Morning all.
Thomas Partey overcame whatever injury he had to make it into the starting eleven last night although Gabriel and Riccardo Calafiori remained absent. Jurrien Timber was on the bench as was Kieran Tierney. Instead, Myles Lewis-Skelly was handed his first Champions League start and Gabriel Jesus started in place of Kai Havertz.
This was a big match in the Champions League as whichever team won, would climb back into the top eight with just two fixtures remaining.
The opening half an hour brought a couple of chances for both sides with Jesus poking the ball straight to their keeper and Martin Odegaard unable to find the target.
Then things livened up a bit as we created two big chances in succession. A lovely ball from Jakub Kiwior found Jesus but his slightly scuffed shot was saved. Jesus had another chance to score almost immediately. He did all the hard work, holding off the defender as he ran towards goal but again, his shot was saved.
Then came our goal. Lewis-Skelly played a lovely ball into the path of Jesus down our left side. Our number 9 then crossed a superb ball across the box towards the back post to Saka who’d timed his run into the box perfectly. He made no mistake.
We should have tripled our lead before the break but poor finishing from both Odegaard and Martinelli meant it remained 1-0.
Monaco stepped their game in the second half and had a couple of early opportunities to level the score but wasted them. Thankfully!
With around 15 minutes to go and after a few nervy moments beforehand, we doubled our lead. Monaco were faffing around whilst playing out from the back when Kai Havertz made an absolute nuisance of himself which caused their keeper to pass the ball to Saka. Again, Saka made no mistake. 2-0 which soon after became 3-0. A shot from Mikel Merino was blocked with the ball ending up with Saka. His shot was helped over the line by Havertz.
What a great result for Mikel Arteta’s team and what a super first half performance too. With better finishing, we’d have gone in at the break with a 4-0 lead. The spurned chances weren’t difficult, not for players at this level of the game and then when Monaco stepped things up in the second half, it looked like we might pay the price for missing them. However…..
I thought Arsenal’s passing was a bit sloppy in the second half but once Saka had scored his and Arsenal’s second, Monaco were beaten. But for a Havertz toe, he’d have had a hat-trick.
Myles Lewis-Skelly looked nothing like an 18 year old playing in his first even Champions League. He played really well in my opinion. Finishing and a few stray passes aside, Arsenal as a team were very good. They had to be to beat a strong Monaco side.
There’s a great video of Lewis-Skelly and Saka on Twitter from afcstuff. It’s worth watching….
Catch up later…
Good morning Rico. Happy days are here again! At least for now. 😉
A strange sight, at one of our corners Monaco had three players on the halfway line with Raya also in the centre circle. A breakaway goal waiting to happen, thankfully, it didn’t.
City lost again, don’t you just love a bit of Shadenfruede. 😊
Morning Cicero.
But you said you wanted us to mix up our corners 😜
Jesus did everything right bar finish his chances. It’s such a shame really both for him and the team.
Good Morning Rico and Cicero.
This was a massive game which now nearly automatically puts us in the top 8,give extra revenue and less games and a break, so what does Arteta do with the starting line up ? I couldn’t believe it .He puts the totally useless Jesus as centre forward and we saw that proved in the first 30 minutes, Martinelli was lucky not to be sent off but he doesn’t replace him at half time and we all know a 1-0 lead which should and could have been 4-0 might bite us in the back.
Myles looked great in this huge game for him but the reliance on Saka even when he isn’t playing at full throttle is immense .
Timber impressed me when he came on and tbh nobody had a great game but 3-0 is a resounding result .
Potter said we need a captain like Adams or McClintock.odegaard has sublime touches and reading of the game but imo he and Rice are probably overplayed already this season.
When we are defending them Rico, not attacking. But Monaco’s ploy did cause a bit of consternation in this part piece of Norfolk and maybe in the dugout too.
Welll this is a closed shop site so enjoy yourselves, Merry Xmas and goodbye.
Morning Kelsey, how can Odegaard be overplayed when he’s only played a handful of fixtures?
This top 8 guarantee which the commentators kept saying last night is confusing me . As I see it we have 13 points with 6 more to play for. So every other team could get 6 more apart from those in the top 24 that meet each other 13 points is within their reach.
If they win their two remaining games City could get 14 and Celtic 15 . So it’s not cut and dried yet. We have to keep winning to be sure.
I’ve only seen parts of the game Cicero but enough to see we were under a bit of pressure in the second half. Thankfully, Monaco’s finishing was poor.
Closed shop site?? Absolutely disagree…
…..and rightly so Rico.
I’ve heard somethings Cicero, however….
Potter, I think we have a toe in. One more win should do it..
Morning Rico and all.
It would have been nice to see Saka score his hattrick, but then again I would take a guaranteed goal over a possible goal any day.
Morning Geoff, agreed and Saka didn’t seem to care..
Good afternoon Rico and all
The Monaco coach agreed that 3-0 was flattering for them since we could have scored more. They couldn’t complain if we won 7 or 8-0. And amazingly none were from a corner or from a freekick.
Afternoon Devil.
3-0 isn’t too shabby though. lol
Their game suited us I think, they didn’t seem only interested in going away with just a point. Win or bust and they busted.
What really pleased me is the way we played. I was really glad that we scored three open goals. At least we save the set pieces against the EPL teams which defend in the penalty area only
Ditto, we played with more urgency yesterday. It was good.
I’ve been on quite a few blogs over the years and some of them don’t exist anymore, probably because they ‘were’ actually closed shops.
By not welcoming newcomers the interest in them died as many of the original bloggers did so. Rico always welcomes newcomers but she has a life and cannot spend every waking hour on here…
To accuse Rico of actually running a closed shop is simply misguided, the continued interest in Highbury House is proof of that, it has survived the Twitter and Facebook world, unlike say Arsenal Arsenal which is sadly dying a death.
A good win for Arsenal Women in the Champions League 3 – 1 away to Norwegian side Valrenga. 🔔🔔🔔
Thanks Kev….
Rico, A bit confused by Kelsey comments, after all if anyone were frozen out, it would of be me for all the times I disagreed with everyone else and stuck to my opinion.
Morning Rico and all
Morning Geoff. Ha ha, disagreement is good and it’s healthy.
Good morning Rico and every open minded Gunner
Closed shop? Based on what? The transfer season still has 18 more days to begin. Maybe that’s why it’s closed shop????🤔🤔🤔
Rico good for you to keep on selling free opinions and honest welcomes. Those averse to them should go and buy elsewhere
Morning Devil..
Thanks, it’s all just a bit of fun really and a place to let off steam. It’s certainly not Hotel California 😂
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=BciS5krYL80
Great song Kev..
Arteta’s press conference was as informative as ever, it told us sweet f a . If ever our Prime Minister needs a Wednesday lunchtime off Arteta could fill in for him at P Ms question time he’s almost as good at not answering the question asked but does provide a fair quantity of bulls**t.
I thought similar. He does like to keep his powder dry…
Kev, that song never gets old, it’s one of the best versions I heard, so clear with the instruments.
As I have said many times before, I don’t listen to Arteta comments / interviews, he always tells you everything but nothing at the same time.
Morning all.
New post up.