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Morning all.
The lunchtime fixture saw Newcastle Utd and Man City draw 1-1. The evening game ended with Liverpool beating Wolves 2-1 thanks to a Salah penalty in the second half. Soft or what?
I know highlights don’t tell the whole story of a game of football but listening to some of the commentary on the wireless (just because I know what one is), Arsenal were all over Leicester City like a bad rash for most of the game.
Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring around the 20 minute mark when he got on the end of a Jurrien Timber cross. It wasn’t the cleanest of strikes from Martinelli but who cares? A scruffy goal will have done him the world of good, the first of a few more I hope. Martinelli the turned provider for Leandro Trossard to double our lead.
No sooner had the second half kicked off, Leicester City pulled one back. The goal came from a free kick which James Justin got his head to and thanks to a deflection off of Kai Havertz, David Raya was beaten. An hour into the game and it was 2-2. A cross from the left finished with a cracking volley from the same Leicester player.
I thought we’d have to settle for a point which would have been dreadfully disappointing but then four minutes into added time, we struck gold. Well, it was Ndidi who scored but by then, I really didn’t care how the ball crossed the line or who put it there. Just to make sure we’d take all three points from the game, Kai Havertz made it 4-2.
After the game Steve Cooper said they conceded two “typical Arsenal goals” in the first half having spent all week working on how to defend Arsenal’s cutbacks and crosses. “That’s how good they can be,”
Things might have been different though because apparently, Riccardo Calafiori could have been sent off. Having already been booked earlier in the game, brought down Buonanotte as Leicester broke on the counter attack. Perhaps we got away with one there which makes a change. Steve Cooper certainly wasn’t happy, especially as Buonanotte was shown a yellow card for moaning about the referees decision and Mikel Arteta admitted he was worried Calafiori would be our third player sent off in as many league games.
Arsenal bossed the stats in every department and although the game ended 4-2, it could so easily have been 6,7 or 8-2. (76% possession, 36 shots with 16 on target) Leicester’s keeper was certainly in good form.
It took a deflection beat Raya and an outrageously good volley which I doubt Justin will replicate for a long long time, if ever. But, even after surrendering 2-0 lead, this group of players didn’t give up and nor did they panic. Last weekend we saw the defensive strengths but yesterday we saw that will to win by scoring a much needed goal. The fact that so many goal scoring opportunities were either blocked or saved didn’t deflate the players, instead they fought long and hard before finally getting the result they deserved.
Next for Mikel Arteta’s players is PSG on Tuesday night before Southampton travel to The Emirates for another Saturday 3pm kickoff. After that match, international football takes over for two weeks. Then I think we’ll see Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mikel Merino in the squad, the latter sooner perhaps.
Catch up in the comments.
A good write up as usual Rico and i must add their keeper Hermansen had the game of his life and i think Saka equalled a record for consecutive assists yet i feel Trossard is our best striker at the moment and hopefully Martinelli (who had missed an earlier chance) scuffed goal will give him confidence as he hadn’t scored since March,though he had an injury in between.
I really think Jesus is a waste of space,Col Palmer’s 4 goals yesterday is as many as Jesus has scored last season in the PL and I wonder if Pep reqrets letting him leave.
Sterling I hope gets more game time and Havertz runs his heart out but again is not an out and out striker.The game really changed at half time ,a game we could have been 4-0 up and maybe luck or pressure or both got us the result.
Good morning Rico.
The Leicester ‘keeper played out of his skin and should have been given Man of the Match. This edition of Arsenal teams just never give up. Incidentally, Buonanotte was booked for waving the imaginary yellow card and that got Calafiori off the hook.
Telegraph headline, “City try every trick in the book and fail to stop clever Gordon”.
Good morning everyone.
A good match report once again. Especially since you stated that we could have won by up to 8 goals. It means I wasn’t alone in thinking that.
Fingers crossed we win and keep a clean sheet against Southampton. At least we will play on Tuesday so ample time to rest before Southampton game. Fingers crossed no injuries on Tuesday and during international break
Morning Rico and all.
Steve cooper should shut his mouth, he was very lucky that several of his player never got a second yellow card including Vardy who fell over every time he got tackled, the ref made mistakes for both teams, like paying us advantage when there was no advantage, and it was just outside the box which may have been able to score from, as for our performance I don’t think we got out of first gear until the last 10 minutes.
