which we struggled to wrestle back until we scored our second of the game. I thought we dominated the first-half and we could have easily been three or four up by the half-time break. Havertz looked sharp, Saka was running riot down the right wing. It is to nobody’s surprise then that the opening goal came from these two: a superb cross from Saka floated into the box with Havertz on the receiving end to head into the back of the net. Raya pulled-off an unbelievable save to prevent Wolves equalising just before half-time. After the break we struggle to find the same rhythm and fluidity. Wolves grew into the game and started to assert themselves, dominating possession for the first fifteen minutes of the half. You can never be comfortable with just a one goal lead in this league no-matter who you’re up against. Up stepped Bukayo Saka, a player that can change games, and indeed did so. A classic Saka goal with a lovely run off the right-wing, cutting inside, and firing a bullet of a shot off his left foot. Once Arsenal scored the second the result was never in doubt. Not a vintage display but enough to secure the three points from the first game of the season. Let’s move onto Villa away then. This was always going to be a tough game against the team that did the double over us last season - albeit we played well in both games. It was another two-nil win for the Gunners, and, away from home against top-four opposition this early in the season is a huge win for the team. I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that either. With really tricky away fixtures to Spurs and City immediately after the international break this was a big three points for Arsenal and massive boost for the players. It was far from a spectacular performance, but good enough to get the job done. Aston Villa squandered some incredible chances (one of them an outstanding save from Raya) whilst the game was level, if these go in on another day it’s a different story. The Premier League is ruthless and if you do not take your chances you get punished. Arsenal have been on the receiving end many times, but this time it was Arsenal who did the punishing. Trossard came off the bench to replace Martinelli. He was a player with a point to prove and did so immediately - getting on to the end of a great cut-back and some hard work from Saka with a lovely finish. Right-place, right-time from the Belgian. We’ve seen it many times and will continue to do so, surely he will be given a chance in the starting line-up at home to Brighton next week from Arteta. Trossard continued to threaten in behind the Villa defence. Shortly after the first goal he managed to put in a dangerous ball across the six-yard box, met by Bukayo Saka who then found Thomas Partey on the edge of the box. Partye, who had a mixed-bag-of-a-game, curled one past Martinez into the back of the net to make it two-zip to the Arsenal. Cue scenes in the away end and a huge sigh of relief from all Arsenal fans. Villa still threatened, looking to get back into the game. Saliba with a lung-busting run got back in the nick of time to put in a huge block on a Jacob Ramsey shot. The Frenchman then proceeded to celebrate as if he’d scored a goal himself. It’s this kind of passion and determination from the players that resonates with the fans and shows why we’re such a strong team again. We love to see it. Arsenal could have added a third right at the end, Ødegaard should have buried the ball into the Villa net after a lovely Arsenal move and run from Declan Rice to set him up. All-in-all a difficult match in which we definitely rode our luck at times and have David Raya to thank with THAT massive save from Ollie Watkins in the second half. I spoke about match sharpness at the start of this post - I do think maybe later on in the season a fully sharp Ollie Watkins takes the two chances he had. Perhaps it was beneficial to have this one so early on in the calendar. Conversely, David Raya who prevented Watkins scoring one of those chances with an incredible save, needs to be spoken about. Two big-big saves from the opening two games, without a doubt the player of the match in this one against Villa. It’s one of those footballing clichès to say that a top-class goalkeeper can earn you ten-to-twelve points a season with match-winning saves and there is no doubt at all that Raya pulled off a match-winning save for us in this one. There are some other players that deserve a mention from our performances so far: We’ve already spoken about Trossard who has given no other choice to the manager but to start him next week. After a bit of a rusty display against Wolves, Saliba looked back to his best versus Aston Villa. Thomas Partey scored the second for Arsenal against Villa which deserves a shout-out. He had some really good moments, but also really poor moments, in both games so far. There were some nice touches in the first half against Villa, however, too frequently Morgan Rogers cruised past him with ease in the midfield. It seems like all the injuries have caught up to him and I don’t think he’s a full ninety-minute player in all honesty. It seems incredibly harsh after he popped up with a crucial goal for us, but the sooner the Merino deal is done I think the better. Last but not least, Saka again puts in consistently solid performances time and time again. He is so fundamental to this team that I’ve run out of superlatives to describe his importance. A great start to the season so far with two wins from two. Brighton this weekend will be another tough test. There’s still five days left of the transfer window to get through but this blog has gone on long enough so that will be a different post for a different day. Until then.
