Morning all.
Well that was a pretty good way to kick start the second half of the season. I say second half but this campaign is far from halfway through. Arsene Wenger finally made his return to The Emirates Stadium to watch a Mikel Arteta team turn on the style.
The game itself had pretty much everything. An early Arsenal goal disallowed, a number of hard challenges on Gabriel Martinelli, a terribly soft penalty awarded to West Ham and three classy second half goals for the home team. The fans, well they were fantastic too.
- Eddie Nketiah has scored 11 goals in his last 11 starts for Arsenal in all competitions at the Emirates — those strikes have come from only 16 shots on target.
Eddie Nketiah isn’t Gabriel Jesus, we all know that, so there’s little point in expecting him to do what our Brazilian does on a weekly basis. But, I thought he worked hard, did a lot of good things and scored a goal which had Messi scored in Qatar, the world of football would be talking about for ages. I’m chuffed to bits for him because it’s just what he needed on a night preceded by much talk about how Arsenal wouldn’t cope without Gabriel Jesus. Ha!
I thought Michael Oliver was dreadful. The penalty decision was ridiculous in my opinion, nearly as ridiculous as awarding Arsenal one after the ball clearly hit the face of a West Ham player and not his hands. No surprise when VAR overturned it.
There was too much faffing around with the ball in our own half for my liking, certainly in the first 45 and for a number of reasons, we couldn’t get that much needed goal. Then came the penalty and before long it was half-time. A quick chat with Mikel Arteta and the team came out in the second half with a bit more about them. Then came the goals…
A scuffed shot from distance by Martin Odegaard, dropped nicely for Bukayo Saka to slot home, Gabriel Martinelli then beat Fabianski at his near post for our second before Eddie Nketiah made it 3-1 with the goal of the game.
Mikel Arteta on Eddie Nketiah:
It was a great goal but I think overall his performance was incredible. The way he understood the pressing, his intensity, the way he counter-attacked certain spaces, the composure he showed. And then he stayed patient. And in the box he produced a moment of real quality to win us the game.
I thought all three front players were superb last night, their work rate was excellent. In fact, I thought Arsenal as a team/squad were superb. The old ‘there’ll be tougher tests than West Ham’ words were soon filling the back pages but yesterday, the test was West Ham and the players overcame it pretty easily.
Attentions will soon turn to the transfer window and not just for Arsenal. Liverpool have already agreed a deal to sign Cody Gakpo from PSV, a deal the Dutch club have confirmed this morning and in other reports, Arsenal have made an offer to Shakhtar Donetsk for winger Mykhailo Mudryk. If true, Arsenal really are moving early in this upcoming transfer window. All sorts of fees are being mooted but finances are Arsenal’s concern, not mine.
Next up for Arsenal is a trip to the south coast to face Brighton on New Years Eve..
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico.
Definitely a game of two halves. As you rightly say, too much faffing around for the first forty five minutes, but a better tempo and more direct style after the break.
The Hammer’s penalty was a bit of a soft one but correct I thought. Our claim for one, initially awarded by Oliver, was quite rightly scrubbed by VAR, in a way I was pleased by that decision as it shows that under new management the VAR minions are not going to be overawed by a big name referee.
Overall, Oliver had a poor game letting too many wild tackles go un-carded at least on of which was surely worthy of a red.
Today’s quiz question, how many minutes has Xhaka played without getting a caution?
Morning Rico and all.
I recon we needed them to score first as it seemed to spark us up for the second half, and most importantly instead of just getting the lead back and defending it we kept trying to get more goals.
Morning Rico. A well deserved win I thought and I too think the penalty was incorrect. The two angles I saw showed different things. From the back view it looked as if Saliba had caught Bowen’s trailing foot whereas the opposite angle showed no contact. But, take another look at Antonio’s part. As the ball is played over the top it kicks up and he clearly handballs it, intentionally or not, to bring it under control before knocking it to Bowen. It pops up and hits him on the hand. Without that touch perhaps the pass isn’t so easy. VAR was always used to check whether there was a handball in the build up. We have goals disallowed for the same or even for innocuous fouls way before the ball is in the net.
Having said that I think that going a goal down did us some good and perhaps might actually pay dividends as the season moves forward.
Morning Cicero, Geoff, Adam.
A lot of fouls/incidents went unpunished yesterday, on both sides too. Hard to disagree re going behind..
I didn’t see the ‘handball’ Adam but I thought it was a penalty, at least no one can call us lucky.
As for our ‘pen’ who was sure, I certainly wasn’t until I saw the replays, I think that Oliver gave it knowing it could be overturned if he’d made a mistake, I actually think that he tried to help the game flow, which maybe is a directive that comes from Howard Webb, I thought he had a decent game and refrained from stopping it for every little thing.
Stan and Josh Kroenke were at the game yesterday. A cheque signing day perhaps… lol
A meeting with Wenger? Perhaps a discussion about a future role in the club hierarchy? Rico.
You never know Cicero, just don’t let him near transfers..
Great start following the break. Belated Christmas wishes to you Rico and a healthy 2023. Great to see Nketiah score. He can only do his best when given a start. Good times.
Dont let him near the team . The board room however ? Maybe just maybe.
Back at you Marinello..
Even the board is a bit too close for comfort. Thankfully, he’s currently employed.
It seems that our initial £55 million bid for Mudryk has been knocked back.
According to The Guardian, Shakhtar want £85 million for Mudryk. That’s a lot for a twenty-one year old and maybe too much for KSE.
85 mill a lot for a young player, who may not cope in the premier league,
Bit late but new post up.