Morning all.
What a game! It had everything but a glut of goals. We saw strong challenges, a lot of bookings, a mini brawl and a defensive masterclass from Arsenal. The only goal of the game came from a set piece.
As expected, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori were ruled out through injury and with Declan Rice suspended, the bench looked youthful.
Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Partey, Jorginho, Trossard, Saka, Martinelli and Havertz started, with Trossard slotting into the Odegaard role and on the bench sat Neto, Kiwior, Kacurri, Heaven, Lewis-Skelly, Sterling, Nwaneri, Jesus and Kabia.
Ismeal Kabia is a pacey winger while Maldini Kaccuri is a no nonsense defender. Both turn 18 years old later in the year and neither, as far as I can recall, have been in the squad before. What a great experience it must have been for all the younger players sat on the bench. To feel the atmosphere in one of the most hostile stadiums Arsenal play at.
The game started in similar fashion to the one last season and it was decided in similar fashion too. A corner from Saka, a high rise from Gabriel followed by a bullet of a header past Vicario.
Mikel Arteta on our performance:
Well, I’m super happy, obviously. We know what it means to our club, to our people to win a London derby, and we have the power to try to make them very happy. So hopefully we have achieved that and that makes it very special. On the performance we had moments in the game, some really good ones, some others that we have to suffer. We suffered because we have to adapt a little bit the plan because of the players that we had available.
I loved it because since the day that we started to get by, the team got hungrier and hungrier to play the game and that’s a big compliment to everybody at the club to behave in a certain way. It’s a tough week that’s coming up, and instead of finding any little excuses or arguments to do that – the opposite, face the challenge, play with courage, acknowledge our qualities and what we have to be able to do to win a game, and we’ve actually done it.
For all their gusto early in the first half, Totts couldnāt find a way past the excellent David Raya. Kulusevski and Son tried but had no joy.
Arsenal grew into the game with Gabriel Martinelli having plenty of the ball out wide. A cross from him for Kai Havertz to head needed a save from Vicario. Our winger then had a scoring opportunity of his own after Leandro Trossard set him free, but his shot was easy for the Totts keeper to save.
Jarred Gillet booked William Saliba for holding onto the ball after Totts had won a free kick and then by the time he blew for halftime, six other player names had been taken. Five for Totts, two for Arsenal.
The second half started like the first with Totts sort of on top. Solanke saw a header deflected wide before Raya saved a van de Ven header. Then came our goal. Havertz went on the counterattack which led to a corner. Saka whipped it into a crowded penalty box but it was Gabriel who jumped high before sending a bullet of a header past Vitoria.
The Totts fans fell silent whilst the Arsenal players celebrated in front of their own fans. Gabrielās celebration was special I thought. He might not have been born in north London, but he clearly understands what the derby means to the fans.
The closest Totts came to nicking a point was from a Kulusevski shot right at the end which flew just over the bar to the right of Rayaās goal.
By the time Jarred Gillet blew his whistle for the last time, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Nathan Nwaneri were on the pitch.
1-0 to the Arsenal and yet another away win.
How good was our defending yesterday against the neighbours? I donāt just mean our defenders either although they were excellent, I mean the team in general. Every single player worked his socks off from start to finish. We kept our shape, stuck to the way Arteta likes us to play and even when there were moments when Totts were on top, no one panicked and no one dropped their game. Yes there were a few missed passes early on but hey, these guys are only human.
Letās nor forget either that we defeated an almost fully fit Totts team/squad with two key players missing in Odegaard and Rice. Also absent was Calafiori, Merino, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko and even Tierney. On our bench was five under 21 players.
Arsenalās result yesterday, and the performance, was exceptional in my opinion. The occasion, the location, the odds being stacked against us having so many injuries Ā – none of it mattered in the end because this group of players dug in and dug out a great result.
Have a great day guys, Iāll be walking around the New Forest with a spring in my stepā¦
Catch up in the comments.
