Arsenal (0) 0 Liverpool (0) 2
FA Cup Third Round
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Sunday, 7th January 2024. Kick-off time: 4.30pm
(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Jakob Kiwior; Martin Ødegaard (c), (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson, Kai Havertz.
Substitutes: Emile Smith-Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Cédric Soares, Leandro Trossard, David Raya, Ethan Nwaneri, Lino Sousa, Reuell Walters.
Yellow Cards: William Saliba
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 54%
Referee: John Brooks
Assistant Referees: Lee Betts, Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth Official: Josh Smith
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Simon Hooper; AVAR Adrian Holmes SVAR David Coote
Attendance: 58,538
For some of the third round ties, there is also a support VAR official in place, whose “duties will include assisting the VAR and AVAR with evaluating incidents and assisting with the communication between the officials,” according to the FA official website, apparently. More importantly, our players will wear an all-white kit at the Emirates for the first time in Arsenal’s history as part of a campaign against knife crime and youth violence, entitled “No More Red”, which is a joint venture which was launched with Adidas two years ago. Additionally, our ladies team will also wear the kit for the first time when they face Watford in the Women’s FA Cup fourth round game at Meadow Park on Sunday, 14th January. It is to be noted that the all-white kit will not be put on sale to the general public, but a new bespoke “Community T-shirt” will be available to purchase from Arsenal stores for £30, with all profits going to their charity partners. With regards to today’s match, Aaron Ramsdale is back in goal, and Kai Havertz starts today also. Interesting to note that three of our youth players, Ethan Nwaneri, Lino Sousa and Reuell Walters also sit on the substitute’s bench for this exciting FA Cup third round tie against Liverpool this afternoon.
The visitors started the proceedings today, and both teams started to show their intent early on in this game. Within the first two minutes, we should have taken the lead through some quick thinking from both Aaron Ramsdale’s clearance and the quick feet of Reiss Nelson, but sadly his sterling effort found the side netting of Liverpool’s goal. So close, so early in the game. We were putting Liverpool under pressure in the early stages of the game, with our players finding the gaps in the Liverpool defence quickly and easily, it seems. Kai Havertz took a half chance which Alisson just about got to, and a couple of minutes later, following some great play in the visitors’penalty area, our captain’s shot hit the crossbar and bounced out into open play. By rights, in the first quarter of an hour of this game, we should have scored at least four goals, but were desperately unlucky not to, it has to be said, as we were putting Liverpool under serious pressure. The match started to settle down with both sides challenging for loose balls in the midfield and chances started to come few and far between as the game was tightening up. Trent Alexander-Arnold moved forward before releasing Darwin Nunez out wide, who crossed it into our penalty area, which was cleared out for a corner that went nowhere thankfully, and at the other end, some great play ended with a Bukayo Saka shot that was saved by Alisson, who managed to save our man’s attempt on goal. On the half hour, a beautful assist by Martin Ødegaard found the feet of Kai Havertz, whose left-footed shot from the centre of the goal went wide of the mark. On the right wing, Bukayo Saka was moving around the Liverpool defenders with apparent ease, and with ten minutes to go before half-time, he slotted the ball to Ben White, whose cracking twenty yard shot was tipped over the bar by Alisson. After winning the ball back just outside the Liverpool penalty area, our captain slotted the ball to Kai Havertz, who took far too long to shoot, and as such, when he did finally take a shot, Alisson easily picked it up. At the other end, Trent Alexander-Arnold curled a shot towards the net from just inside our penalty area which rattled against our crossbar, and although we had a couple of chances during injury time, the first half finished goalless. Unbelievably.
The second half started with much expectation from our supporters to take ourselves into the fourth round of this illustrious competition. As in the first half, we started positively, winning balls and pushing Liverpool back into their own half. Kai Havertz was fouled in the centre circle, but the referee waved play to go on, and shortly afterwards, there was a superb run by Bukayo Saka who went deep into the Liverpool half, but Joe Gomez somehow managed to clear it. The game became real end-to-end stuff now, with chances going begging for both teams at either end of the pitch. A well-worked free-kick exposed the visitors’ defence and Kai Havertz found Bukayo Saka but he hooked it over the bar. William Saliba received a yellow card for a silly foul on Diego Jota, and just afterwards Gabriel Martinelli replaced Reiss Nelson with twenty-seven minutes of the game remaining, and almost immediately he made a positive impact on the match with some exciting runs. Amazingly, the game appeared to speed up as it came to the last quarter of an hour, and out of the blue, Diego Jota set up Luis Diaz but fortunately his shot was saved by Aaron Ramsdale to keep us in the match at this late stage. The visitors started putting pressure on us, and a Diogo Jota header hit the crossbar which fell into the path of Darwin Nunez who blasted it wide thankfully, which was a massive let-off. Unbelievably, the visitors went a goal ahead when a ball came into our penalty area and it simply flicked off the head of Jakob Kiwior for an own goal, which was immensely disappointing. With three minutes of normal time remaining, Leandro Trossard and Emile Smith-Rowe replaced Kai Havertz and Jakob Kiwior, in an effort to score an equaliser and to try to grab a replay at Anfield next week. We were awarded a free-kick when our captain was brought down by Ryan Gravenberch who was booked for his troubles, but the resulting set piece was both wasted and disappointing in equal measure. In the four minutes injury time, in our efforts to score a goal, we were caught cold at the back and Luis Diaz finished the job clinically for Liverpool, which ultimately meant that we were unceremoniously ejected from the FA Cup.
Let us be honest, we should have held a healthy advantage by half-time but we were let down by a major flaw, namely the lack of a decent striker of any shape or form. Because of our ineptitude in front of goal over the past few matches, we are now five points off the pace in the Premier League and out of the FA Cup, and if this carries on, and we crash out of the Champions League against Porto in late February/early March, then all of our hard work and effort in the early part of the season could all be in vain. We all know the question, but only Mikel Arteta knows the answer to this problem, and if he does not address it, and quickly too, then things could unravel quite dramatically at the Emirates. So disappointing for everyone.
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Crystal Palace at the Emirates on Saturday, 20th January at 12.30pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 