Morning all.
”Only four Premier League games this weekend, but when there’s such quality on show, who needs quantity“?
I read the words above in an article on Sky Sports website. The writer, whose name I’ve forgotten, was purring over Bukayo Saka. His goal, the only goal of the game and Arsenal’s 2000th in the Premier League, ensured three points left the Black Country and arrived safely in north London. I don’t care what anyone says or writes about tougher challenges for Arsenal lay ahead, winning at Villa Park hasn’t always been easy. For the last two seasons, we’ve come away with nothing having lost both fixtures 1-0 but this time, the tables were turned.
I think the win was massive, especially after the midweek, potentially confidence bashing, defeat. Aaron Ramsdale and Gabriel Martinelli missed out through injury so in came ESR and Bernd Leno. Sadly for Ramsdale, he’ll not be going off with England but Martinelli and Saka, despite both picking up knocks, will travel with their respective countries.
The first half was all Arsenal and the game could have all but over by the time half-time arrived but opportunities went high or wide once more. Or straight at Emi Martinez. What a delight it was to see Saka beat him from the edge of the box.
Love this…
https://twitter.com/supremile/status/1505191208754331655?s=20&t=6aWdfzua2mSXOR-p0nc2jg
The second half saw Arsenal fade a bit, unsurprisingly really after the midweek game, and Villa created a few opportunities to equalise. However, it wasn’t until the final moments that Villa registered a shot on target and came from a Philippe Coutinho free-kick which Bernd Leno pushed around the post.
The table is looking good right now for Arsenal but there are still 30 points to be played for. For Arsenal anyway, and many tough opponents to face. Crystal Palace, West Ham, Chelsea, Newcastle Utd and Totts – all away from home. But, Arsenal have been good away from home since early December last year, winning the last five matches including a hard fought victory against Wolves and an opposition we’ve struggled to beat for the last couple of seasons in Aston Villa. The last defeat away from the Emirates came at Goodison Park on a day when Ben Godfrey stuck his boot into the face of Takehiro Tomiyasu and got away with it.
Man of the match Bukayo Saka had a few things to say after the game:
I’m really happy with the resilience the team showed. The fight to the end, how we defended as a team to see this result out and get the three points. I think it’s really special because last season I don’t think we had that resilience to see games like this out, and I think that’s why this is making a difference for us this season.
He’s right, we didn’t. It’s a good job we can now because the goals we’re scoring are so few, not conceding them is crucial. This season hasn’t always shown that we’re a resilient team though as I can think of a few late goals scored against us but it’s how we are now and going forwards which is important. The past can’t be changed but the future looks really promising and that’s down to the manager, his coaches and the players, who it’s now clear to see, want to play and want to perform well.
We go into this final international break of the season on a positive note and in a reasonably good position in the League as far as top four goes. Hopefully, Gareth Southgate won’t play our players in both fixtures and not for the full 90 minutes either and the same goes for others too who are away with their country. We need them back fitter than when they left. Those who remain in north London will be able to enjoy a bit of downtime. Alex Lacazette certainly needs it.
Next up for Arsenal is Crystal Palace….
See you in the comments.
Good Morning Rico
Atm the league table looks healthy…..1 game in hand, 4 points better than the nearest challengers.
The following are the games in which Arsenal, Chelsea, United, Tottenham and WHU have to face Liverpool, City and each other in the fight for top 4.
I put Chelsea in the miox because there is a chance that Arsenal can even finish 3rd.
United…..Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea
Chelsea….United, WHU, Arsenal
WHU….City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea
Tottenham….Arsenal, Liverpool, WHU
Arsenal….WHU, Chelsea, United, Tottenam
We have 4 games out of 10 in which we face our four direct rivals for 3rd/4th place. The other 6 are winnable in my opinion. It depends also how we do in those 4. If we come out with 5-7 points then 4th place and even 3rd can be achievable.
But as Kev pointed out yesterday….one game at a time.
the thing is, if Chelsea get docked 9 points because of administrative punishment because of their debts they would only go down one place to 4th….because they will be on 50 points, equal with Man United but have better goal difference. So in all essence, only Arsenal will benefit from that……..which means that the EPL will not dock points from Chelsea unless it benefits United or Spuddies. We all know how the EPL top brass operate
I’m a broken record, one game at a time…
An interesting stat if true, but apparently Pepe has never scored when coming on as a sub in a game where Arsenal are winning, I’m not sure if that’s EPL or all games?
Could be he’s more effective against teams who are defending and letting him come onto them rather than having to track back etc when we’re under attack?
Morning Rico and Interlullers…
I shall now read the post, no no Rico, really, honest… 😉
Morning Devil, Kev and all.
I’d nearly given up on there being life out there. 😆
One game at a time for me too. The only match I’m interested in is Crystal Palace and hoping Paddy does us a favour. Lol
I can understand why Keown reckons Totts are probably favourites for 4th place. Their fixtures are on paper, much easier than ours. But this is the PL, full of surprises.
First time for everything Kev. 😜
DG despite the initial euphoria we enjoyed following the Abramovitch sanctions I’m under no illusions whatsoever that the Premier League will want to or actually follow through with any proper punishments of Chelsea so I’ve already forgotten points deductions, transfer bans or any of the other issues we hoped would befall them. Also the British government doesn’t really want to involve itself in football issues and I’m sure they’ll rubber stamp the sale of the Chavs as soon as they possibly can.