There’s a pod coming up covering the final weekend of the season so I’ll try to keep this as short as possible, I know we’re all hurting. Despite the hurt, I’m extremely proud of the boys and the monumental display they put in this season to go toe-to-toe with City right down to the wire in the league. In particular, the 2024 portion of the Premier League season was extremely impressive: P: 18 W: 16 D: 1 L: 1 Yep, we won 16 of our last 18 games in 2024 and it still wasn’t enough to topple City. We finished on 89 points, one short of our invincible season, whilst also setting a new club record for the number of wins in the league, pretty impressive. Even though it wasn’t enough to get the job done and bring home our first Premier League title in two decades, I can’t fault that kind of form from the team. I know Liverpool fans will have been saying this for the last seven years, but it just goes to show what teams are up against right now in order to compete with City - you have to literally be perfect. I expect Arsenal to be back up there challenging next season and it feels good to be back as a legitimate title contending team. The game itself against Everton was very strange - due to the nature of circumstance surrounding it - so I won’t go into too much detail on the performance (or any at all to be honest). We got the win and that’s all we could do. Outside of the Premier League season we reached the last eight of the Champions League, going out to Bayern Munich. In seasons gone-by in this competition the Bundesliga giants have battered us. This time, however, we arguably deserved to get through the tie having been the better team in the first leg. Again, it emphasizes the progress being made in this new chapter of the club. Despite the lack of Champions League experience amongst this group overall, the Gunners gave a good account of themselves for their first season back in UEFA’s top flight club competition after a seven season absence. Basically what I’m trying to say is that despite the heart-ache from the final weekend of the season, there’s a lot to be proud of and a lot more to look forward to from this current crop of players under Arteta. Once the pain and disappointment of England getting knocked out of the Euros has been and gone, I (like many other fans) will be excitedly anticipating the start of the new season throughout the summer. I’ll be going through the highs and lows of the season on the pod with Calum, and we’ll be discussing our players of the season. To anyone that’s read the blog over the curse of the season: a huge thank you. I can’t wait to do it all over again in August. Until then. Cheers, Oli
Welcome back to the blog everyone. It’s been a while since the last post, but such is life. There’s been plenty of pods in between to make up for it though. Anyhow, Calum and myself weren’t able to do a preview podcast for the Man United game coming up this weekend, so I thought I’d fill the gap wth a blog post myself. When I say fill the gap, I think it might be more some sort of therapy for myself, or a way to use nervous energy in a productive manner, in what is really crunch time now with two games left in the season. Although, it does feel like it’s been crunch time for sometime, and the players have stepped up to it (Villa at home aside). I hate talking about Manchester City, looking at their fixtures, results etc. etc. But we do need them to drop points somewhere, it’s looking more and more like that would be some sort of miracle the closer we get to the final day however. All we can do is focus on our games, the squad no doubt has been in one-game-at-a-time-mode for a while, and It’s Manchester United away tomorrow. We have to win to take this down to the wire. Which is why I think, along with many other Arsenal fans, I am starting to feel quite anxious. On paper and current form this season Arsenal should have more than enough quality to put this Manchester United side away. However, this fixture does induce a feeling of trepidation. Our record at Old Trafford speaks for itself, in the last 16 trips there we’ve only won once, drawing 5 of those and losing 10. As poor as that reads, and I am feeling slightly more stressed immediately after writing it, this is without a doubt the best Arsenal team we have had since The Invincibles and the worst Manchester United team for quite some time. United have some injury concerns too going into this one I believe, with Mason Mount ruled out and Rashford and Martinez also doubts. On the other hand, we should have a fully fit squad with Tomiyasu the only injury concern - and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the team sheet tomorrow nevertheless. With how well Arsenal played against Bournemouth, first-half in particular, last weekend it will most likely be an unchanged starting eleven. The options of Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli, Jorginho etc. to come off the bench as well is slightly easing my nervousness expressed two paragraphs above. If we can overcome the Old Trafford psychological factor that seems to hang over Arsenal - and I don’t see any reason why this group of players we have right now cannot, they seem to be completely unfazed by any team or any ground they go to - we should be coming back to London from Manchester with three points in the bag. Whatever happens now, happens. It’s been a hell of a season. But I would really really love to take this title race to the final day. Avenging some of those results away to United along the way, starting tomorrow. Come On You Gunners. Cheers for reading as always, Oli
