Burnley (0) 0 Arsenal (1) 1

Premier League

Turf Moor, 52-56 Harry Potts Way, Burnley BB10 4BX

Saturday, 18th September 2021. Kick-off time: 3.00pm

(4-1-4-1) Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Thomas Partey; Nicolas Pépé, Martin Ødegaard, Emile Smith-Rowe, Bukayo Saka; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Alexandre Lacazette, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding, Cédric Soares, Nuno Tavares, Pablo Marí, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Gabriel Martinelli.

Scorers: Martin Ødegaard (30 mins)

Yellow Cards: Nuno Tavares

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 56%

Referee: Anthony Taylor

Assistant Referees: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn

Fourth Official: John Brooks

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Lee Mason; AVAR Matthew Wilkes

Attendance: 21,944

Over the past few years, we have had a good record at Turf Moor, so let’s hope that our record continues with a much-needed victory today. Although we expect this to be a tough game, we certainly have the personnel to grab three points and return to London as victors; nothing less will do.

We started the match fairly confidently, with one or two frustrating misses, particularly from Nicolas Pépé, who was desperately unlucky not to score as early as the sixth minute. The home side, through Ashley Barnes, came close to scoring a couple of times, and in reply, soon after, both Thomas Partey and Martin Ødegaard had strong attempts which were parried by the Burnley defenders. Bukayo Saka was fouled by Ashley Westwood on the edge of the penalty area, and with the resulting free-kick, Martin Ødegaard confidently whipped the ball over the wall and past Nick Pope for the opening goal of the match. Our goal appeared to wake the home side up, and they immediately put pressure on our defence, but thankfully they held firm. The goal gave us confidence to bring the match to the home side, and we started to create some good chances to score, with the play being dictated by Emile Smith-Rowe and Nicolas Pépé which created somewhat of a panic in the Burnley defence. Literally on the stroke of half-time, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a superb chance to score, but unfortunately his shot was cleared by Ben Mee as Anthony Taylor blew the whistle for the break.

And so, the second half began with the home side looking for a quick goal from the restart, with Jóhann Guðmundsson, Ashley Westwood and Ben Mee’s attempts all going wide of Aaron Ramsdale’s goal. We managed to settle proceedings down, and now Thomas Partey’s midfield skills started to control matters, with him being first to the tackle when needed, and distributing clever balls to Emile Smith-Rowe and Bukayo Saka. Although the home side made two substitutions on the hour, our forwards were constantly finding ways through the Burnley defence; how Nicolas Pépé and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang didn’t score from close range, was nothing short of amazing, really. With twenty minutes left of the match, Ben White passed the ball back to Aaron Ramsdale, but unfortunately didn’t see Matej Vydra coming in to try to grab the ball. Aaron Ramsdale got there first of course, but the Burnley player fell, and in dramatic fashion too. After vocal appeals by the home side, Anthony Taylor consulted VAR, and thankfully the appeal was denied. This obviously angered Burnley, who came at us with all guns blazing for the next few minutes, and as a result, Mikel Arteta made two substitutions within three minutes; Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Nuno Tavares replaced Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey in an attempt to stem the tide of constant Burnley attacks, and although everyone did their best, the outstanding performance was that of Aaron Ramsdale, whose performance this afternoon at Turf Moor was truly a golden one in ensuring Burnley were kept at bay. After everything that has gone on today, the officials decreed that there should be four minutes injury time, during which both sides made one last attempt to score, but to no avail, and for the second weekend in a row, we have taken maximum points from both matches, thankfully.

Two matches, two wins, six points. That’s the facts as they stand, and going on today’s performance, not only was it an improvement on last Saturday’s match against Norwich City, but there is a confident air that is starting to permeate the atmosphere around the team now. Early days, early dreams; every man played their part well today, none more so that Aaron Ramsdale, who was truly immense in goal, and hey, let’s not take anything away from Martin Ødegaard’s goal either, which was truly something spectacular. Fantastic stuff really, and as Arsenal supporters we have learned through recent bitter experience to take one match at a time, so let us enjoy the moment, bank the three points, and concentrate on next Sunday’sderby match against Tottenham Hotspur here at the Emirates. Should be a cracker.

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: AFC Wimbledon at the Emirates on Wednesday, 22nd September at 7.45pm (Carabao Cup/EFL 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.

Yesterday I read a fantastic blog by a Liverpool fan.

