Match Report: Crystal Palace 1 – 1 Arsenal

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Crystal Palace (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 1
Premier League
Selhurst Park Stadium, Selhurst, London SE25
Saturday, 11th January 2020. Kick-off time: 12.30pm
(4-3-1-2) Bernd Leno; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Sead Kolašinac; Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka, Nicolas Pépé; Mesut Özil; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette.
Substitutes: Emiliano Martínez; Rob Holding, Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson, Mattéo Guendouzi, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka.
Scorers: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (12 mins)
Red Cards: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Yellow Cards: Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Nicolas Pépé, Alexandre Lacazette
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 58%
Referee: Paul Tierney
Attendance: 25,468
After Monday’s disastrous start against Leeds United when Mikel Arteta began with three at the back, it was refreshing to see that he learned from his understandable error and reverted to the tried and trusted four man defence; all of which bore fruit in a satisfying first half that led the way as early as the twelfth minute with a well-executed goal from quick’n’slick Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Like all good things in our world recently, after receiving a clever pass from none other than David Luiz, ace midfielder Mesut Özil had an other worldly vision in which he slipped the ball through to Alexandre Lacazette, who, in the blink of an eye, placed it into the path of our number one bandit, who wasted no time in opening the scoring. Afterwards, domination was ours, and the match could have been there for the taking, as simple and cut and dried as that. We consistently and constantly applied pressure to The Eagles’ goal; although we were unable to score another one, we were clever and commanding in all areas of the pitch. In fact, the home side only threatened us on one notable occasion, which was when Cheikhou Kouyaté came close to equalising the scores; otherwise we quite rightly went into the hiatus feeling that the second half would bring us more opportunities to add on to our early lead.

Well, you know what the half time break can do to teams, don’t you? Firstly, young Mattéo Guendouzi replaced colleague Lucas Torreira, who never appeared again after the break, due to a painful collision with Nicolas Pépé at the end of the first half, and secondly, because of this injury, our natural midfield rhythm was disturbed, thus allowing Crystal Palace to make their mark on the match. We started to fall asleep at different times, which became disturbing to witness. Just nine minutes into the second half, we were punished badly for our lack of concentration. After giving away a pointless free-kick, Max Meyer crossed the ball from the right, Cheikhou Kouyaté stuck out a hopeful leg which merely pushed the ball to Jason Ayew; his left-foot gauche effort ricocheted off David Luiz and in a kind of bizarre slow motion (yet in real time, you understand) agonisingly went past Bernd Leno and into the net for the equaliser. All manner of disasters now unfolded, in which petulance and downright niggling behaviour from both teams became the order of the day from now on. With twenty-five minutes left on the clock, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang completely lost his captain’s composure and launched into Max Meyer with a bone-crunching tackle that saw him sent off for his trouble (after the regulatory post-mortem VAR investigation, that is), an act that overturned his earlier yellow card incident. With a man down, Crystal Palace smelled blood from a wounded animal and so spent the rest of the match overtrying to score, but thankfully, to no avail; in fact, it was us that nearly grabbed the winner towards the end of the game with a superb strike from Nicolas Pépé that struck the post, only to fall back into goalkeeper Vincente Guaita’s arms. Thankfully, referee Paul Tierney drew proceedings to a close a little while later, and we came away from Selhurst Park with a point after a well-earned draw.

Despite the disappointing result, there were some good things out there in SE25. Ainsley Maitland-Niles superbly kept Wilfried Zaha at bay for most of the match, and Granit Xhaka certainly earned his money out there today, marshalling the midfield into a coherent unit. David Luiz and Nicolas Pépé played very well, but sadly Mesut Özil appeared to allow the match drift away from him, hence his substitution in favour of the excellent Gabriel Martinelli after seventy minutes. We are still deep in WIP (work in progress), and surely nobody is in any illusion that it will be a while for Mikel Arteta to stamp his marque on the team; he will, but patience is now the otder of the day, as mighty oaks from small acorns do indeed grow. 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: Sheffield United at The Emirates on Saturday 18th January at 3.00pm (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.

