Category Archives: Arsenal

Match report: PSV 1 – 1 Arsenal

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PSV Eindhoven (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 1

Champions League Group B, Matchday 6 of 6
Phillips Stadion, Frederiklaan 10a Eindhoven, Netherlands
Tuesday, 12th December 2023. Kick-off time: 5.45pm

(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Cédric Soares, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Jakob Kiwior; Mohamed Elneny, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho (c), Leandro Trossard; Kai Havertz, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson.
Substitutes: Ben White, Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith-Rowe, David Raya, Karl Hein, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Declan Rice, Ethan Nwaneri, Reuell Walters.

Scorers: Eddie Nketiah (42 mins)
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 58%

Referee: Tobias Stieler (Germany)
Assistant Referees: Christian Gittelmann (Germany), Mark Borsch (Germany)
Fourth Official: Martin Petersen (Germany)
UEFA Referee Observer: Michael Ross (Northern Ireland)
UEFA VAR Team in Geneva: VAR Christian Dingert (Germany); AVAR Tiago Martins (Portugal)

Attendance: c.35,000

Mikel Arteta has certainly rung the changes from the team which lost at Aston Villa last Saturday evening. The centre backs William Saliba and Gabriel, along with forward Kai Havertz, are the only men to keep their places. Amongst the eight changes for tonight’s game include goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, whilst Emile Smith-Rowe is on the substitute’s bench and could make his first appearance in two months.

We kicked off this final match in Group B tonight, and although it was a very slow start, it was a fairly positive one. Mohamed Elneny tried to slide the ball through to Eddie Nketiah on the right wing but it was well intercepted by a PSV defender, and then as a reminder just how dangerous the opposition can be, as the ball came across into our penalty area, Ismael Saibari had a good chance to open the scoring, but Gabriel denied him fortunately.

A few minutes later, Leandro Trossard took our first corner from the right and played the ball short towards Eddie Nketiah but it was cut out by an alert PSV player. After Reiss Nelson tried to play a one-two with Eddie Nketiah on the edge of the PSV penalty area, which was well defended, and we then won a free kick as Jordan Teze pulled back Leandro Trossard, but sadly the spot kick went nowhere.

The home side started to pressurise us in various areas of the pitch, and although we managed to hold them, they looked very dangerous as they moved around with and without the ball.

At the other end, Eddie Nketiah spun beautifully on the edge of the penalty area and laid it off to Leandro Trossard on the left, who flicked it in towards the back post but it was just out of reach for Kai Havertz.

On the half hour, Mohamed Elneny drilled a great shot towards the bottom left hand corner; the goalie Walter Benítez was beaten all the way but it bounced off the post and out for a goal kick. So close!

Finally, with three minutes of the half remaining, Eddie Nketiah took one touch to control a pass across the edge of the penalty area; he let it come across his body and his second touch was a superb strike into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Although the home side came back at us during the injury time period, we managed to go into the break one goal to the good.

The home side got us underway for the second half this evening, and within the first two minutes, they came at us quite strongly, and although the effort was neutralised by Gabriel, it served as a lesson for us to be always alert for danger.

Two minutes later, sure enough, they grabbed the equaliser through a clever shot from Yorbe Vertessen after a quick raid on our defence.

The match started to settle down a bit with both sides looking for gaps in each other’s midfield and defence. PSV won a corner, as William Saliba headed behind a cross from Armando Obispo, but Patrick Van Aanholt’s resulting strike went straight into a wall of our defenders, and went nowhere, thankfully.

On the hour, Cédric Soares curled one in towards the back post but it came off Eddie Nketiah’s chest and bounced wide. Cédric Soares, William Saliba and Mohamed Elneny (who looks like he had a hamstring injury) were replaced by Ben White, Declan Rice and Martin Ødegaard, just before an unfortunate collision between Kai Havertz and Eddie Nketiah flattened the latter, and he had to receive medical attention as a result.

A great chance by Reiss Nelson hit the side netting and almost immediately at the other end, a shot by Ismael Saibari hit Aaron Ramsdale’s right hand post and bounced back into play, only to be cleared by Gabriel, confidently.