Welcome back. The blog has been on somewhat of a hiatus but it would be rude not to talk about the current run of form the team has been on since the start of the year. Only six weeks ago people were surmounting that Arsenal would not be able to sustain a title challenge without signing a new striker in January, some pundits in the media were even writing them off for top four. However, no striker was signed and since the start of the year the Gunners are not just unbeaten in the Premier League, but blowing teams away and scoring goals for fun. Below are our results since the start of 2024: Crystal Palace (H) - 5-0 Nottingham Forrest (A) - 1-2 Liverpool (H) - 3-1 West Ham (A) - 0-6 Burnley (A) - 0-5 Newcastle (H) - 4-1 Sheffield United (A) - 0-6 Goals scored: 31 Goals conceded: 3 Granted two of these wins were against teams that look nailed on to be relegated at the end of the season, but even the biggest skeptics of Arsenal’s ability to push Liverpool and Manchester City to the end must be taking note. So what has changed? No striker was signed and we saw the team go away to Dubai for winter training and come back a different beast. Whatever was said and done on the training ground over there I am all for it. Could the answer be so simple that the players simply needed a rest and a re-set to refresh themselves and find their best form? maybe so, for all its complexities football can be a simple sport. It’s not as if the team were playing terribly (Fulham game aside) going into the new year, but there was an apparent lack of clinical edge in the finishing department. Even so, there is more to the re-emergence of this team than just putting away their chances. The Gunners seem to be playing with more fluidity, confidence and, besides from one hiccup against Liverpool in January, look defensively as solid as I’ve seen an Arsenal team in a long, long time. I’ve said it previously on the pod but Liverpool at home was a must-win for us to have any shot at the league. A combination of getting that result, alongside a super strong performance, seems to have breathed a sense of belief and confidence into the team. It had to be backed up of course by a win to West Ham - to even think about putting a title challenge together in this day and age you need remarkable consistency. The team duly obliged - going onto win 6-0 at The London Stadium, the game done and dusted by half-time with the Gunners already 4-zip up. Celebration police silenced. Even the most optimistic Arsenal fans weren’t quite expecting that. I guess this is where we need to talk about specific players then. Every player involved in the last few games has obviously been outstanding, this run so far truly has been a team effort. This blog post will be about three pages longer if I do go through every player. We’ve had the consistent steely-ness and robustness of Declan Rice in midfield, key attacking players such as Saka step-up, as well as an absolute stone-wall centre back pairing in Saliba and Gabriel. But it’s players somewhat on the periphery of the starting eleven that have come in and really made a noticeable impact in the absence of other injured players also: A round of applause please for Jakub Kiwior, Jorginho, and Kai Havertz. Let’s start with the latter. Although he’s had plenty of minutes throughout the season, Kai Havertz seems to be showing the kind of performances recently that make us see why Arteta wanted 60-odd mil spent to get him. In the absence of Jesus we’ve seen him go up-top and interchange with Trossard (shout-out to Trossard as well) frequently to create opportunities. We’re also seeing true conviction in his own finishing as well now to put his own chances away. When called upon to start big games, we’ve seen Jorginho seamlessly step into the midfield to partner Rice. He’s been excellent, his experience showing, and seems to be bringing out another side of Rice’s game (allowing him to push forward more) as well. Onto Jakub Kiwior then. With Zinchenko injured and Tomiyasu having been away in the Asian Cup (and now being given some true recovery time), we’ve seen Kiwior come in and be more than solid at left-back. He’s really grown into the role, looking confident and solid defensively in that back four. A knock on effect is that this has allowed Ben White to venture further forward and pop-up in midfield more, who seems to be flourishing in the role and I think we’re seeing the best of Benny Blanco right now also. As I said, I could go on