Massive, massive win Rico. I must say, when I saw our bench, I thought my God, we really are down to the bare bones here (thanks for telling us about Kacurri and Kabia of whom Iād never heard). Arteta and his support team are super smart. They set up the team to nullify the Spuds
and with everyone doing their jobs it was fairly comfortable in the end. Ange looked
as sick as a parrot at the finish.
Now for Citehā¦..
I had to look them up too Anthony.
A big big win. A similar performance at The Etihad would be good..
Morning Rico
A no nonsense, meat and potatoes win. Arteta leant heavily into the defence and it worked out well.
The Timber incident was blown out of all proportion. I’m not sure it was even a foul. He traps the ball and touches Poro’s shin as he tries to change direction. The commentators and analysts talked up a red card but the ref, to his credit, took his time and handed out a few yellow cards. Take note Mr Kavanagh.
More of the same next week!
Morning Pete, Iām glad Iām not the only one who thought the Timber booking wasnāt even a foul. The ref was a bit too card happy imo.
The New Forest, that sounds a great way to spend the day Rico, I hope itās sunny and warm, enjoy.
Great post as usual perfectly capturing the emotion of the occasion and result, personally I canāt help but think back to peak George Graham, when Arsenal were impervious to opposition attempts to score.
David Raya is like a new Safe Hands and reminds me of another David, Saliba and Gabriel are the epitome of what peak Tony Adams and Steve Bould were when at their best and we have full backs every bit as resilient as Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon were back in the day with erudite White and composed Timber.
Theo Walcott compared this Arsenal performance to a Mourinho team and there are similarities but heās too young to remember a George Graham team, a supremely coached, disciplined and organised team.
It was a George Graham coached team that won us our last European trophy in 1994, something weāve struggled to replicate since – but maybe we have the manager with the right tactical mind and ability, who can finally emulate that achievement?
1-0 to the Arsenal, just like the good old days when everyone hated us more than they do today – I love it.
Great point Pete, I actually thought that Gillet had a decent game
Iām here for the week Kev and itās jolly warm. š
I love the fact that weāve become defensively more stable and solid. Love the pragmatic game when needs must and yesterday was one of those games. Next weekend will be too.
Good morning Rico and all.
I wrote a longish comment earlier this morning and then my Amazon Fire ran out of battery and shut drown thereby deleting all my hard work. š
Now all that I wrote has been mentioned by other housers so I’m taking the day off to sulk. š
Morning Cicero, thatās a shame.
Hopefully the comments problems have gone now for you guys as it has for me. A very kind man has fixed it..
I haven’t been to The New Forest since I was too young to go in a pub. We used to take an evening coach trip to the forest when we were on holiday in nearby Boscombe. The pub that wouldn’t let me in was, I think, The Worlds End. That was back in the fifties.
Got a little trip to Italy to get over first . The line up for that one will be interesting . We have today to get over yesterday , Tuesday to sort things out Wednesday travel to Lombardy ,Thursday play , Friday sort out for City and then Saturday off to Manchester.
Just be glad there are planes nowadays and they are not on trains or coaches.
It hasnāt changed much, the New Forest I mean, not the pub..
Oh the joys of playing in Europeā¦
Nicely summed up
This is a team(squad) to be proud of.
I almost choked on my crunchy nut cornflakes when I saw the Theo Walcott comments about this team being like a Mourinho team,but I suppose in some ways he’s right. His early Chelsea team played with two wingers,I’m pretty sure they scored over 100 goals,and were dogged defensively. Never remotely likable though.
The Thursday/Sunday turnaround will be difficult. Adrenaline will kick in though. I would leave Saka at home Thursday and play Sterling in his place.
Not usually the Arteta way but who knows.
All we know is that Saka asked to be taken off, nobody at the club is saying what, if there was one, the injury is.
Afternoon Rico and all.
Timbers yellow was a bit harsh, it looked like 50 / 50 to me with both players going for the ball and both players foot sliding off it, then I thought the ref was going to give Timber a second yellow after he stood up to there keeper.
As for Saka, like I said yesterday he looked tired, hopefully he was not injured just exhausted. and needs a week or two break.