Eddie Nketiah had a great chance to score, but Patrick van Aanholt robbed him of the chance, and in our defence, Declan Rice was working as a centre back clearing balls and tackling strikers in order to stop any chance of a quick goal by the opposition, who were testing our defence constantly, although Jakob Kiwior has been instrumental in stopping any further goals.

Jakub Kiwior got the ball in the net from a Martin Ødegaard free-kick, but it was cancelled out by the VAR team for offside.

With three minutes of the match remaining, Kai Havertz and Reiss Nelson were replaced by Gabriel Jesus and Emile Smith-Rowe, and shortly afterwards, Gabriel missed the ball and it rolled through to Guus Til, who only had Aaron Ramsdale to beat but the angle was tight and he dragged the shot wide of the far post, thankfully.

In the six minutes of injury time, Aaron Ramsdale made a great save from Mauro Júnior and we almost grabbed the winner right at the end of the game when Leandro Trossard’s shot from close range was palmed away before the rebound shot by Jakub Kiwior flew over the bar; the referee blew his whistle to finish the match shortly afterwards, and overall, both sides were happy with a draw here at the Phillips Stadion tonight.

The good thing is that we still finished top of Group B, and face one of the other seven runners-up in the next round (despite the draw), and as such go into the knockout stages in a dominant position, and although there was nothing in tonight’s game for either side really, both teams made a decent fist of things.

Although there was a lot of changes in the side, which was to be expected, overall, it was a satisfying performance and score, all things considered, it was a fair result.

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 Emirates on Sunday, 17th December at 2.00pm(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

2.4m reasons Arteta will not be “playing the kids” tonight

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Did you know that teams receive around £2.4million for every Champions League game they win? Or in European terms, €2.8m per win. And that is what is on the line tonight.

Following our exploits this season, we have already guaranteed ourselves over €76 million, broken down as:

Tonights game is a dead rubber for both teams, with Arsenal guaranteed to go through top and our opponents PSV Eindhoven guaranteed 2nd place. It is very rare in Champions League football where neither team has nothing to play for. Nothing except money.

An additional €2.8m is not to be sniffed at. And due to the group situation I very much doubt that Mikel Arteta will “put out the kids” as some are requesting. But that also does not mean we will play our strongest possible XI.

Arteta will look to get the balance right in playing a strong enough team to win the game, but without risking his biggest stars. He will not see today as a complete write off due to the money that is on the line.

You also have to factor in that this is not the 2000’s any more when our “2nd string” was up and coming youngsters. Our squad is now filled with 25 internationals and it is more important that we give those squad players game time to keep them match ready.

That will mean we will probably see Mohamed Elneny and Jorginho in midfield rather than Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri.

I imagine Aaron Ramsdale will be given a chance in goal, even though his old man (up to his old trickets at Aston Villa again), has risks souring his time at the club.

The defence is an interesting one as we only have 5 fit defenders – Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwor and Cedric Soares.

With both Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu out for the forseeable, I think Arteta will go with Soares and Kiwor at full back with Saliba and Gabriel in the middle.

Elneny and Jorginho will be joined in midfield by Kai Havertz.

Fábio Vieira and Thomas Partey are both out until 2024, and Emile Smith Rowe is only just back in full training. With an eye on Brighton (Brighton’s Europa League group is still live), Martin Odegaard might be given a little break.

If Odegaard does play, expect it to be for Elneny.

The front 3 will probably be Leandro Trossard, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson, although do I have a feeling he might start Gabriel Jesus on the left.

So whilst it will not be our strongest XI, it will still be a team full of experience, talent and international caps.

Youngsters who might have travelled will be hoping Arsenal are 4-0 up on 60 minutes and then they will get some game time.

With PSV guaranteed that second spot and unable to get any better, I expect them to do similar to us and put out a fairly strong team, mixed in with 2nd string players.

At the final whistle, the winners should be presented with one of those big fake cheques, as that is all we are playing for tonight.

Predicted XI:

Ramsdale
Soares Saliba Gabrial Kiwior
Jorginho
Nelson Havertz Elneny Trossard
Nketiah

Keenos

At least we got to leave Birmingham (eventually)

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Fuck Aston Villa. Fuck Birmingham.

