Morning all.
What a weekend of football. The only way it could have been better for Arsenal is if Man City and Newcastle had drawn their match but hey, we can’t have things all our own way. A fabulous comeback from the Arsenal men against Bournemouth, Wolves then beat Tottenham and because Chelsea are so far behind the top four as far as points go, their win is pretty insignificant as far as top four goes.
I detest Liverpool with a passion but even I hoped they’d beat Man Utd yesterday. Not for one minute did I expect them to so to see them batter Utd in the fashion they did and it was hilarious. All those poor pundits who’ve been telling everyone that Man Utd are already the real deal, well, they might have to rethink. 7-0 is an absolute spanking!
But, yesterday wasn’t just about the mens game as Arsenal’s women took on Chelsea in the Womens League Cup Final at Selhurst Park in front of just under 20,000 fans. A number greater than ever before.
Chelsea were 1-0 up within two minutes of the game starting and bearing in mind what happened when the same two sides met in the FA Cup just a week ago, it was far from the ideal start for Arsenal and Emma Hayes must have thought the same outcome was on the cards. However, 14 minutes later, Arsenal equalised through Stina Blackstenius’ and then 10 minutes later, Kim Little scored from the penalty spot to make it 2-1. Blackstenius had the ball in the back of the net again but an offside flag was soon raised. Just before half-time, Arsenal grabbed a third although it was given as an own goal by Niamh Charles. Who cares, they all count eh..
Second half saw Arsenal denied a penalty when Caitlin Foord was fouled by Kadeisha Buchanan but even that couldn’t stop the ladies from winning their sixth League Cup trophy.
Another difficult week ahead for the Arsenal men with two away fixtures to be played. The first on Thursday in Portugal against Sporting Lisbon, a 5.45pm kickoff and then on Sunday, it’s Fulham at Craven Cottage. It looks like Mikel Arteta will be without Leandro Trossard for both, probably longer too and with both Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah out injured, unless the latter recovers in time for Thursday, the options for Mikel Arteta are slim. Very slim. ESR has played in the ‘false 9’ position but if my memory serves me right, that didn’t work very well at all. Admittedly, the starting eleven back then when Villarreal beat us 2-1 in Spain was very different to what it’s going to be on Thursday because Chambers, Mari, Cabellos, Pepe and Mari are no longer at the club, nor are Willian or Aubameyang who were on the bench, but unless Gabriel Martinelli plays centrally up front, what options are there for the manager?
How Mikel Arteta approaches this game is unknown as yet but with Arsenal sitting top of the League table with just twelve games to go, as hard as he tries not to think about the Fulham game, I bet he is.
Sporting Lisbon aren’t going to win their League and at the moment, they’re sitting outside the Champions League places too so perhaps they see this competition as the best way to get into the bigger of the two European football competitions next season. In other words, I think we can expect to be facing their strongest team. I’m far from convinced that Sporting will be facing ours.
Catch up in the comments.
Morning Rico. It was a decent weekend wasn’t it? I watched the WSL game too. The ref was terrible and didn’t seem to want any input from the assistants. How that penalty was missed I’ll never know.
The Man Utd result was delicious and as Ten Hag loves to preen himself in front of the cameras when they win, I remember him throwing players under the bus after we beat them. So I wasn’t surprised to see him essentially wash his hands of any responsibility yesterday.
It was great and Fernandes showed exactly the sort of person he really is and why he’s the perfect captain for them.
Well done the Arsenal Ladies, happy to see them winning a trophy again after 4 fallow years.
Looking forward to Thursday and how seriously Mikel takes it, any game in Portugal is difficult and shouldn’t be taken lightly, so a mix of squad and 1st team players I reckon with starts for ESR, Nelson, Tierney, Tomiyasu (he needs games) Turner, Kiwior, Jorginho, etc.
Hopefully a couple of youngsters on the subs bench.
Morning Rico
Wonderful weekend. The noise in the stadium after Nelson’s goal on Saturday almost lifted the roof off. One of ‘those’ moments.
Man Utd’s humbling was the icing on the cake.
Well done to the Arsenal Ladies. A great result against that side.
Some salty comments from Emma Hayes after the game. Ouch, that must have hurt.
That penalty not given was one of the worst I have seen in ages. A reminder what VAR was intended to correct, not a kneecap being offside.
Morning Adam, Pete, all.
A coincidence re the ref or just more anti Arsenal officiating I wonder.. I loved seeing Emma Hayes looking as miserable as sin on the touchline. Ten Hag later in the day too.
What a horrid cheat Fernandes is. Ghastly player.
Pete, saw a couple of clips Andrew sent in from pitch-side and in the pub after, must have been fantastic to actually be there. I’d rather we’d won more comfortably but as you say, they are great moments.
Morning Rico, everyone, Great weekend of results….. Typical though that the last Two fantastic games I couldn’t watch live. So pleased for the ladies too.
I’m a bit worried about Thursday’s game with our injuries. But looking forward to seeing Kiwior play and to see who else gets a run out.
G’day Rico and all.
That penalty decision was a travesty. If VAR had been in operation I’m certain there was no way it could be ruled out. There were on or two other poor decisions by the ref, one particularly heavy challenge, to stop a counter-attack, was a certain yellow card but not given.
Morning Mike, Cicero.
Same here Mike although I did find a stream for both which despite buffering, was better than nothing.
The Football Association are investigating Arsenal’s celebrations after Reiss Nelson scored a late winner against Bournemouth in their recent Premier League match.
Their obvious hatred for Arteta and the club is getting clearer by the minute. Next they will send him to prison or cancel his visa and have locking seat belts on the squad and substitute seats.
Lord only knows what they will make of the little kid shaking Arteta’s hand !
They will probably give him a lifetime ban.
But they’re not looking into Bruno Fernandes pushing the linesman and pretending to be hit in the face amongst everything else Potter. Christ it makes my blood boil.
Didn’t they ban a Tottenham player in the WSL recently for feigning a head injury ? What is going on ?
Teams are doing this against Arsenal all the time , but nothing is done ……….On that note , I love Martinelli, But I do wish he wouldn’t roll around so much after getting fouled.
You’re right Rico , Fernandes is a ghastly player.
It’s disgraceful that we’re being investigated for celebrating. Pathetic too but you know what, Arsenal players and staff should use it as motivation to win the League. Clearly the PL/FA don’t want us to..
Meanwhile as the F.A are arming junior referees by giving them body cams to prevent them being assaulted ,Fernandes pushes a linesman on T.V and no punishment is given . At Arsenal however fines are to be issued for being happy .
Don’t rule out points deductions.
The media should be coursing a storm and asking the officials why they are not cracking down on players faking a head injury and time wasting in the men’s matches, after all the suspended a female player for faking a head injury.
‘morning all.
There’s an interview with Beth Mead in this morning’s Telegraph, well worth a read.
Hope Kiwior gets a good run-on Thursday, otherwise he could get a bit stale.
Arsenal would not get any favors from the refs or VAR. Remember that one of their bodies got fired because of Arsenal? Lol.
Aside from all their antics and the penalty shouts, on their first goal, three of their players were on the Arsenal side before the kick-start. The first goal shouldn’t have stood.
Btw off topic, old boy Chuba Akomp has 25 goals in 35 matches. Not bad.
Cicero, would you mind copying and pasting the article onto the new post please?
New post is now up.