and on for all the Arsenal players. We have Brentford at home in the league next which will be by no means an easy game, especially after the performance they put in against us at The Emirates last season. So the team will need to continue this form to make sure all three points are secured, which will be vitally important considering our next Premier League game after is away to City. Brentford is followed by our home leg against us Porto in the Champions League (I guess the elephant in the room is that performance away to them in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16). It’s a game we know we need to win by two or more goals, and we then have the afore-mentioned crunch game away to Manchester City away at The Etihad. Much more to come on those in the coming weeks, there will be a podcast episode wth Cal up post-Porto game as well. For now Arsenal need to take it one game at a time, starting with Brentford tomorrow. As always thanks for reading, Oli
Welcome back to the blog - which seems to be reflecting the sporadic nature of Arsenal’s fixture list recently. The Gunners were back in action after a two week break in which they managed to score five past a toothless Crystal Palace side. Some fans might have forgotten what it felt like to score so many and win in such an easy manner and, after a ten day gap between games, they may have already forgotten the feeling by the time the team play Nottingham Forrest away this coming Tuesday. I’ll start with the win against Palace last weekend. Despite the poor run in results I was looking forward to seeing the team back in action. Admittedly Arsenal were far from their best, but it says a lot about how bad Palace were that we managed to score five and dispatch them so easily. The first five to ten minutes of the game we looked a bit rusty with a lot of passes going astray. Luckily we seemed to have worked on our set-pieces over the winter break, with the first two goals (and technically the third) coming from corners. Leoandro Trossard is a great footballer but it’s no coincidence we didn’t see him take our opening corner from the left hand-side in this game, his delivery from corners so far has been far from convincing. Declan Rice stepped up for this one, curling a dangerous ball into the box on his weaker foot for big Gabriel Magalhães to leap up and head into the back of the net to put Arsenal ahead. Amazing what you can do when you actually manage beat the first-man from a corner. Again we threatened from corners, Palace almost scoring an own goal if not for the cross bar to save them. Arsenal’s second goal then came from another corner, Gabriel rising again to head the ball into the net via the back of Dean Henderson (and yes we can officially say this was a Gabriel goal now.) The third goal, just after the break, also came from a corner. This time, however, it was Crystal Palace taking it. Raya, who fair play was instrumental in this one, gathered the cross and immediately threw out an impressive ball into the path of Gabriel Jesus breaking into space, the Brazilian quickly found Trossard running through on goal who finished the chance really well - sending the covering defender onto his back-side and calmly converting past a helpless Dean Henderson in the Crystal Palace goal. After this it was smooth sailing. The three points were never in doubt. A number of substitutes on both sides saw the game fall flat a bit until the last few minutes of injury time when Gabriel Martinelli - on as replacement for Trossard - twice ran in behind a sleeping Palace defence to score a brace (doubling his goal tally for the season in the space of two minutes) to add some gloss to the scoreline. 5-0 to the Arsenal, and no wonder Palace fans in the away section of The Emirates were protesting with banners at the end. Admittedly, I did feel slightly sorry for Roy Hodgson at the end there when the cameras panned to him. Palace seem to be a bit directionless at the moment both in terms of playing-style and off the pitch, but I do feel that his now inevitable sacking will be a sad way to see a manager with such an impressive footballing CV go out of the game, especially after he came back out of retirement to help keep them up last season as well. It also reminded me of how far we’ve come in the last few seasons, the sight of seeing fans very disgruntled at The Emirates holding up banners stirred a feeling of familiarity and made me feel somewhat grateful (for a lack of a better word) that we’re no longer in that position. A reminder to the fans very aggravated going into the winter break that we’re in a far prettier situation now than we were even three or four season ago. Anyway, Nottingham Forrest at The City Ground next up will be a much tougher task. They’re a team scrapping at the bottom, and with some sort of punishment looming (potentially a points deduction for breaking Premier League Profit Sustainability rules) will have a siege mentality - if not within the team - certainly within the fans in the stadium. It was a difficult