Morning all.
If you took a cursory glance at the Premier League table yesterday morning you will have seen Sunderland sitting second in the table. I wondered when Sunderland were last in the top two of the top division in England, probably when Len Shackleton was their star performer, the Jack Grealish of his day.
But it has certainly been a season of new faces so far, or maybe a new wave competing for the top European spots in England during the early part of this refreshing and healthy campaign. Both Bournemouth and Crystal Palace have surprised the pundits, not that surprising the pundits is surprising in itself, but it’s also what makes the Premier League so unique and so special amongst its competitors across Europe.
Liverpool are in the midst of a wonderful freefall. How long it will last we don’t know but for me it is a beautiful thing to behold and very satisfying seeing all those entitled Scousers eating large portions of humble pie. Man United are showing a bit of a revival, whilst Chelsea have finally reverted to type and are once against the music hall club of football. However, amongst all the good news remains Man City, silently carving their way through their opponents like a shark, looking as if they are back to if not their best, then quite close to it as they have craftily emerged as the major threat to North London’s finest.
We have been here before haven’t we but this isn’t the Arsenal 22/23 vintage, this squad has a focus about it I’ve not seen since 03/04 and if Haaland the cyborg doesn’t score then City tend to stumble and they duly stumbled at Villa Park yesterday afternoon – it was glorious.
Palace had had 48 hours less rest than the Gunners but that didn’t show in their performance as the Eagles gave our boys one of their most testing afternoons of the season so far. Arsenal are a big team physically but Palace have some big and quite rapid players of their own. The opening exchanges were very much a case of both teams sparring, Arsenal looking for openings, Palace looking to hit us on the break. They nearly succeeded early as Mateta bundled Saliba out of the way, a rarity in itself, but fortunately for London’s finest the best defence in europe smothered any chance of an opportunity being created. Arsenal’s superior technique should have made the difference but it didn’t despite some clever footwork from Timber, Trossard and Saka.
Henderson in the Palace goal was untroubled until the 25th minute when a foul on Timber provided a free kick opportunity but the Palace defence dealt with it in an almost Arsenal’esque manner. Arsenal took until the 33rd minute to record a shot on target, when good work from the tireless Gyokeres and Rice created a chance for Trossard.
The deciding moment arrived around 39 minutes when a Rice free-kick following a needless foul on Timber was driven to the far post where a clutch of giant footballers awaited. In the middle of them His Highness The King of Brazil rose like a soaring eagle to head the ball back towards the penalty spot and wouldn’t ya know there was Eze who adjusted his body to fire the ball into the Palace net. He celebrated quietly and the team went back to work. The game continued much as it had for the remainder of the half before the referee signalled it was time for oranges.
Arsenal increased the tempo in the second half and had Palace on the rack several times but we just didn’t get that piece of luck to give us that breathing space of a second goal and so it remained tense. Mosquera had replaced Saliba at half-time and seamlessly fitted in between Jurien and The King. Around the 50th minute a corner reached Gabriel at the far post and his header hit the bar, it came out and both Rice and Trossard had attempts blocked but it was chaos in the Palace box – it was great.
Gabriel sent a long pass to Trossard who almost set up Bakayo but it was cleared off of his toe as he came steaming in to finish.
Then Palace brought Eddie on around the hour and changed their system and after that Arsenal lost some control, Rice was everywhere, Gyokeres was chasing every lost cause and Calafiori was just Calafiori but the nerves started to jangle, City were losing 1-0 at Villa Park but it could all change in a moment.
Arteta made a few changes taking off Saka, who looked a tad jaded for Martinelli who injected some pace and prevented Palace squeezing up too much. The last 20 minutes was a role reversal with Palace pressing and Arsenal defending and looking to put Gyokeres and Martinelli away. Slim margins but no cigar this time.
There was a few hairy moments but the best defence in Europe held firm. Merino (Rice) and Hincapie (Calafiori) came on at 82 and Myles (Eze) on 87, they were the finishers as the clock was ran down plus 7 minutes of added time but both Arsenal and Villa held on and we can therefore enjoy not only that extra hour in bed but a 6 point cushion over Haaland City and 7 points over Liddlepool.
We march on…
By Kev
As I said last night , that was probably the hardest 3 points we will get this side of Christmas.
Next up is the Carabao cup where a draw against Grimsby , Wrexham , Wycombe or Swansea might have enabled us to rest players that could easily be on their knees after their efforts only 3 days earlier.
However we get a mid table Premier club that knows that this is their best chance of any glory this season and a trip to Wembley . They will be playing their top team and we need to be careful.
Morning Kev, all.
