History set to repeat itself – will it be 1998 or 1999 for The Arsenal?

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When I looked down the fixture list at the start of the season, and saw the last game at home to Everton, a part of me wondered, hoped even, that maybe it would all come down to that familiar scenario again.

It’s not the first time, as long term Arsenal supporters will know, that winning the league has come down to this fixture. As humans we are hardwired to pick out patterns and reasons for the randomness of life, sport is no different, and Arsenal vs Everton in may is one of my favourite such patterns. 

For me it is nostalgic. I remember such a Sunday in May 1998 when with my father, and then best friend, Stuart, travelled the few hours journey from Maidenhead, where we lived, to Highbury. There we sat in the North Bank hoping we would finish the campaign and claim Premiership glory for the first time. I was 9 at the time and so as goal after goal went in as we romped to a 4-0 win, I had no idea really how special those moments were. I will probably never be at the stadium again to see Arsenal lift a trophy.

Everton as that last home game of the season resurfaced 4 seasons later.

I watched this game on sky at home – Stuart was going through his not liking football stage, but Dad was still there. Of course, by this time, everything was done and dusted the game before. The infamous 0-1 at Old Trafford when Sylvan Wiltord tapped in the deflected FeddieLjungberg shot and then, not unlike Sunday, we clung on to claim the league at Old Trafford.

The only drama in this Everton May fixture was if Martin Keown would get on to claim his required number of games for a winners medal. He did, with a few minutes to spare. But once again that home fixture brought us glory – so maybe, just maybe it will this time. 

That’s what we do as football fans don’t we? That’s part of the magic (and to be honest stress) of football. The seeing of patterns significant or superstitious; reading too much into sometimes irrelevant details all building up the drama and passion of the sport that has us hooked. We look for meaning where there is no meaning, and sometimes ignore the inevitable likelihood of stats. 

Of course this pattern searching can work both ways.

We’ve needed a favour from Spurs before, a bigger one if anything. In the 1998/1999 season on the final day where we faced Aston Villa, while ‘they’ played Manchester United. Again I was lucky enough to be at Highbury (back of the west stand this time) and for a glorious period of time it looked like ‘Campbell and co’ were going to do it for us, leading 1-0 before United came back in the second half to claim the league 2-1. Not the pattern we want as we look towards Manchester City vs Spurs on Tuesday night. 

But maybe that is the point; whatever ‘pattern’ there maybe in  the Everton May fixture, whatever link we can make to 1-0 win at Old Trafford two games before the end of the season. Whatever doubts there maybe about Spurs ability to compete with a City mega team; each story in football, each season, each game is unique.

What will happen over the next few days will form it’s own story, as has the 37 games which have gone before.

How it will end, before it is assigned to history, we cannot know – but that’s the point, that’s why we love this beautiful game. That is why come 4pm on Sunday afternoon I, and all gunners fans, will be filled with a irrational tension which can only be explained as football. So, enjoy the ride, give thanks that Arteta has built a team which can now compete, and who knows, maybe just maybe we will taste Premiership glory once more. Come on you Gunners! 

Jon

Jon is a long term Arsenal fan, short term reader of the “she wore” blog. He has enjoyed reading others thoughts at the tail end of this season as we chase Premiership glory.

Match Report: Man U 0 – 1 Arsenal

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Manchester United (0) 0 Arsenal (1) 1
Premier League
Old Trafford, Sir Matt Busby Way, Stretford, Manchester M16 0RA
Sunday, 12th May 2024. Kick-off time: 4.30pm

(4-3-3) David Raya; Gabriel Magalhães, Ben White, William Saliba, Takehiro Tomiyasu; Thomas Partey, Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz.
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith-Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fábio Vieira, Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Scorers: Leandro Trossard (20 mins)
Yellow Cards: Bukayo Saka, David Raya
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 46%

Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistant Referees: Scott Ledger, Mat Wilkes
Fourth Official: Darren Bond
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR John Brooks; AVAR Constantine Hatzidakis

Attendance: 64,137

Our penultimate match of the season, and it just has to be Old Trafford on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Of course, after yesterday’s results, it is more important than ever to gain maximum points from this afternoon’s game, nothing else will do at this stage of the season. Apparently, there are fitness concerns over Bukayo Saka and Takehiro Tomiyasu; but however, if they are available it would mean that Mikel Arteta will be able to name the same starting eleven for the fourth match in a row!

