Morning all.
What a great day for Arsenal Football Club. At lunchtime, the women thumped Manchester United 3-1 and then at 3pm, the men cruised past Burnley scoring another five goals in the process. That’s five wins in a row since the turn of the year which is a first for any Arsenal team in history.
Saturday at 3pm is when football used to be played but for those of us who can’t go to games, it means a dodgy stream or the radio. I opted for the latter. I watched the women batter Utd though and it was good. Beth Mead hit the woodwork twice, Mary Earps was in good form but even so, she couldn’t stop her own player putting Arsenal’s first past her. Nor could she stop a great reaction header from Cloe Lacasse or captain Kim Little’s penalty, awarded after Mead was tripped in the box. Jonas Eidevall‘s side should have scored more and with better keeping, they wouldn’t have conceded either. Anyway, a great result which keeps them in the title race.
Arsenal v Burnley at Turf Moor was up next. How many of our walking wounded would return was the question on my mind pre match day, well, the answer was one. Emile Smith Rowe. Two new faces popped up on the bench in fullback James Sweet and midfielder Mauro Bandeira.
Mikel Arteta opted for the same starting eleven which faced West Ham and within 4 minutes, we were 1-0 up. Declan Rice played the ball out to Gabriel Martinelli on the left and off he went. His cut back found Martin Odegaard just outside the box. A touch with his right foot, a superb strike with his left – a wonderful goal.
Aaron Ramsey had Burnley’s best chance but David Raya saved well. It seems weird writing that knowing it’s not “the” Aaron Ramsey. I hope the injury he suffered during the second half doesn’t keep him out of the game for long. Leandro Trossard really should have doubled our lead but from just a few yards from the goal, he totally missed the ball. Shortly after, the same player was fouled in the box by Lorenz Assignon. Referee Jarred Gillet was in no doubt as he blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. Up stepped Bukayo Saka. 2-0.
After the break, Kai Havertz played a pass to Martin Odegaard before the Norwegian international slipped the ball to Bukayo Saka. A couple of swift touches and bang, 3-0. Super strike. Arsenal didn’t stop at that though, not even with another match in just a few days time. Leandro Trossard must have thought it wasn’t going to be his day as far as scoring goes because having already missed a great opportunity to put the ball in the net during the first half, a couple of other chances went by too but then, his moment finally came. Jakub Kiwior whipped a cross in from the left – Saka missed it, Havertz missed it too but Trossard hit it, and hit it well.
At 4-0, Mikel Arteta made changes but there was still time for one more. This one came from Kai Havertz who Jakub Kiwior released from a thrown in down our left. He ran with the ball, cut inside his man before cooly slotting the ball into the back of the net.
A truly remarkable result away from home against a tough opponent. Burnley might be in the bottom three of the table but they’re not easy to beat. Yesterday though, Arsenal beat them easily. What made the result even sweeter was that it was Craig Bellamy in the dugout watching it all unfold.
A couple of other good results yesterday was Totts being beaten at home by Wolves, Newcastle Utd dropping two points against Bournemouth at St James Park and then later in the day, Man City were held to a draw at home against Chelsea.
There’s no time to rest though as on Wednesday night, Arsenal will be in Portugal to play Porto in the first leg of our Champions League tie.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico, a five star day indeed. Let’s hope we can carry the positive feelings forward to Wednesday.i
Morning Rico and Co, nice post.
The less said about England’s batting the better.
Gotta say that Soares has looked quite good in the more adventurous role recently utilised on the right when subbing on for Ben White, I’m really liking these Arteta substitutions.
A totally different environment and mentality midweek, but we’ll cope.
Porto beat Estrela 2-0 yesterday, Estrela are near the bottom of the Portuguese Liga, flirting with relegation and have lost half of their games this season, so 2-0 wasn’t exactly emphatic. Of course the visit of Arsenal will motivate the Porto fans so expect a wild atmosphere as was the case in Lens. I wonder what Porto are like at defending corners and free-kicks into the box? Ben White should enjoy his shadow boxing with the goalkeeper. I’m looking forward to it…
Morning Cicero, Kev.