game their last season and all Arsenal fans will have painful memories of that one - the loss that all but sealed our fate in losing out on the title for the first time since 2003/2004. No doubt the players will have the same pain in remembering that one, hopefully they can use it as motivation - alongside some confidence and freshness - to bring three points back to north London. Both Gabriel and Rice came off towards the end of the Palace game with knocks, I haven't seen any updates on either player so hopefully it’s nothing too serious and we’ll see them back in the starting line-up for this one. In other news around the Premier League, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has announced he’s stepping down to take a break from football at the end of this season. I won’t get into that too much right now as we do play them at home next Sunday, in which there will be a podcast and blog pre-viewing that (and this is an Arsenal blog). But, I do think it could have a factor in their performances towards the end of the season, providing huge motivation for that group of players to win something for him. Considering they are currently top of the league, it makes that game at home on Sunday massive. Any points we can take off them and gain ourselves directly will be very important if what I’ve mentioned does happen and that Liverpool side hit a big run of form caused by an injection of motivation. In terms of Jürgen Klopp as a character, I do think it will be a loss for the Premier League in a general sense, and obviously a huge one football-wise for Liverpool fans. But whilst we still have an outside chance of the title, and knowing we’re right up against it now, there's no room for rival sentiment at this moment in time. There should be a pod up post-Forrest game, so will have more then. Thanks again for reading. Cheers, Oli
Happy New Year and welcome back to the blog / pod after a bit of a winter break. A lot has happened since the last post (unfortunately not goals for the Arsenal), after the Brighton game at home on the 17th of December. Despite the best intentions to keep the blogging going over the holidays, there was too much going on with being back in the U.K. and catching up with friends, family etc. etc. But with now being back in Canada, and it currently -30 outside, this seems like a great time to get back into the swing of things. Some time to re-charge over the last couple of weeks has brought back some motivation and re-invigoration, hopefully it’s the same for this Arsenal side after their winter training camp in Dubai. Some positives to come out of the camp so far include footage of Jurrien Timber back in training, as well as rumours Thomas Partey could feature by the end of January. To have both players back in the near future would be a very welcome boost to a squad starting to look thin in midfield and defence, especially wth Tomiyasu now away with Japan for the Asian cup and Mo Elneny away with Egypt for AFCON (not that Mo has featured much for us this season thus far). Since the last blog the team has been to Anfield and returned with a point in the bag after a 1-1 draw in which we played relatively well and deserved the point. Since then, to quite frankly understate it, the results have not been great. A disappointing 2-0 loss at home to West Ham just after Christmas was followed by a dour performance away to Fulham, losing 2-1 in that game, and an FA cup exit at home to Liverpool in the third round, going out 2-0. Out of those losses the Fulham game was by far the worst performance, with the team really struggling to create anything besides the goal that came early in the first-half. I will say in fairness that in both the games against West Ham and Liverpool respectively, the team played well and - particularly for the West Ham game - dominated for most of the game and should have won. The underlying flaw and ultimate downfall of the side in these losses - and the main source of frustration for fans watching on - was the lack of cutting edge and ruthlessness in finishing chances created. The stat that has been bounded about since the FA cup loss is the 61 shots on goal since Christmas, 0 goals scored. With it now being January it’s that period of the season where there will be inevitable transfer gossip, and many-a-rumour linking the club with a new forward. However, I don’t think the problem is that we don’t have the players to score. We do. It’s the same group of attacking players that scored 103 goals in all competitions last season, with 19 different scorers. It’s about bringing that cutting edge back to the same players that have the capability to score goals, and for whatever reason have faced a bit of a drought recently. This is a relatively young Arsenal side, it’s common for young players to have a dip in form. Both Saka and Martinelli are only 22, which is easily forgotten when you have become accustomed to seeing these guys cut through Premier League defences for the last 2 seasons. But these are still young guys, and we need