We kicked off proceedings at Old Trafford, and immediately we brought the match to the home team by pressurising their defence into conceding an early corner. Bukayo Saka had the first shot of the game, which André Onana comfortably saved.

At the other end, Rasmus Højlund had a chance to score, but fortunately he scuffed his shot, and then Alejandro Garnacho also had a chance to score, but his shot was deflected for a corner. Declan Rice then made a very nervy, but weak back pass to David Raya, but fortunately the ball was cleared.

The home team advanced deep into our half through Diogo Dalot, and as the ball came loose, Declan Rice cleared it for a United corner, which went nowhere.

We then started to get a grip and had a period of good possession, and then on the twentieth minute we opened the scoring when Casemiro could not get out of the United penalty area quick enough and Kai Havertz was onside down the right wing. He simply sauntered into the Manchester United box and slotted the ball across for Leandro Trossard to tap the ball home from close range.

Now that we have scored, we were starting to control the game. Declan Rice advanced towards the United penalty area, but he lost the ball and it fell to Takehiro Tomiyasu who’s strong shot bounced off a United defender, and a couple of minutes later, Ben White was unlucky not to score when he hit the ball over the crossbar from a very tight angle indeed.

On the half hour, the home team got into our penalty area, but the shot from Casemiro was headed clear by Gabriel, which was good defensive play indeed.

A diagonal pass into the our penalty area from Casemiro which was chested down by Ben White back to David Raya, which was a good move, and after Amad Diallo stood on Thomas Partey’s foot, which although the United team appealed for a penalty (which it obviously was not), everyone took the opportunity to have a well-earned drinks break.

A poorly taken corner kick by Diogo Dalot ended up with a United player fouling Kai Havertz, and after the subsequent free kick went seemingly nowhere, the match carried on.

Amad Diallo passed the ball to Garnacho who was pushed down the line by Ben White. He sent a low cross-shot into the penalty area which was beautifully palmed away to safety by David Raya. During the three minutes injury time the home side put our defence under pressure, but we held out very well to end the first half a goal ahead.

Manchester United kicked off the second half, and almost immediately Diogo Dalot ran down the wing, but Thomas Partey slipped as he tried to clear the danger, but fortunately William Saliba was on hand to kick the ball away. Shortly afterwards, Martin Ødegaard started a good move out on on the right wing and found Leandro Trossard on the left wing, but his diagonal cross was far too heavy for Kai Havertz to do something with, and so the ball bounced out of play.

We started to gain a lot of possession, and we almost grabbed a second goal when a shot from Declan Rice was blocked on the edge of the penalty area and after the ball ended up on the left wing with Leandro Trossard, the United defence again closed down the space to stop Bukayo Saka turning the ball into the back of the net. Shortly after the hour mark, space opened up for Martin Ødegaard but his shot went straight at André Onana, and a minute or so later, Gabriel Martinelli replaced Leandro Trossard in order to press for more goals.

With eight minutes of the match remaining, Bukayo Saka slid off the steep slope behind the goal and clattered into the advertising hoardings. Mikel Arteta told him to go down, which he did, and was quickly replaced by Gabriel Jesus.

After yet another Arsenal corner, the heavens opened and torrential rain replaced glorious sunshine in seemingly an instant. A minute before the end of normal time, Alejandro Garnacho ran at our defence again, but was expertly blocked off by William Saliba. In the six minutes injury time, Jakob Kiwior and Jorginho replaced Martin Ødegaard and Thomas Partey to try and shore things up, which worked very well as soon as they came onto the pitch. Shortly after David Raya easily collected a cross, referee Paul Tierney blew his whistle to signify the end of the game.