I never read things by other clubs. I have no real interest. But the blog was recommended to me by a friend who commented “change everything to Arsenal and it sums up some of our online fan base”. So I had a read.

Before reading the rest of my blog, please go and take a look at the Liverpool blog. It is well worth your time and just keep thinking to yourself about Arsenal everytime the writer mentions Liverpool. The blog can be read here.

In recent weeks I have mentioned the rise of the “Anti-fan”. So called supporters who take a stance that everything at the club is negative in an attempt to “sound cool” and “stand out from the crowd”. These sort of fans are exactly the sort described in the blog above.

The author of the blog describes said Liverpool fans as people that “present themselves as liking football and Liverpool but have no joy in it”.

Arsenal has the exact same fans.

Fans who spend all day on social media talking about football, but always from a negative stand point. They do not enjoy the game.

The blog goes on to explain 3 characteristics these so called fans have – Obsessed by transfers, always arguing and constantly pessimistic And again they are spot on.

They think they are “running an online account” but actually their social media is a reflection of themselves in the “real world”.

How many followers they have, how many RTs they get becomes a personality trait. They never actually develop real world skills and are probably destined to a life living in bedsits screaming for attention from a car.

Whilst reading through the blog, you should be able to picture the tweets of those who it is describing.

If you do not follow many others on Twitter (I think I follow less than 30) it can seem like Arsenal are the only club with these type of fans. But we are not.

Liverpool have them, despite having won the league and Champions League in recent years. As do Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City.

They feed off the negativity they spread and it defines them as a character.

The blog goes into detail much better than I ever could have describing these people, so please read it.

And ultimately remember that these sort of people are a minority. They are just very loud on Twitter. Most people do not actually care what they have to say.

Have a good Wednesday.

Keenos

I am very much a “live in the  moment” guy.

When at a game, gig or event my phone stays in my pocket. I rarely take pictures. Never take videos.

I will never understand those that sit their recording a penalty, a corner kick or their favourite band playing their favourite song.

The argument is they want to “relive the moment” but I do that through my memory. Through sitting in the pub years down the line talking about the event with mates who were there. Living a shared experience.

On a basic level, the quality of your recording will be poor anyway, so what are you actually watching?

Say it is your favourite band. It will be a dark venue with bright lights that will mean you can barely see the stage through the camera.

If it is football, just record off Match of the Day. Their recordings will be much better than your own.

Recording the action takes away from your ability to live in the moment. You will be distracter. Trying to get your phone out.

I looked aghast on Saturday when Cristiano Ronaldo scored his goal. Every single person had a phone or a camera out instead of celebrating with whoever was round them.

Unfortunately recording events is part of modern society.

Life is all about RT’s, Likes and Followers, and what better way to get that online attention you crave than putting content up online.

Of course, some will say blogging is attention seeking. And it is. But I blog on the way to work, on my breaks. Not during the games.

It is more important these days to tell people you are at a game, gig or event rather than actually being there.

“Look at me I am at the football” they scream to everyone on social media in the hope of hitting treble figures on Likes.

There was a video floating around of some middle aged man going to their first game.

He had had a mate recording him whilst he also recorded the pitch and he was screaming like a 6 year old.

It was all very odd. Cringey. Staged.

The fella was clearly putting on a performance for the cameras in the hope he would go viral. And he got his wish as his video was picked up by Arsenal’s official twitter. He got his 5 minutes of fame.

And that sums it up.

Instead of being in the moment, enjoying it with those around you, people seem to have a need these days to record everything,

It is not just events this happens too but incidents as well.

A quick scroll through Twitter shows videos of people having fights, getting in accidents or worse.

Instead of trying to break up the incident, to help, you see people with their camera out recording. Hoping for that 5 minutes of fame.

We just live in a very shallow society these days where for many people, how many likes, RTs or followers they have is the most important thing.

To me, the most important things will always be family and friends.

I go to games with me mates, celebrate with them, get pissed with them, then go home.

We take the odd picture in the pub of ourselves as a group, but that is all. We are living in the moment. We do not need to share our experience with strangers on the internet as we are sharing the experience with each other.

I will never understand people that pay hundreds of pounds to fly across the pond , on hotels and match tickets, to then watch game through their mobile phone.

Put it in your pocket. Enjoy the game. Live in the moment.

Keenos

Just some of our Arsenal mugs #Arsenal #ArsenalFC #AFC #MCIARS https://t.co/xze46vjUxL pic.twitter.com/9mIj7g3Ab0

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) August 28, 2021