to trust Mikel Arteta, and the rest of the coaching staff, can bring these guys out of their blip in form to get them firing again. Gabriel Jesus missed the Liverpool game entirely with a slight knee injury. If the Brazilian can come back from the winter break feeling 100% injury-free, along with some fresh legs in the rest of our first choice front-three, it could make a huge difference to the rest of the season. I’ve seen rumours linking us with Joshua Zirkzee whom currently plays for Bologna in Serie A, but I don’t think (nor do I expect) us to push that 50 million euro panic button just yet. On a side note, one positive to come from the last match was seeing Reiss Nelson put in a decent performance. He hasn’t had many minutes this season, and I hope to see him get given more game time from the manager in the latter half of the season. Another player I hope to see given more of a chance is Emile Smith-Rowe, who has barely played any minutes this season. There was a time when he would consistently score when coming off the bench, but sadly that seems a long, long time ago. Hopefully some consistent minutes on the pitch can bring back some confidence and form in the young man, although it really doesn't seem like the manager trusts him to do so right now. But that is a separate blog post / podcast in itself entirely. We won't know until the 20th of January when we face Crystal Palace at home whether the winter break has had the desired effect all fans hope for or not. Until then, there’s not too much else to say. Cal and I will have a pod this week in which we’ll discuss this in more detail. As always, a big thank you to reading and happy New Year!
Full-time result: Arsenal 2 - Brighton 0 Morning all, squeezing in a very quick blog in-between a jam packed visit back to the U.K. I was lucky enough to be at the Emirates in person on Sunday to watch Arsenal in a comfortable 2- 0 win over Brighton. The Seagulls have been a bit of a bogie side in the past but there was never a sign of an upset this time around. They did produce one good chance of note to equalize in the second-half, but I cannot remember any other chance they had besides this. It was another game, similar to Wolves earlier this season, where we created a lot of chances and should have scored more than two. Nonetheless, a solid win and I’d rather the team were creating chances and dominating games, maybe lacking a bit of ruthlessness at times, than not creating chances at all. The two goal scorers - Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz - both had great games in-particular, alongside Ødegaard, Saliba and (as usual) Declan Rice. The Gunners have a tough trip to Anfield next. Cal and I discussed this a bit in the last pod so will try to keep it succinct. Arsenal’s record their recently has been poor to say the least, I could be wrong on this but I don’t think we’ve won at Anfield in the league since Arteta was a player in the side - not winning in our last eleven visits. In recent years I would not be expecting anything from this game, the conclusion forgone in my mind before a ball has even been kicked. I might eat my words come Saturday evening but I don’t believe this is the case anymore, and I think the team at-least will have the belief they can get something from the game. It will be tough though. Last season Arsenal were 2-0 up inside half an hour at Anfield, only for the home crowd to find some voice and spur Liverpool on, in the end we held out for a 2-2 draw and had Aaron Ramsdale to thank with some crazy saves right at the death. I think the pressure of the title run-in and expectation placed on the team at the time definitely had a part to play in our performance there last season. This time around a defeat for either team wouldn't mean blowing the chance of a title, albeit it’s a massive game and a big shot in the arm for the team which takes three points, it’s still only December. Hopefully this will ease some pressure on the team and I think this is Arsenal’s best chance to end the Anfield hoodoo for some time. Liverpool will be bang up for it though, Klopp already calling on the fans mid-week to make as much noise as possible. It will be an interesting game, and I’m feeling more excited than I am dread for the first time in a while. I can't say I wouldn’t take a point from this if you offered it to me now, but it's our best chance in a long time to snatch all three. Anyway, until next time. Merry Christmas everyone! Cheers, Oli