Compare the Gabriel push with the Gordon one at Newcastle .
it would have been gross hypocracy had yesterday’s goal been ruled out , after all the ref that day was Stuart Atwell who just happened to be on VAR yesterday . I bet that had Gillet asked for a ruling there would have been a brown stain appearing on Atwell’s derriere .
Good afternoon Rico and all
I loved reading the post Rico. Fingers crossed you will have to copy and paste the same on Monday 23rd after the City game.
I am still astounded at the defensive display we saw. Arteta, schooled by Wenger and then Guardiola, rolled back the years and seemed as if his team was schooled by George Graham and Jose Mourinho together. Gabi’s header was reminiscent of Drogba’s powerful headers against us.
and it was just 1-0 to the Arsenal. Just like the days gone by. Pa would have been thrilled to bits had he seen that. He loved the 1-0 as much as I love the 2-0 (perfect result).
Here’s to 34 more 1-0 victories for us.
Geoff, Timber’s yellow was totally unjustified. It was no foul because Timber’s body was standing over the ball while his foot was over the ball as well. It was more of Porro making a meal out of it….he should have worn better shin guards. But he prefers to be a pansy rather than a grown up player.
No way should Timber have been judged with a yellow. And the foul was 50/50. It could have easily been awarded to us.
Limey, Iād leave a few more at home on Thursday as well as Saka but I think we all know Arteta will go strong.
I reckon Saka had cramp, same with Jorginho.
As for the push, there was a lot of that going on yesterday and in both boxes.
Hi Geoff, Devil.
I get what Walcott was saying re Mourinho. Not sure where Wenger fits in though, certainly not the second ten years of his Arsenal career. Lol
The more I see the Gabriel goal the better it gets,Spurs fans whinging just makes it better.
It was a fantastic header, so much power behind it..
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c1d7drg10nwo
Why in private??? why the secrecy??? If the case will be held in public it would bring clarity, accuracy and act as a future control and deterrent for any club.
I guess itās because itās a civil case rather than criminal..
Apparently all PL hearings are held in private.. itās the rules.
Devil Like I said it was a bit harsh, as both players had there studs showing,
Rico, every time I leave a comment nothing shows until I hit the refresh button, this has just started the last couple of days.
The reason for the secrecy around the City enquiry is The Premiership’s own rules. All the club’s involved at the time the rules were written agreed to abide by them. To change the rules would need a majority of fourteen votes and that, apparently, is almost impossible to achieve.
None of the panel have been publicly named and even the venue has not been officially announced, although it is known to be The International Dispute Resolution Centre in London.
D G, how’s the weather in Malta early October? We are thinking of spending
a week next month possibly on Gozo. Is it an easy trip to Malta?
FYI: Bolton Wanderers, a team that we know well and has a patchy history with the Gunners, are currently 4th from bottom in League Oneā¦
The prospect of a highly rotated Arsenal starting XI must be high in this cup tie, maybe a few of the teenagers we had on the bench at WHL will get their full debuts or debuts from the bench in this game?
Good afternoon Rico and all
Michael Oliver has been appointed referee for Arsenalās trip to face Manchester City on Sunday, with John Brooks on VAR
Cicero…..the weather in October is usually stable. it will definitely not be too hot since temperatures are going down. It will still be a bit warm but then it cools a lot in the evening/night. Gozo will be wonderful at that time of the year. You go there from Malta by ferry which will take around 20-25 mins if the sea is calm. I hope you will enjoy it. October is a lovely month for people like you who live in harsh cold weather during Autumn and winter especially. And Autumn colours are always amazing.
Thanks D G, we’ll be booking if this afternoon.
Just read this on twitter ( X ) True or not ????????????
Michael Oliver was paid Ā£20,000 to referee a game in UAE funded by Man Cities owner
Kovacic lucky ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCY9awyBieo ) Oliver again
He has given less yellows to City than any other top 8 team
He has never given City a red card
He has awarded City 11 penalties.
If these allegations are true then it’s about time the media picked up on it , however one has to suspect that they have been paid off too.
