I cannot overstate how impressive the Arsenal win against Newcastle was. Football seasons are defined by moments – and that moment was the sort that title-winning sides clock up. The context was a terrible loss midweek. How would the boys react? How would their legs feel? How would they cope with a brutal Newcastle side who had a week to plan their strategies? Exiting the home game with anything outside 3 points and the title felt over.
Well, the answer Arteta had was emphatic. There was no loss of energy, no lack of focus, no one behaved like a victim. The boys put on a brutal showing for a very sauced home crowd and it was spectacular.
I can’t remember a more aggressive approach to off-the-ball movement. Newcastle, a team that is good at playing out of the back, were boxed in, bullied, and demoralized from minute one. We didn’t give them time to breath, we squeezed them in every space of the pitch, the boys, in my opinion, were cruel.
The Bruno fan club that has sustained a lot of members in the Arsenal community found themselves asking how Jorginho could be dominating a game like this without any of the physical advantaged the Brazilian has. He was in masterclass mode and it was a thing of beauty.
You felt from minute one there was no other outcome outside a victory. The only question was, when would we break them?
Inside 20 minutes, which is absolutely ideal for breaking a sad deep block plan. How did we score? A beautiful setpiece. Saka swung a ball inside the near post, Gabriel was first to it, Karius saved by the ball ended up getting bundled in by Newcastle’s Botman in the scramble to clear.
The second goal was pure Arsenal. Jorginho floated a ball into the diagonal run of Martinelli, he brought the ball down at speed, hit the byline, and cut back for Kai Havertz to sweep home. Majestical. What I love so much about that goal is thinking back to all the criticism his signing came with – now he’s absolutely key to everything we do and no one can deny his impact. He’s a very well-liked player at Arsenal, he works incredibly hard, and he’s still a baby at 24 years old. That said, talk of him becoming our new #9 seems premature – we can’t get addicted to non-prolific #9s. Arsenal needs someone clinical in that role and I don’t think that’ll ever be Kai based on his last few years trying to do the exact same thing for Chelsea.
The only fault of the first half was the lack of a third goal. When you have Tierney refereeing, 2-0 is not a safe lead, because he’s always looking to impose himself on games, especially those that Arsenal have a stake in. We’re also prone to doing dumb things, which is quite a mad thing to suggest, given that we have the best defence in the league, but of our 23 goals, 5 have come from individual errors. No one in the top 6 has more individual errors that lead to goals… including United.
Newcastle did come out aggressively in the second half. They started to find Isak and Antony Gordon. There was one run by Isak, he beat what felt like our entire team, but then blazed over with a horrible shot that seemed to bobble before the strike.
We should really have taken the lead when Martinelli squeezed Kai Havertz through on goal, the German dragging his shot every so slightly wide of the post. Kai made up for it with an assist for Saka. Though it would be unfair to put too much credit on the pass. Our third was all Bukayo. He pushed into the area, checked his run, and unleashed a ball past Karius. It was brutal and yet another sign that he’s pushing into 5th gear at the right time.
Our final goal of the game came from… another set piece. Kiwior connected with a Declan Rice special at the near post and it bundled into the net.
We still managed to keep our 2 shots on target and 1 goal momentum going when Joe Willock scored a top corner header, but it didn’t take anything away from an incredible performance.
We now have the best goal difference in the league by virtue of having the best defence. We’re one goal behind Liverpool in the scoring rankings, which is incredible when you consider all the glancing eyes that were directed towards Klopp’s side earlier in the season. We have had 18 different scorers this season, the most by a distance. Everyone is stepping up at the right time, and it’s hard to avoid a compelling truth… by every metric, we should be favourites for the league, but we’re not in the court of public opinion; we’re 3rd place underdogs. That’s despite Jesus returning to the bench, Partey coming back for Sheffield United, and the very real chance of having a totally fit squad to choose from by the end of March.
We have managed through a laundry list of injuries and we have survived. There’s still the harsh reality that if we lose Declan Rice, Odegaard, Saka or William Saliba, we won’t be the same team. But listen, that’s the same for Liverpool if they lose VVD or Salah and it’ll be the same for City if they lose Rodri or Haaland. No team on the planet can handle not having their best players for long stretches.
Just look at what we’re doing on the pitch right now. Odegaard has kicked things up to World Class mode. Declan Rice gets better and more imposing in every game. Kai Havertz looks like value for money. Jorginho is looking like more than a decent plan B, delivering another MOTM performance. David Raya is showing everyone what he’s made of and it’s more valuable to the team than what we had before. There are 12 games to go, we are point off the top of the table, we have the youngest squad in the elite part of the league, and everything is clicking.
Then there’s the Arteta factor. He said after the game no one should feel sorry for themselves after what happened in midweek. It’s easy to say that, hard to inspire young players to believe it. Arteta is proving he has a name that can be talked about amongst the best. The team he has created is absolutely top tier, the system is the star, and we are going to taste the very biggest trophies over the next 5 years… but the thing we’re all wondering is if he can deliver early?
I don’t want to get too excited. Manchester City are still the benchmark, but over the long term, we are in an absolutely delicious position.
We have a 9 day break now. I’ve just watched Liverpool lose Gravenberch to an injury in a leggy Wembley performance from Klopps boys. They will fade, I promise you, there’s no way you can sustain this many games without a slip, even if you are on the Klopp-leaving-is-motivational train of thought.
City is the team to keep your eye on… they are in monster mode, they are who we have to keep up with.
Ok, see you in the comments. x