Full-Time Result: Aston Villa 1 - Arsenal 0 Welcome back to the blog. Arsenal suffered their second League defeat of the season on Saturday, another 1-0 loss away from home, to an inform Aston Villa side. The over-riding feeling from this one is that this Arsenal didn’t take their opportunities well enough, and more often than not in this league you are punished when you don’t. Villa started brightly, scoring the opener within the first 7 minutes of the match. I thought before kick-off that if we could weather the storm and atmosphere within the first 10-15 minutes it would be important and give us a platform to go on and dominate. I also thought that the first goal would be vital in this one too, and so it proved to be, just not in the way of Arsenal. So, neither happened for us. Villa’s goal was a good one in fairness. They found space in midfield with Leon Bailey who made a dangerous run into the box, squaring to John McGinn. The Scot turned sharply and hammered the ball beyond a helpless Raya. Their might be some debate about whether we could have defended better, Bailey was tracked all the way into the box but neither Gabriel nor Zinchenko were able to get a challenge in without the risk of giving way a penalty. Ben White - who evidently was frustrated with himself after the goal - perhaps could have been tighter to McGinn, but this was probably more the result of an attacking play where everything just clicked together nicely for Villa in that moment - something that just couldn’t quit happen for Arsenal at the other end. After conceding we were the better team for the rest of the game, dominating possession in midfield and not giving Villa much in the way of threat after the ferocious start. But as mentioned, it just wouldn’t quite come together in the final third, with either passes going astray or poor finishing. We did have chances. Saka was played in by Martinelli in the opening minutes (before Villa had scored) who put the chance wide. Both Saka and Ødegaard had chances after the Villa opener, both putting their shots a bit too close to Martínez in the Villa goal. The Gunners started the second half well, Arsenal’s best chance of the game thus far coming when Havertz found space in behind Aston Villa’s defensive line. The German squared the ball to Ødegaard who found himself in that same space he regularly occupies just inside the box. However, the captain scuffed his shot, failing to hit the target. On most days he curls those into the bottom corner. I had the feeling that if he’d scored then we would have had the momentum to push on and win the game. There was almost a Martínez own goal from a corner, a penalty shout for a challenge from Douglas Luiz on Bukayo Saka, and right at the end of the game we were denied a goal on the basis of a handball. The handball seemed quite harsh (slightly biased though, to be fair). Firstly, the referee calls it in real time on the pitch, but I have no idea how he can even see that based on where he is on the pitch. Secondly, if it counts as handball against Havertz then should it not be handball for Matty Cash (and therefore a penalty)? Maybe it’s the Arsenal bias in me but it clearly hits the hand of the Polish international, twice. It was a moment that kind of summed up the game, even when Arsenal did finally find the ball in the back of the net it still didn’t count, one of those days where it just doesn’t quite come off. The positive for the Gunners, is that the overall performance - besides the finishing- was good. Another day, like the one against Lens, it clicks and Arsenal find themselves scoring 5 or 6. Onto the next one; PSV away in the final round of Champions League group games. We have already topped the group so hopefully it’s a chance to rest some players who have had a lot of minutes in recent games, and get some minutes under the belts of payers we haven’t seen as much. Maybe even some appearances from the U-18 lads like Reuell Walters and Myles Lewis-Skelly. We shall see. Calum and I are recording a podcast this week so there will be more on all this then. Thanks for reading as always! Oli
A very very quick post today. It’s been a busy week. In the game midweek against Luton Town, Bukayo Saka made his 200th Arsenal appearance at just 22 years of age. Quite an achievement. His first appearance for The Arsenal was back in November 2018. A Europa League group game against Ukranian side Vorskla Poltava, where he came off the bench to play on the left wing. I can't say it’s a match I vividly remember, if at all to be honest, it was right at the end of Unai Emery’s time in charge. Dark times for the club with some of those performances, I’ve probably banished those memories somewhere deep into my mind, hoping they never resurface. I do definitely remember him playing under Freddie Ljunberg during his short spell as interim manager, particularly a win against West Ham in which I recall him playing very well. Since then he has become a stalwart star of the team, setting a club record for consecutive appearances in the Premier League and playing in every match for two consecutive Premier League seasons under Mikel Arteta. It’s hard to really summarize how vital he is to this club and how much he is adored by the fans, and everyone at Arsenal. At just 22 the best is still yet to come as well, scary. Speaking of Unai Emery, we play his Aston Villa side away at Villa Park tomorrow. They are hot off the heels of a big win against Manchester City which moved them up to 3rd in the table, and are unbeaten in their last 14 home league games. The last team to beat them at