Itās good that those āfactsā are out there before Sunday. Hopefully, the X post will spread far and wide and reach Oliver.
Shocking if true although not surprising.
The Ā£20,000 refereeing fee came to light a couple of months ago. At the time it was reported that he had permission from PGMOL to make the trip alongside two assistant referees and a Var. As to the alleged hints of corruption, I couldn’t possibly comment.
Probably best not toā¦ š
Whatās 20 grand among āfriendsāā¦.
Makes you wonder how many āfacesā at the PGMOL have one eye on a nice little refereeing gig in the Etihad region sometime in the not too distant futureā¦
Oliver already has one on Sunday..
For those of us who can remember the first few years of Patrick Vieira at Arsenal we can also obviously recall the continuous propaganda pumped out through certain outlets, mainly Spanish, about his imminent departure to Real Madrid.
Thereās no doubt Madrid were interested but it never came to anything and most likely had a lot to do with the internal politics of that ridiculous club.
The Madrid links got more than a little tedious and was I believe driven partly by Patrick and his āpeopleā in an effort to to benefit himself and to a lesser degree the team. For example when the Madrid stuff was swirling around there was a narrative along the lines that Vieira wanted the club to show more ambition in the transfer market to persuade him to stay.
The irony was that when Patrick did leave it was to join Juventus and it was because Dein and Wenger had partly tired of his veiled threats and decided to call his bluff. Apparently he didnāt really want to leaveā¦
Iām minded of the Vieira saga because it seems that those wankers in Madrid are at it again over Saliba.
The Saliba rumours were always going to come, just as the Gabriel to Juventus did but thatās because theyāre playing well and weāre doing well. Thereās a chance they might want to move, others too but I canāt see that day being any time soon.
Rico, the best player want to be winners. If that is not likely to occur with their present club then they might perceive that grass may be greener elsewhere.
If we don’t win a major trophy this season there will be a risk that some of our best may want to move on.
Thatās kind of what I mean Cicero. I think weāll have next season with them though, especially now Arteta has extended his contract. Happiness is surely as important as success.
Saka and Calafiori were training this morning apparently.
Afternoon Rico and all,
I’m not sure happiness will keep player who realy want to look back at there career and not to be able to show there children or granchildren any silverwear.
Fabio Vieira has suffered an injury only weeks after joining Porto on loan. The Porto boss has said no decision has been made about the loan being cancelled and the player returning to Arsenal foe treatment.
I don’t understand how Porto can ignor a contract, if the do send him back and cancell the contract we should seek componsation for the damages and lose of wages to our player who we can not use and never deal with them again.
Fabio Vieiraās dream return to Porto has quickly turned into a nightmare after yet another injury blow.
The Arsenal playmaker made a loan switch back to his former club in the summer. He is set to remain with the Portuguese giants until the end of the season.
The decision to allow him to move was initially criticised by fans, particularly after Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino picked up injuries during Declan Rice ās suspension. But it appears that Vieira wouldnāt have been able to help anyway having been hit by his own issue.
Porto boss Vitor Bruno has admitted he is not sure when the midfielder will return. As quoted by A Bola, he said: āIt wonāt be a concern, heās being reassessed daily.
āHeās really eager to help. Heās also brilliant at what his maximum ceiling is, the way he adapts to a new group, he comes with different habits from England. He brings good energy and that will help him recover as quickly as possible. Letās hope itās as quickly as possible.ā
Daily Mirror
Vieira returning to Arsenal for treatment wonāt, it seems, necessarily mean heās coming back permanentlyā¦
Iād imagine that Porto would have had to sign a temporary transfer agreement stating that they have to pick up Vieiraās wages regardless of fitness but maybe did f have to pay a fee?
I see Stoke have followed the fashion and appointed a Catalan coach(the assistant from Norwich apparently) You can’t blame them,a bit different from the Tony Pulis days.
Hi Geoff, all.
Odegaard out for a while with ligament injury..
KdB hobbling in Milan, Milan look really good.
Arteta, Odegaard hopefully out for weeks not months with significant ankle ligament injury.š