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Match Report: Arsenal 2 – 2 Crystal Palace

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Arsenal (2) 2 Crystal Palace (1) 2
Premier League
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Sunday, 27th October 2019. Kick-off time: 4.30pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Calum Chambers, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Kieran Tierney; Mattéo Guendouzi, Granit Xhaka; Nicolas Pépé, Dani Ceballos, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang; Alexandre Lacazette.
Substitutes: Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Rob Holding, Emiliano Martínez; Sead Kolašinac, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka.
Scorers: Sokratis Papastathopoulos (7 mins), David Luiz (9 mins)
Yellow Cards: Calum Chambers, Mattéo Guendouzi
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 57%
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Attendance: 60,345

Today will be the litmus test for us; after Thursday’s late, late show in the Europa League that saw us victorious against Vitoria SC, we needed a good performance (and a great win too) in the Premier League to bolster our confidence. Maybe our questions were answered as early as the seventh minute in this London derby when Sokratis Papastathopoulos received a quick pass from Granit Xhaka (via a Nicolas Pépé corner) in the Palace penalty area; his trusty right foot made no mistake in placing the ball into the lower right hand corner of the net. If this wasn’t enough excitement for the discerning Emirates crowd, five minutes later, again from a corner, Alexandre Lacazette slotted the ball to the much maligned David Luiz who wasted no time in whacking the ball into the top left corner of the net for our second goal at close range within fifteen minutes of the start!

Over the next ten minutes or so, as to be expected, our goalscoring chances were abundant. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was desperately unlucky not to score a third, as was Kieran Tierney, on his Premiership debut, with a fierce shot from a corner that went extremely close indeed. As these things happen, the game slowed down from the frentic, exciting beginning that we had happily witnessed. Just after the half hour, as is always the way, controversy became the norm again. Calum Chambers clumsily fouled Wilfried Zaha within our penalty area, and as is de rigueur this season in these heart-stopping circumstances, the technological eye known as VAR was called into the decision-making process for referee Martin Atkinson to help make his on-field decree. Yes, the penalty was given, and Luka Milivojevic got one back for the visitors.

Obviously the goal buoyed the visitors and they came back into the match and got close to an equaliser on a couple of occasions; but also, to be fair, we matched them toe-to-toe and got back into the game, rather brightly and keenly it has to be said. In the closing stages of the first half, we organised ourselves well, and the home advantage worked well in our favour. On the stroke of half-time, Nicolas Pépé hit the post with a match-winning shot from inside the Palace penalty area from a ball that was truly gifted to him by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The whistle blew soon afterwards, and we went into half-time on the ascendancy.

So what happened in the half-time break? Did someone have an argument or something? Whatever it was, it became apparent quite quickly that Arsenal did not look the same team as they were previously. Seven minutes after the break, our questions were answered when James McArthur managed to shake off Granit Xhaka on the left, thus placing a cross deep into the Arsenal penalty area for Jordan Ayew to equalise. Shortly afterwards, Granit Xhaka was substituted for Bukayo Saka, at which point the Arsenal crowd showed their extreme displeasure at him when he was walking off the pitch; it didn’t make things better when he merely put a cupped hand to his ear is an act of defiance, along with a mouthful of abuse. Worse was to follow. After twenty minutes or so of midfield sparring (as well as Sead Kolašinac replacing the fatigued Kieran Tierney with fifteen minutes of the match remaining in the meantime) a perfectly good enough Sokratis Papastathopoulos goal was ruled out by (yes, you guessed it) the obligatory VAR review; after all the confusion, the upshot of it all was that this decision cost us the match, ultimately. How can it be? Whatever reason it was, barring a bizarre tackle by Mattéo Guendouzi literally at the end of the game that saw him being booked for his trouble by Martin Atkinson, that was that, really.

Forget the VAR controversies, the Granit Xhaka incident, and the indifferent performance by the referee; the up and down of it all was that this was yet another unsatisfactory day at the office for us. We just went to pieces at times in the second half, and all this after the fantastic start that we had as well! Does anyone teach this team game management? Where are the alpha male leaders? And more to the point, where on earth is Mesut Özil these days? Worryingly, not only are we fifth in the Premiership, but there is now a five point gap that has opened up between Chelsea and ourselves. Somebody at this club needs to get a grip, and quickly. Time is of the essence. 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: Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday, 30th October at 7.30pm (Carabao Cup). 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.

Time for Unai Emery to “Dump the Kids”

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The most enjoyable part of this season so far as been watching the continued development of the kids in the Europa League.

From home grown talents like Bukayo Saka, Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe to imports such as Gabriel Martinelli. Add in Matteo Guendouzi who is now a fixture in the 1st team and the future for Arsenal looks bright.

The likes of Saka and Willock have both stepped up into the 1st team recently following good performances and injuries to others. Whilst this is credit to the pair, it is time for Unai Emery to make the tough decision and relegate both to the bench.

I am reluctant to use the word “dropped” as that is too strong a word; however that is what needs to happen.

Emery needs to get back to playing his strongest team. There is no room for sentiment.

Against Sheffield United, it was an odd decision to play Willock ahead of Dani Ceballos. It was a mistake. The 1st half passed the Englishman by resulting in him being taken off at half time.