Good post with a bit of humour thrown in. lol
Tough game against a really good Palace team and manager imo. Last season we drew, this season, we get the win. A good result on a really good weekend of results.
I think Arteta will rest players on Wednesday. Nwaneri, Merino, White, MLS, Norgaard, Martinelli, Kepa could all start. Mosquera and Hincapie too perhaps.
Mikel Arteta:
“I’m really happy with this one,” he said post-match. “I just said to the boys that it was probably the biggest victory that we had this season – the way I was feeling it today, it was about making another step.
“We’d played three teams that last season we lost points against and Palace was another one, and they are in a really good moment. I knew we had to be very patient and not get frustrated, because it was very difficult to open them up. They do that to every team, and the moment that you lose certain concentration and get frustrated, they start to open up and they are lethal in counter-attacks, in open spaces and on set pieces.
“So I’m very glad that the team showed that maturity, we found a way to score a brilliant goal through Ebs and keep another clean sheet.
“I think the mindset has been exceptional. The level of aggression that we’re playing with, how we insist and how we keep going and going and going, we are ruthless at that. In the end, we’re going to get rewarded; we have so much quality. We rely on our habits and when those are really, really high, it makes things very difficult for the opponent.”
Arsenal looked a little lethargic in attack against Crystal palace but maintained a good defensive display.
This Wednesday, Brighton will field their strongest eleven and play like it’s the final of the world cup as this is their only shrine cup to win.
Do we play some bench squad players to start with or field the A team then rest them at half time. If it wasn’t a premier team like Brighton we could start with a bench squad team, but I have a feeling it will be a mix and match of the two selections that Arteta will start with, based solely on fitness and injury risks. Against Crystal Palace there seemed to be a lot of unfit players rating just a 5 and 6 out of 10. They may need to be rested.
Morning Gooners, thanks Rico, early start today as they’re resurfacing my road for the next few days so at work now. There’s a bit of a cold wind blowing but the sun is trying to burn through.
Yes Rico, we need to rotate this Wednesday and this time we really have the quality to do so with players who need to play.
Obviously any heavily rotated team is going to be slightly disjointed so it’s not going to be as smooth as usual but when I look at the names who’ll come in we shouldn’t be overly concerned because the quality is high. Dowman and Salmon should be in the squad, maybe Harriman Annous?
A back four of White, Mosquera, Hincapie & Myles looks as good as most, with Nordgaard, Merino and Nwaneri in midfield, up front is the only fly in the ointment. Gyokeres needs a rest, Saka has a bug so it might be Trossard, Martinelli and Dowman in attack?
Anyway, it’ll be interesting.
I don’t think yesterday was all about us looking lethargic but more about Palace being a well drilled side. My only criticism is the number of passes which went astray but grinding out that kind of result is a huge positive imo
Agree Kev, we have a lot of quality not starting games. This league cup game is their time imo.
This is why Arteta wanted a bigger squad so I think he’ll use it.
Afternoon Rico and all. Nice write up Kev, I hope Kepa geta start mid week also rest some of the senior players and give the younger ones a chance to show what they can do,
Afternoon Geoff. My guess is Kepa will start on Wednesday
I’m not too worried if we loose midweek, as we have bigger fish to fry,
G’day all, off the bench again Kev and playing a blinder. Well done.
Saka was playing yesterday “in spite of illness”, it is reported. Which accounts for his supposed lethargic performance.
Gabriel did well to walk after his very painful collision with a goal post, their are good tackles and bad tackles but rarely bruised tackle in football. Eye watering stuff to watch. He’s tough, he’ll be back but with a squeaky voice maybe. 😉
Definitely Dowman to start against Brighton, he not only wins penalties but scores them too.
Wednesday’s starting line-up. Kepa, White, Mosquera, Hincapie, MLS, Norgaard, Rice, Nwaneri, Dowman, Gyokeres, Martinelli.
Any bets?
Cheers Geoff, I’m with Rico on Kepa he’s certain to start, tbh we might have a job keeping him beyond this season as he’s too good to sit on the bench long term.
Thanks Cicero, just call me supersub.
Yeah, The King of Brazil certainly had the balls yesterday even if he had to do a quick check afterwards.
Looks a good starting XI to me Cicero, I guess it all depends on how quick they recover, maybe Eze will start in midfield and Merino will play up top, nice options to have…
Arsenal have 4 more matches before the next Interlull between Nov 10th to Nov 18th. Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and Martin Odegaard are expected to be available after the break, so fresh legs and fresh minds to kick-on up till the end of the year…
It would be nice if Gabriel Jesus could be available for the Christmas program, God willing?
Havertz and Madueke too, we need them and Odegaard back
Oops, you mentioned them 😂