Looks like Arteta might have got into his players head about kicking the ball away as Saka nearly did then stopped, at the last second.
Hopefully Merino will not feature against Southampton so he wouldn’t be called up by Spain. That would mean two more weeks recovery.
Morning guys, thanks re the post.
I thought the players were great to not give up. Arsenal of old might have.
Nwaneri is ready, that’s for sure..
Cicero, that’s a good headline in the Telegraph. Perhaps not every journalist is against us. 😝
Big game on Tuesday, PSG will be a totally different proposition and so will the officials. It’s early days but if we want to avoid a playoff we need to finish in the top 8.
I know absolutely nothing about Paris SG, the only player I knew of theirs was Mbappe before he left, maybe Dev can give us a run-down on how they play and their dangermen.
Good post Rico
I’ll be doing a bit of reading about them before Tuesday Kev. 😂
I hope someone at Arsenal has been closely watching the Champions League games and how they are refereed so the differences can be brought to the attention of our players. An hour Tuesday morning briefing the squad on what they can and can’t get away with would be time well spent.
Calafiori could have been sent off. Fortunately it wasn’t. It’s one of those situations where Liverpool, MU, Totts are never sent off except those from the other teams.
But the referees are bad. In the 2nd half, Saka was clearly brought down at the edge of the area, the referee didn’t mark it and well (but he saw it) because the ball remained in Arsenal’s possession but without any consequence, quite the opposite, they lost it. The game continued with a throw for Leicester. If the referee does not go back to signal the foul (which can be accepted), he cannot fail to penalize whoever committed the foul. It benefited those who defended: not marking a clear foul, not penalizing the offending player and giving the law of advantage to attackers without any advantage.
PSG is very strong. There are many international players
JM, that’s what I was saying before, instead of stopping the play the ref paid advantage, which in no way was it an advantage.
Watching highlights,maybe Calafiori got away with it a bit,I thought it would have been harsh to send him off though. I honestly think the Ref didn’t want the hassle of making a decision.
Nonetheless he looks a heck of a good player,Timber too. I look forward to seeing Merino.
Anyway Steve Cooper can do one,the first Leicester goal was very lucky,Arsenal were the better team by a mile.
I thought Raya looked below par,he had no chance with either goal though. We get used to him being brilliant,can’t expect that every week !
I’ve seen the future and it’s Ethan Nwaneri!
Only on for 10 minutes yesterday and he showed that he’s pure class. As the great Sir Matt Busby said, “If you’re good enough you’re old enough.”
Arteta knows he’s good enough as he’s said it himself but and rightly so imo, he doesn’t overplay him. His minutes have to be managed surely. His body isn’t fully grown yet and we don’t want him to follow in Wilshere’s footsteps in terms of injuries.
Won’t be long before opponents start targeting him.
The Tractor Boys hold Villa to two all draw.
Next on our screens a mid-table clash between two mid-table teams, Manure and Spuds. 😉
Spuds one up after two minutes.
That good eh Cicero. 😜
Arsenal Women one nil up away to Leicester 84 minutes. 🔔
Full-time, one goal, clean sheet, three points. That’ll do nicely. 😉
Yep, just perfect.
Straight red for Fernandez.
What a shame…
spuddies 2-0.
I want them to draw the game.
but its clear the players want ETH to be sacked.
Mancs have had almost more cards than attempts on goal. 5 yellow, 1 red and 7 shots.
Manchester United fans are leaving Old Trafford.
Tottenham fans are chanting: “Is there a fire alarm or what?!”
Man United doing a great job of making Spurs look good.
Come on now, we’ve all get together and support Ten Hag, he’s doing a wonderful job…
Spuds finished up playing at half pace and the Mancs didn’t even compete with that. The only player from either side that would get in an Arsenal shirt is Garnacho. Whatever happened to Rashford? He’s not half the player of two seasons ago.
If that doesn’t get ten Hag sacked nothing will.
It was a bonkers decision to extend his contract in the summer. Funny though..
Villa , Brentford , West Ham .Uniteds next three matches without Bruno . They could be in a relgation fight .
Good… Let’s hope they are.