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 couldn’t 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. Gabriel’s 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 Raya’s 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 don’t 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.

Let’s 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.

Arsenal’s result yesterday, and the performance, was exceptional in my opinion. The occasion, the location, the odds being stacked against us having so many injuries  – 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, I’ll be walking around the New Forest with a spring in my step…

Catch up in the comments.

 

 

 

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