And so this season’s title race will go down to the last match of the season next Sunday, irrespective of the result between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City on Tuesday. Today’s match was not the prettiest of games, but we got the three points which is what counts at this stage of the season. Everyone did as well as they could today, especially when the downpour happened five minutes from the end of time. All eyes on Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday evening, then. 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: Everton at the Emirates on Sunday, 19th May at 4.30pm (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

Arsenal on the brink – win and it is a last day shoot out, anything less and it’s over

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So it all comes down to today.

The equation is simple. Win and we are taking the title race down to the last day. Lose and Manchester City can win the league at Tottenham mid-week.

I had said throughout the season how proud I am of the boys. And whether we win the title or not will not make me any more or less proud. We have done brilliant.

I always tell people do not define your football supporting life by the trophies you win. Do that and you will be more disappointed than delrious.

Those that will base how they rate our season on how the next 2 games go miss the bigger picture of what football is about. Only one team can we each trophy and, Manchester City aside, no other club should see finishing a season trophyless as a failure.

It can not be underestimated how Manchester City, and their spending, has changed our game.

City have raised the bar. To (potentially) win 16 of our last 18 games and still finish 2nd is incredible. Part of me has respect for Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City winning team, the other part of me sees them for what they are – a state funded team bankrolled to success based on outspending every other team.

And we are not talking about net spend, we are talking about total spend which has been huge under the Shiekhs, their gigantic wage bill to attract the best players, coaches, doctors, etc, all whilst financed by questionable sponsorship deals. Although I will always have the stance that if a billionaire wants to blow his load on football, he should be entitled to do so.

Nothing highlights City’s wealth more than Matheus Nunes.

City spent £53million on the Wolves midfielder to basically start 7 Premier League games. Nunes replaced the £42m Kalvin Phillips who also saw very little game time. Imagine a world where a team spends so much on a player (and the wages to go with it), to then play just 656 minutes of football.

Yes, those with half a brain will be saying “but Arsenal spent double that on Declan Rice”. Rice starts for us and is well worth the money. Nunes is not even a squad player for City. He is a 1st team fringe player, and in 2-years he will probably be loaned out to West Ham and they will buy another £50m midfielder to not play.

If you want the definitive proof of the difference between City and the rest, just look at how much they have spent on central defenders.

They collect £40m centre backs for one. And basically every season they sell one of them who has ended 5th choice, and spend another £40m+ on a replacement. Rinse and report stockpiling some of the best central defenders in the world whilst we have to make do with Jakub Kiwor as cover (no disrespect to Kiwor).

Finishing 2nd to City is not failure. It is not Arsenal bottling it. And if you are one of those that will claim Arsenal have bottled it, give your head a wobble and stop feeding into the TalkSport/PaddyPower narrative.

If Arsenal bottled the Premier League this season due to not winning, then so did every other team in the Premier League. It is not logical that we end up in a world where anytime someone finishes 2nd, fans of teams in 5th or 8th laugh saying “bottled it”.

These fans are like the single virgin living in their mum’s basement mocking someone online they do not know because they have split up with their misses. Take a look at your own lives and issues before pointing the finger at others.

Today we need to put everything around us out of our heads and get the win.

Man U are in horrendous form. As poor as Tottenham. But we know how they like to raise their game against us and many fans my age will be scarred from those defeats against very poor Alex Ferguson teams.

Mentally, we need to be looking at them not as Man U, the big red machine, but as a team who have won just 2 of their last 9.

Mikel Arteta will know this, and he will have his players focused.

Do our job on the field and take it to the last day of the season. I still do not expect a “favour” from Tottenham or West Ham, but stranger things have happened!

UTA.

Keenos