That’s a bit harsh Rico 😄
Made me smile Kev. Lol
Then it was worth it Rico 😃
More than it was writing it Kev..
Good day all.
It’s bound to be a bit quiet Rico, I guess we are heading into the interlull.
The only sport worth watching today is the second class London Derby this afternoon and the Grand Prix. I’m certainly not going to watch the cricket bore-fest which is heading for a second draw in the three match series.
It’s usually quiet when we’re winnng Cicero. 😂
GP for me too.
This season we have done the double on Leicester, Wolves and Aston villa….three teams which in recent seasons we struggled against. Last year we took only 3 points against this lot out of 18. This year we took 18 out of 18.
With regards the celebrations after the match we have Ashley Young and Agbonlahor joining Neves in the choir singing from the same sheet that it seems like Arsenal have won the league the way they celebrated. Well, is there anyone who can tell them that whatever happens on the pitch needs to be trained on the training grounds?? Because while Arsenal may not have won the EPL with this team I am sure they are already practicing for that winning feeling when they will eventually do so. And right now the training grounds, besides London Colney, are the grounds on which they are winning.
Evening Rico, gentlemen.
I like your chain of thought, DG.
I still have an issue with the OGAAT concept, as this kind of prevents rotation and also stops Lokonga from gaining some more PL experience. We were so thrilled when the captain of Anderlecht and Belgian international (which is quite something at such young age) signed for Arsenal, but now we take it as a fact that we need somebody that pushes him further from the 4th place of the pecking order…
Sorry for the off-topic comment. The win was massive, and the points are important obviously.
Rico, that was an interesting last few laps. Poor old Verstappen. 😁
Cicero, loved it after the second red bull spun. Hilarious 😆
I never understand why celebrating a victory is criticised.
Afternoon Pbarany, that’s what happens when we exit the cups and aren’t in Europe. Plus it’s his first year in England. I think we’ll see a lot more of Sambi next campaign.
Rico….a lot of reports etc are doing the rounds on Tielemans, and they have been going on for some time. What do you think about him coming over? Whether or not Xhaka leaves I think he might come whilst Sambi Lokonga will be a year older, a year wiser and a year more experienced in the EPL. As you pointed out we will see more of him next season.
If we have 4th place, or hopefully 3rd place sewn up with around two/three games to go I hope that Arteta sees fit to play players like Sambi, Tavarez, Holding, Patino etc. I dont think that it will happen as I have the feeling it will go down to the last day but who knows.
In the meantime the spuddies are winning 2-1 against WHU while Tammy Abraham has netted 2 for Roma bringing his tally to 23 for the season (15 in the league and 7 in Europe with 1 in the coppa italia). All that in a total of 39 games. I guess we should have done more to get him.
Hi Rico.. Mike Dean to retire at the end of the season!! Hurrah!!
Nice post btw! You’re right it was a massive win and I was so pleased for Leno and loved the love-in at the end..
Watching the Spuds, hoping for a hammers win – Zouma had other ideas!! 10 OGs for the spuds this season 😱
I’m not really interested in the rumours Devil, I learned a long time ago that names mentioned seldom arrive.
Hi Sue, just seen that. Hope a few others join him..
Thanks Sue, the better Leno plays, the more money we might make. 😆
Jammy Totts!
Amen to that, Rico. Both on Sambi and Leno.
Two own goals for Zouma!
It’s enough to make you want to kick your cat
Oh wait , Too soon.
Somewhat unrelated, but Barcelona gave Real Madrids 14 month (24 games) unbeaten home record back to history after trashing them by 0:4 in the Bernabeu. Auba scored 2 and assisted one. He played only 70 minutes, so there is a good chance that his 9.4 (obviously MotM) rating could have gone up to 10 given the remaining 20+3 minutes.
One interesting aspect is that none of the academy teenagers have started: Torres and Dembele supported Auba from the wings and the midfield was really strong with de Jong, Pedri and Busquets. (OK, Pedri is technically 19, but he was purchased 3 year ago from Las Palmas, so he is not an academy teenager, in fact he is Barcelona’s most valuable player). The other interesting fact is that – according to TransferMarkt – Barcelona’s lowest rated player (Alba, 7.2) was still better than Real Madrid’s best (Valverde, 7.1). After a shaky start Xavi has presented victory suitable to found a generation upon. If they manage to seamlessly retire Alves (38), Piqué (35), Busquets (33), find proper replacements in the next 2-3 years for Jordi Alba (LB, but not Tierney, please!), Aubameyang (ST) and Neto (backup GK) all 32, get rid some of the deadwood (Umtiti, Dembele, the other de Jong, Sergi Roberto, Braithwaite) they are destined to do big things even without galactic signings or the return of Messi (of which I’m looking really forward to).
Morning Rico and all.
Well a nice short break and back into. I am know starting to feel a little bit more positive about Arteta but not ready to eat humble pie.
As for Lokonga I was glad we brought him but always said he will not be ready for full time matches until next season as he needed to mature and most importantly adjust to the PL
Nice little battle between friend Saka and ESR for top goal score
Morning Geoff, all.
I’m close to getting the pie out of the freezer Geoff. 😆
New post up now