I usually love a Brum away day. An hour and 20 on the train and a few decent boozers in and around the stadium. I do not even mind then having to get another train to the slums that Villa, WBA or Birmingham reside in. It is always a decent trip.

The writing was on the wall before we even left Euston as they train we were on got cancelled. A complete lack of communication from West Midlands Railway meant no-one knew what was going on.

It was only 20 minutes after our scheduled departure that we heard from the train driver as they announced the train was cancelled and what platform the next one was leaving from. And then that train was delayed…

The last time I had suffered such a bad departure from Euston was a few years back when we played Manchester City. All trains were cancelled due to something at Watford and then, just as we were about to go to the Royal George, the line re-opened. We arrived into the ground 10-minutes late and were 4-0 down at half time.

Back to Saturday…

As we approached Northampton, we were informed that we would have to change trains to another that was awaiting our arrival. A train full of passengers were then met with an already packed train waiting for us due to the previous Northampton to Birmingham train being cancelled. And things only got busy as we went through Coventry and beyond and discovered more trains ahead of us had been cancelled.

Eventually we got into Birmingham for a quick couple of pints before heading to Witton.

What then followed was a fairly average Arsenal performance against a fairly unimpressive Aston Villa.

They are brilliant at home, and Villa Park is certainly a lot louder now than it was a few years back when they were battling relegation playing in front of a stadium that was 20% empty.

Like many clubs, there recent “success” has seen a return of fans that abondoned them during the dark days. The breed of fan that sing about winning a European Cup when things are good, and then go to the Christmas market instead when things turn.

And things will turn at Villa.

It will not take too much for someone like Emi Martinez to go from cult hero to hated. His constant desire to time waste at every opportunity will soon grate for Villa fans. Likewise, their fickle fans will soon turn on Unai Emery the moment they go on a bad run. I would not be surprised if Graham Potter or Eddie Howe is managing them in 18-months time.

They are very much like Newcastle. A good few months has gone to their heads and now they think they are a top club again. Newcastle were great season. This seaosn they are 7th (at the time of writing), and fans are beginning to call for Eddie Howe’s head and demanding an upgrade on “best in the world” Nick Pope. Villa will be the same in a year.

So we lost the game, and once again the refereeing performance has proved Mikel Arteta and Arsenal right. Officiating in this country is not good enoug,

The elbow on Eddie Nketiah, the clear and obvious penalty, and the wrongly disallowed goal. Arteta was sitting in the stands after recieiving 3-yellow cards, and has basically been silences by the Premier League and PGMOL who have made it very clear that their officials are above criticism.

So we head home feeling a little down, but at least we will be back in London by midnight. Or so we thought.

In a repeat of what happened on the way to the game, the train we were on was cancelled 45 minutes after its scheduled departure. Again, West Midlands Railway failed to let anyone know anything until the decision was made to cancel the train. Apparantly it was due to a lack of guards…

Those that managed to get on the (very, very busy) train before us ended up having to change 4 times, turning a 2 hour return journey into a 3 and a half hour hell ride. But they were the lucky ones.

With our train cancelled and no more leaving for London, the train company had to put on cabs and coaches to get us home. It is a 10pm on Saturday night in Birmingham. Not an easy task.

The first cabs started arriving at around 11:30, but it was ones and twos, not a fleet. And no sign of a coach. A quick shout out to the New Street concourse staff who were all polite and did a great job letting us know what they knew. All apologetic on how long things were taking.

One single coach then arrived at shortly after midnight that 50 folks then jumped onto, still leaving loads of us left. Luckily it was not too cold or wet.

Being the gentleman I am, I was at the back of the queue. Happy to let others got first. Eventually I got one of the last taxis at around 2.30am, getting back into Euston at 4.30 on Sunday morning.

Getting to Euston would not be the end of my journey. It would be another hour, two more trains and taxi before I would walk through my door in Loughton.

Despite the travels and tribulations, I finally got into my bed at around 5.30m in the morning. Tired, defeated, but at least I did not live in Birmingham!

Saturday was just our 2nd defeat of the season. Newcastle (oddly enough, Newcastle also had huge train issues!) and Aston Villa are not easy to go. And made tougher when we face such poor referee’s. 2nd in the league. We are in this title race.

Keenos