home?.. you guessed it, Arsenal. Safe to say this is a big game. Unfortunately we will be without our Manager on the sidelines for this one. He picked up a third booking this season after celebrating our last minute winner against Luton outside of his technical area. I could put down how incredulous and ridiculous I think it is he was actually booked, considering the pitch and technical area was so small that both managers had to move out the way of throw-ins, but I said this would be a quick quick post. This will be an interesting game. Both teams in great form. Villa’s style of play means that there will be a lot of room in behind their defence if we can beat their offside trap. I don’t think a point would be a bad result, however I do feel that we have enough to go there and end their unbeaten home run, coming back to North London with another 3 points. We shall see, I’m looking forward to this one. Cheers for reading, Oli
Full-Time Result: Luton 3 - Arsenal 4 Good morning, afternoon or evening, depending on wherever you’re reading this. Arsenal scored a late, late, winner to salvage a win away at Luton Town last night and stay top of the table. Declan Rice glanced in a header in the 97th minute of stoppage time from what was most likely the very last kick of the game when Ødegaard fizzed a desperate cross into the Luton penalty area. The celebration police will be out for this one, but it is impossible not to celebrate the way the Arsenal fans and players did at the end when you score a last minute winner. When on the right end of one it’s what makes us make love this game so much. On the losing end, you question why you even care so much. The euphoria of a last minute goal might cloud over some poor goal-conceding errors in a game that on paper we should have won anyway, but it was always going to be a tough game. Arsenal have scored a few late goals this season - three in the 90th minute onwards, and two of those being match-winners. It shows a belief and resilience within this team that they never know when they are beaten. This hasn’t been the case in years gone-by. This is a different team and a special group of players. From the get-go the Luton players and their fans were well up for this. The game started tight and scrappy - Luton not affording us any room in midfield and getting stuck into the players, particularly Martinelli, whenever they could. It took some quick thinking from Jesus for us to find the opener; a quick throw-in, a nice pass across the box from Saka (on his 200th club appearance), and Martinelli’s stud getting enough on the ball for it to find the bottom corner of the Luton goal. The Brazilian scoring only his second league goal of the season, despite some impressive performances so far. Four minutes later Luton were back level after some poor defending from a corner, and Arsenal then went into the break 2-1 up after some tidy play down the right-hand side of the pitch - Ben White finding an unmarked Jesus running into the six-yard box to head home. Shortly into the second-half Luton found themselves equalizing from another corner. Rya coming out to catch the ball but getting absolutely nothing on it, allowing Luton to head the ball into an empty net. Poor goal-keeping which I’m sure will be closely scrutinized with all the noise around the goal-keeping position at the moment. Just eight minutes later Luton then went ahead when Ross Barkley was allowed to run towards Arsenal’s near post and fire a shot underneath Raya who, again, should have done better. However, it only took three minutes for Arsenal to find themselves an equalizer - Kai Havertz poking the ball past the on-rushing Luton keeper after some brilliant play from Jesus, holding off his defender, to tee up Havertz. From then onwards Arsenal turned the screw and battled to find a winning goal. The introduction of Leaondro Trossard and Zinchenko adding some extra potency and threat to our play. We even had a couple of penalty shouts thrown in for good measure. One on Gabriel from a corner, his arm clearly pulled, which was the stronger claim for me. The other on Saka. VAR gave neither, obviously, but in the end it didn’t matter as the break-through finally came. It took added time on top of added time. Arsenal won a free-kick with literally seconds left, eventually the ball found it’s way to the feet of the captain who set up Rice to head home and send the travelling Gunners fans, the fans watching at home, the whole team, and the coaching staff into bedlam. Something I should mention is that Declan Rice made an actually rather difficult finish look easy. It’s not the first time he's done that this season, the new Arsenal man already making a big impact at the club. Onto Villa away next then, another very difficult trip. This has already been quite a long post so there will be more on that later, Cal and I will also have a podcast following that one. To anyone who has taken the time to read this, or any of the previous posts, a big big thank you! It’s hugely appreciated. Until next time. Oli