The most important shift we’ve made this season is that we beat teams we should beat, most of the time. Sure, there are games like Everton or United that don’t go well, but overall, we’ve done really well against teams where the idea is ‘you should take 3 points here.’
Last time we played Brentford, we were hammered by COVID, then butchered by shocking refereeing decsions, for the homes sides first game at their new home.
This time around, the question was, would they be our bogey team this season?
Well, they weren’t.
Arsenal put on a very professional performance. We had 24 shots, 8 of them were on target, we mostly defended with sharpness and aggression. We were too in control for the most part.
It took some magic from two of our standout players to make the game count. Smith Rowe, back in the starting 11 broke the deadlock, picking up a Lacazette pass, driving at the goal, and burying a precision striker from 10 yards. It had shades of Bobby Pires. It was a big, big goal against a very deep block.
The second goal started from Lacazette causing problems by challenging a ball in midfield, Thomas Partey broke with the team, waited and waited, then fed Saka in… the England star picked out his spot, the back post, and pinged his strike in off the woodwork. It was totally deserved.
We didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet, Brentford scored one of those stupidly lucky goals right at the death, but because we’d made sure with two goals, it didn’t matter, we secured the three points we needed, teeing up an epic game on Thursday night against a Wolves that battered Spurs at the weekend.
There was a weird incident when Xhaka refused the captains armband after Lacazette went off.
Who cares.
Why would he take something that probably has the grim symbolism of his family being abused online.
My bigger question is why didn’t Arteta know that would happen?
Either way, it’s not a big deal, and the player is perfectly entitled to refuse.
So where are we with the table?
The table is looking good as a I write. Spurs are lucky to be in the game against City, they’ve scored a goal from 1 shot on target as usual, and they look porous at the back. West Ham dropped points against Newcastle. Chelsea nicked a late, late win against Palace and look very average under Tuchel, registering just 9 attempts at goal with 3 on target.
We are poised.
There are no guarantees, games in hand don’t mean points, but if we can do the business in our 6 pointer against Wolves, there really will be a bit of belief in the system that we can do this.
15 games sounds better than 16.
The fans are starting to believe. Their support at home this season has been so, so pivotal to our success. I had heard that some of the players didn’t like playing at home in August, that’s why Arteta has been so vocal about his pleasure towards rowdy backing his team has been getting, it means extra points. It means players heads don’t drop when fans groan on 30 minutes. It means extra belief that anything is possible. I love that post pandemic, Arsenal fans decided toxic online behavior was not going to ruin days out with old friends and new one’s. Perfect.
The players look like they believe. Great performances from 21 years olds has become the norm. But I need to remind you, what Smith Rowe and Saka are doing is so abnormal. It’s outrageous. They are so far ahead of most players their age in the world. We are lucky to have them. It’s not even just them, Ramsdale, Ben White, Gabriel, Tierney, and Odegaard all stepping up and showing they are worthy of the badge and the trust.
Moving forward, we just have to take things one game at a time and make sure we treat every outing like a cup final.
March looks tough, but doable.
We should beat Watford.
Leicester have been dreadful this season and Arteta usually gets the better of Rodgers.
Liverpool is a real crapshoot, but we did well at Anfield with 10 men, and we’ve shown against City that if we’re fit, we’re a match for anyone.
Then you have Aston Villa, the ‘Don’t Fuck With Our Players Cup’, which feels winnable after seeing them lose to Watford today.
I’m buzzing just thinking about it. We’re competing for top 4. We’re doing it early. I hope it goes down to the wire.
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Raptora,
Arteta as a manager has to take responsibility for not getting the best out of a player but it’s patronising to PEA to suggest that a player has no influence on his own performance.
There are endless examples of players moving clubs and having an upturn in performance. By simply pointing the finger at Arteta after PEA scores a couple of goals for Barca suggests to me that your comment is agenda driven.
It’s not so much an recent uptick in form for Auba, it’s more a lull in performance for a little over a season before he handed a golden parachute.
He’s always been a top-level goal-scorer, and he’ll probably bang in 10 goals or so for Barca by the end of the season. Galling when you know Arsenal is paying for those goals though.
Ernest Reed
Obsessed about Wenger!!!
I have hardly discussed the manager since he left.
I think that this is a figment of your imagination. Are you suggesting that Wenger should have been retained by the club 20+ years?
Bob N19
You are correct but wouldn’t you think, based on Aubameyang’s role at Arsenal and now his new role at Barcelona, he’ll be more effective because Barcelona play more to his strengths.
Question: Do you think Xavi will be a top manager?
Early days I know but you can already see the Xavi methods working.
Jacky Wilshere off to Danish superliga.
Bit weird but good luck to him.
