Arsenal (2) 2 Luton Town (0) 0
Premier League
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Wednesday, 3rd April 2024. Kick-off time: 7.30pm
(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Thomas Partey, Emile Smith-Rowe; Reiss Nelson, Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard.
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Takehiro Tomiyasu, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fábio Vieira, Declan Rice
Scorers: Martin Ødegaard (24 mins), Daiki Hashioka (o.g., 43 mins)
Yellow Cards: Kai Havertz
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 59%
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistant Referees: Marc Perry, Steve Meredith
Fourth Official: Simon Hooper
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Tim Robinson; AVAR Dan Robathan
Attendance: 60,262
Following last Sunday’s draw at the Etihad, it is of course imperative that we secure a victory against the Hatters tonight. Of course, our title rivals Manchester City are plying their trade against Aston Villa this evening, so we need to keep them at bay, and only a win will do!
A firm, yet casual start by the chaps tonight, and within a couple of minutes we were immediately on the attack as Kai Havertz surged through the middle of the park. Leandro Trossard made a good run into the penalty area but the pass from Kai Havertz was way too heavy and the opportunity disappeared into the ether.
Not deterred, we started to play well, both on and off the ball, finding our men easily and moving forward towards the visitors’ goal. Oleksandr Zinchenko received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and took a strong shot at goal, but Alfie Doughty blocked it, and foolishly, the visitors attempted to play out from the back, but they lost the ball quickly and a Kai Havertz shot was also blocked by a rather panicky Hatters defence.
We were pressurising the Luton defence, and attempting to find a way through somehow, and you could see a good pattern of play here tonight by our team. However, Ross Barkley played a great ball to send Jordan Clark away down the left wing. He raced towards our penalty area and then fired in a low ball looking for Andros Townsend, but Oleksandr Zinchenko read the danger well and cleared the ball.
After twenty-four minutes, we took a well-deserved lead when Emile Smith-Rowe capitalised on a mistake by Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu before neatly slotting a ball to Martin Ødegaard, who performed a clever one-two with Kai Havertz, before firing the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
The visitors appeared to spring back into life after our goal, with Andros Townsend causing one or two problems at the back for our defence. Thomas Kaminski made a really good save to keep out Emile Smith-Rowe’s curled effort inside the penalty area, but then the match was stopped briefly after a couple of Luton Town defenders went down to the ground injured, but after treatment, they continued on with the game.
Ben White did some clever work on the ball before passing it to Kai Havertz, whose left-footed shot was again saved by Thomas Kaminski, who correctly dived to his left in order to save the shot.
A couple of minutes before the half-time break, we grabbed a second goal when Emile Smith-Rowe took the ball to the by-line, slotted the ball across the face of the goal and the ball then appeared to come off a beleaguered Daiki Hashioka and into the net. Although there was four minutes injury time, nothing much happened and we went into the break two goals to the good.
We kicked off the second half and it was fairly obvious to everyone that we continued in the same vein as at the end of the first half; in control, looking for spaces and chinks in the Hatters’ armour.
Leandro Trossard tried to get himself to another good Emile Smith-Rowe ball into the penalty area, but Fred Onyedinma defended well and won the free-kick. Tahith Chong cynically brought down Reiss Nelson deep into the Luton Town half, but referee Craig Pawson waved play to carry on, amazingly.
Our captain fouled Jordan Clark twenty-five yards from our goal, but the corresponding free-kick came to nothing, fortunately.
The visitors were trying to constantly find a way through our defence, and on one occasion Leandro Trossard tracked back to stop Andros Townsend taking a shot at David Raya’s goal, and then Kai Havertz was booked as referee Craig Pawson deemed that he went down to the ground too easily in an attempt to win a free-kick.
Shortly afterwards, Thomas Partey and Kai Havertz were replaced by Declan Rice and Eddie Nketiah with about twenty minutes of the match remaining. Oleksandr Zinchenko neutralised a Luton Town cross from the left wing when he chested the ball down to David Raya perfectly.
With eighteen minutes of the game remaining, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Reiss Nelson were replaced by Gabriel Martinelli and Takehiro Tomiyasu in order to try and grab some more goals here tonight, and within minutes, Takehiro Tomiyasu took a good shot that curled just wide of the mark.
Jorginho replaced Emile Smith-Rowe with six minutes left on the clock to try and put more spark into the game.
After a Daiki Hashioka shot which was blocked by our defence, at the other end just minutes later, Thomas Kaminski managed to get down to his right hand side in order to turn a ball around the post from Jorginho, and as the match entered the four minutes injury time period, game management became the order of the day, and we simply coasted to a fairly pedestrian two-nil win here tonight, which more importantly means that we are top of the Premiership by one point over our nearest rivals Liverpool.
All in all, it was a very comfortable win for the boys, with very little pressure from the visitors, who surely have their own problems as the season ebbs away.
Everyone played well, everybody looked comfortable both on and off the ball, and in many ways the score was a bit flattering as we should really have got a couple more, but in the end of the day, we earned our three points which has taken us to the top of the Premiership tonight.
Although we never really got out of second gear, Mikel Arteta managed to rotate the squad well, and everyone got a run out before preparing for the Brighton and Hove Albion match on Saturday. Let’s hope that Bukayo Saka is fit and raring to go for that one. Well done, chaps!
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: Brighton and Hove Albion at the American Express Stadium on Saturday, 6th April at 5.30pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
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She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 