Saka likewise failed to influence the game.

His only action of note was his yellow card for going down under a challenge which Mike Dean deemed to be a dive.

Both players have bright futures but need to be taken out of the 1st team in Arsenal’s present.

Some might say relegating both players to the bench could shatter their confidence. That should not be a concern.

If they do not have the mental strength to cope with being “dropped” then neither will make it to the top level. It should motivate them to work harder on their games and fight to get back into the 1st team. Become better players.

Against Crystal Palace tomorrow we need to see Ceballos (or even Ozil) return. Alexandre Lacazette (if fully fit) must also play upfront with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang playing on the left hand side.

If Lacazette is not fully fit then it should see Ceballos play left hand side (where he performs for Spain) and Ozil inside him.

There can also be the case made that Lucas Torreira should come in for Matteo Guendouzi. Many will also say he should come in for Granit Xhaka.

It is time for Emery to play his strongest XI

Leno

Bellerin Holding Luiz Tierney

Xhaka Torreira

Pepe Ceballos Aubameyang

Lacazette

Return Saka and Willock to the midweek team playing in the Europa League and League Cup. A half way step between the U23’s and Premier League

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 3 – 2 Vitoria

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Arsenal (1) 3 Vitoria SC (2) 2
UEFA Europa League, Group F, Matchday 3 of 6
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Thursday 24th October 2019. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Emiliano Martínez; Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney; Lucas Torreira, Joe Willock; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Emile Smith-Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli, Alexandre Lacazette.
Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Dani Ceballos, Nicolas Pépé, Calum Chambers, Mattéo Guendouzi, Sead Kolašinac, Bukayo Saka.
Scorers: Gabriel Martinelli (32 mins), Nicolas Pépé (80 mins, 90+2 mins)
Yellow Cards: Shkodran Mustafi, Alexandre Lacazette
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 68%
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands)
Attendance: circa 40,000

The art of living dangerously is still alive and well, and being practised with some aplomb at The Emirates Stadium, unbelievably. After just eight minutes, in front of a sparsely populated stadium, Marcus Edwards somehow managed to propel a poor shot through Emiliano Martínez’s legs to put the visitors ahead. More calamity was to come later on the half. This goal was a total shock to the system for us, as the highly organised Portuguese outfit attempted to gain control of the match and shockingly came close several times after taking the lead so early in the game.

Arsenal returned with Alexandre Lacazette coming narrowly close with an excellent shot; we then started to at least match the visitors with some excellent possession football, with our players pouring forward in a desire to bring the scores level. Our efforts were rewarded, when just after the half hour, the superb Kieran Tierney placed a pinpoint cross in from the left for Gabriel Martinelli to rise up and head the ball over Miguel Silva and into the net to equalise the scores. Brilliant stuff really, but our joy was short-lived. Unfortunately some sloppy play in the middle of the park saw us fatally lose possession, and in the ensuing chaos that followed in our eighteen-yard box, the Brazilian winger Davidson’s shot hit the post just past an outstretched Emiliano Martínez only for Bruno Duarte to score Vitoria’s second of the night with a blistering shot taken at a very tight angle. How did we respond? Sluggishly is the answer. Despite one or two promising moves, all in all we looked as if we were the away side, and by the time the half-time whistle blew from the Dutch referee, our players looked as if they had enough pain and anguish for one half.

For the second half, Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles made way for Dani Ceballos along with Mattéo Guendouzi in an attempt to redress the balance, and also to stop the many voices of dissent in the stadium. For the next ten minutes, the fresh legs of the substitutes made a difference with our team controlling the midfield and making several decent attempts on the Vitoria goal; perhaps the best of them was when Kieran Tierney passed the ball in from the left to Emile Smith-Rowe, who shot frustratingly wide of the goal.

After a rather unsavoury incident involving Alexandre Lacazette and Victor Garcia (which saw the latter booked for his trouble), our rather tenuous grip on this match started to wane. The harder you try, the more you can lose out, so bearing this in mind, and with just a quarter of an hour left, Alexandre Lacazette made way for Nicolas Pépé in order to salvage this wreck of a match. Cometh the hour, cometh the man! A superb left-footed free-kick strike from Nicolas Pépé drew the sides level eleven minutes before the end of the game. We now felt anything was possible, and time and time again our forwards poured into the opposition half to make chances for each other. Just when it looked as if all of our attempts would finish in a draw, up popped Nicolas Pépé to score again from a free kick taken outside the penalty area! Such drama! Just like the old days, just like the Arsenal of old, my friend; 1-2 down, 3-2 winners at the end. If only.

Look, a win is a win is a win, right? And it was high drama bringing on Nicolas Pépé to administer the final, fatal blow. But, in the cold light of day, not everything is exactly rosy in Camp Emirates is it? For large chunks of the game we were playing catch-up with the visitors, especially when we found ourselves behind so early in the match. Are we improving? Is this a case of déjà vu from the terminal years of the Wenger era? Our performance in the Premiership will hold the key to the truth, and perhaps Sunday’s match against Crystal Palace will give us more of a clue as to where this enigmatic band of brothers really are in the greater scheme of things. 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 27th October 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.