Auba doing well at Barca is no shock but let’s not pretend the last 18 months of his mostly dire performances for Arsenal were all down to Arteta. Maybe Arteta’s system didn’t suit him but it has been fine for a number of other players. Does anyone really think Auba would have delivered for the rest of this season? Madness. This looks like a good deal all round. Auba gets to play in the brilliant Barcelona sunshine and looks reenergized, Barca benefit from adding him to their strikeforce and we get a high-salaried underperforming striker with a questionable attitude of… Read more »
bacaryisgod
Not so sure that’s it’s a good deal considering we are playing with Lacazzete who’s in very poor form till the end of the season.
Bacary, a sensible point well made.
Jamie,
It was a seemingly impossible situation between PEA and Arteta, I assume both could have handled the circumstances better.
I try and see a positive in that we’ll see the benefits of him being off the payroll come the summer. It would have been worse for everybody if he’d been moping about and would have had potentially a detrimental effect on the whole squad.
Beat me to it , Bacary!
Afternoon all, lovely performance from our young guns yesterday to get a result we really needed considering how this weekend has gone. We have some great talents in this team but some glaring weaknesses unfortunately. I like Laca but he’s clearly done at the top level. I really hope he takes the 3 year deal from Lyon and announces it sooner rather than later so we can firmly look towards the future in that position. Xhaka was solid yesterday, but I was at the game and while I didn’t notice the whole armband confusion at the time, after seeing the… Read more »
If would be a good deal for Arsenal if we managed to get a short term replacement.till the end if the season
Now we have to soldier on and hope Martinelli will do enough.
Shit, Just like the Queen I am suffering mid cold symptoms – positive!
DigitalB, have you seen ManU March fixture list!
With all the teams chasing 4th, injuries to key players may well be critical.Time to get the Kane and Son voodoo dolls out!
Dissenter The team seems to play better with Lacazette at CF than Auba. I agree Laca doesn’t look sharp or confident but he is bringing some intangibles like defensive contributions and leadership to the team. Here’s hoping that Martinelli can find a groove at CF which will allow us to have ESR and Ode in the starting line-up and we’ll have Laca and Pepe able to contribute off the bench. Either way, I’m fairly comfortable with Saka, Laka, Ode, Pepe, ESR and Martinelli handling those 4 attacking positions. Sure we would be better off having a prolific CF but neither… Read more »
bacaryisgod
‘ The team seems to play better with Lacazette at CF than Auba. I agree Laca doesn’t look sharp or confident but he is bringing some intangibles like defensive contributions and leadership to the team’
Laca is so bad that after scraping the barrel, all we are left with is defensive contributions and leadership.
Arteta has maneuvered himself into a tough spot because he has to drop Laca, can’t keep flogging a dead horse imo. It’s a bit criminal to not start Martinelli and ESR, never mind that Pep can’t get proper minutes.
Bob – Yeah, I don’t disagree about moving him on being the right move. It’s just incredible how many players we’ve either released on free transfers or actually paid to go away in recent years. Perez, Welbeck, Jack, Aaron, Ozil, Mkhi (and/or by extension Alexis), Kola, Chambers, Mustafi, Auba. Soon Laca, Mari, Cedric, Hector, Elneny, and possibly Pepe will all go for peanuts too. Only Jack, Kola, Hector, and arguable Mkhi were free transfers into the club, either through the youth system, as a player exchange, or as a genuine Bosman in. The rest cost real money to recruit. Absolute… Read more »
Graham, I’d guess Xavi will do well but that’s just based on the footballing intelligence he showed as a player, no idea about his man management skills etc
Pedro Neto appears to be back for Wolves
Thursdays game will be more difficult; we have to face Pedro Neto and Podence in the same game.
arguably* Mkhi
Agreed Jamie, the mismanagement of player recruitment, contracts and selling has been terrible.
It feels now though that we have players who other clubs would covet and are more than justifying their wages. Important now to extend contracts on better terms of key players. I hope that we finish 4th as it’ll make negotiations easier.
Agreed, Bob. Obviously EL the minimum requirement for next season.
p.s. new post.
Massive game on Thursday evening against Wolves. Neto and Hwang back in the fray.
In fact every game until the end of the season will be massive.
BobN16, Yep that fixture list for United is brutal, they will drop a lot of points in the next few weeks for sure. Despite the result 4-2 today they still look as shaky as ever!
I try not to wish injuries on any players but surely Kane is due an ankle knock in the very near future?
Rodgers must be in P45 territory after todays result, to be fair it doesn’t look like the Leicester players have given up on him but they just look bad, can’t really explain it.
Milan really blew a massive chance drawing to Salernitana last night.
Would have been x4 points ahead of Inter should this result now hold.
Dissenter.Worse than Neto being back.Is that c** t Martin Atkinson is reffing the match.PGMOL just making sure we get screwed over .
Dissenter
“Laca is so bad that after scraping the barrel, all we are left with is defensive contributions and leadership”
Nothing can be truer.
As a striker Lacazette is nothing to write home about.