I’ve only seen limited highlights so can’t say much about the game. I’m watching it in a bit.
Nuno is doing a really good job at Forest, I thought they gave West Ham a thoroughly torrid time and Nuno Junior in particular played an important role in that as he charged down the left flank creating mayhem.
Seeing Lokonga and Tavares both playing regularly and playing well is great news as it sees their value increase and that’s exactly what we need this summer.
Thanks Kev, having Cedric on the bench isn’t bad when we’re 4-0 up but I sure as heck wouldn’t want him starting games. Still, whilst he’s still with the club, it makes sense to use him when we can. After all, he’s being paid nicely. Lol
Agree re the two loanees Kev. You never know, they might yet show enough to play for us..
You never know Rico, but maybe attitude has also played a large part in where both Sambi and Nuno are now?
I suspect that if you don’t show 100% commitment to the project you then find that the the non-negotiable’s start to kick-in and that’s only gonna end one way.
It’s encouraging that since Jesus and Zinchenko have been absent, no Arsenal player has had a bad game. Our ‘keeper and back four are better organised largely because Kiwior sticks to his proper position. By doing so he frees Rice to do his best work in midfield relieving him of the need to cover for Zinchenko when he goes walk-about. Up front there is no pressure, or need, to feed chances to Jesus so our front players are free to take the chances themselves. Without Jesus throwing himself to the ground at every opportunity, referees are less likely to get get exasperated by his antics.
As far as the cricket is concerned, BRING ‘EM HOME NOW! Either fly them by B A’s cattle class or, better still send them by sea via the Cape of Good Hope.
Rightly so if that’s the case with either or both Kev. The All or nothing series did Sambi no good.
It’s only 2-1 Cicero, we can win the next…
Win the toss, win the Test, that’s cricket in India.
Sheffield United took one hell of a beating at home from Brighton, their next home game? Arsenal…
I wonder how many changes Arteta will make, if any, on Wednesday?
Smith Rowe is the only injured player to return and he’s likely to be on the bench again.
Even if Jesus, Vieira and Zinchenko are fit for the game I’d imagine that they’ll all be on the subs bench?
Yes Rico, I’m certainly not advocating that Arteta starts Cedric, God forbid, but if he’s using him as a late sub in the attacking role to allow Ben a breather, especially against the poorer sides, then he’s done ok in that role as he’s not expected to do so much defending with Kiwior playing the third defender alongside the ‘dynamic duo’…
Agree re the cricket Kev.
Agree with Cicero too, we’re playing better football and is it just a coincidence that there’s been a change in personnel? Im not so sure. Trossard seems to be enjoying himself up front.
Trossard is happy to be starting games on a more regular basis, coming off the bench with twenty minutes or so to go when the game is already won or lost must be soul destroying.
On that note, as I have an early start in the morning, I’ll wish you all a very good night.
New post up
Morning Rico and all.
It seems that Lokonga coach likes him a lot, as I said yesterday maybe if the they stay up a deal could be done.
Morning Rico and Co.
Not a bad weekend generally results wise, Tottenham, Chelsea, Man City and Newcastle all drop points.
Only Liverpool played to their full potential but we know that they will slip up eventually as the games pile up.
Man City play their game in hand this midweek and will almost certainly go above us but then we know that and the target and past experiences seem to show that Arsenal are better at chasing rather than trying to keep a lead. It concentrates the mind of the players who know that they cannot let their level drop or it’s kaput.
Seeing the reaction of Rodri when he scored and the over celebration (where’s the criticism?) gave a hint as to the pressure that City are under and they don’t have Gundogen to get them out of jail anymore. Doku is a bit hit n miss!
I’m sure that Pep sees Klopp as his main adversary because he’s lost to the German before and that might just take a bit of the spotlight away from Arteta?
Arsenal just need to keep chipping away and who knows?
It might be like that European Championship race from back in the day when everyone was focused on Coe and Overt and whilst those two jockeyed in the final lap some German (I think) sprinted past them both to claim the gold medal.
That’s us, the German…