Match Report: Arsenal 1 -0 Leeds United

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Arsenal (0) 1 Leeds United (0) 0
FA Cup Third Round
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Monday, 6th January 2020. Kick-off time: 7.56pm

(3-4-1-2) Emiliano Martínez; Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Rob Holding, David Luiz; Reiss Nelson, Mattéo Guendouzi, Granit Xhaka, Sead Kolašinac; Mesut Özil; Nicolas Pépé, Alexandre Lacazette.
Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Dani Ceballos, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Joe Willock, Gabriel Martinelli, Tyreece John-Jules, Bukayo Saka.
Scorers: Reiss Nelson (54 mins)
Yellow Cards: Sead Kolašinac
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 42%
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: 58,403

As we have just discovered, the winners of tonight’s tie meet AFC Bournemouth at The Vitality Stadium in the fourth round; certainly a prospect of another mouth-watering tie in the offing no doubt. However, first things first. It was a very competitive start to the match tonight, with the visitors having the best of the early exchanges, and to be fair, they were very unlucky not to score when a Jack Harrison shot was saved well by Emiliano Martínez. We looked a little all at sea when Patrick Bamford hit the crossbar a few minutes later, and if it was not for the superb performance of our goalkeeper, we could have been in deep trouble. Indeed, as the first half wore on, our play looked extremely sloppy with Leeds United taking full advantage of our tardiness in all areas of the pitch. On the half hour, we came close to scoring when David Luiz’s header narrowly went the wrong side of the post from a Mesut Özil corner, our first one of the match, unbelievably. Soon afterwards, young Mattéo Guendouzi showed intelligent play in clearing the ball out of the penalty area after yet another dangerous Leeds United attack in which we were fortunate not to concede a goal, and as the minutes wore on towards the break, it was Leeds United who looked the most likely team to score; with their youthful exuberance and desire on the night, they opened up the Arsenal defence time and time again with the ease of an electric can opener on a helpless tin of peas. Indeed, it was almost some kind of miracle that we went into half-time not being in deficit, as the visitors were by far and away the better side in the first period of the match.

The second half certainly started better for us, when Reiss Nelson was unlucky not to score after advancing thirty or so yards into the Leeds penalty area before being dispossessed by opposing defenders at the last minute. A superb free-kick from the right foot of Alexandre Lacazette skimmed the top of the Leeds crossbar, and a minute or three later we were unfortunate not to score when both Alexandre Lacazette and Mattéo Guendouzi came close to scoring. However, nine minutes after the restart, Reiss Nelson bundled the ball into the net (after some exemplary work by Nicolas Pépé out on the wing) via the leg of defender Kalvin Phillips, to open the scoring. Arsenal were now in the ascendancy, with purpose, verve and vigour; now it seemed to be our turn to control the match. A call by Alexandre Lacazette for a penalty was denied, and Arsenal changed shape again when Reiss Nelson was substituted for Gabriel Martinelli after the sixty-fifth minute. Sead Kolašinac picked up our only booking of the evening when he committed a foul on Helder Costa; the subsequent free-kick sailed over the Arsenal bar, courtesy of Barry Douglas. Deft and clever footwork from Gabriel Martinelli led to a good block from Ben White, just minutes before Joe Willock replaced a seemingly fatigued Mesut Özil after seventy-six minutes. With four minutes remaining, Sead Kolašinac was the subject of a VAR enquiry due to an altercation; thankfully, there was nothing to write home about and the game carried on in its own momentum. Bukayo Saka replaced Nicolas Pépé in the first minute of injury time, but by then the match was winding down to its conclusion, and ultimately it was Arsenal that progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

A classic tale of two halves; thankfully Arsenal woke up at half-time to finish victorious, but to be fair, the first half performance told another story. We were most fortunate not to be at least three down by half time, but by sheer fortune (and an exemplary performance by Emiliano Martínez) we held out. Granit Xhaka was lucky to escape a booking (at least), and most of our players looked completely out of their depth against a vivacious Leeds United side. However, the second half told a different tale, as the pep talk handed out to them by Mikel Arteta in the dressing room meant that they played with purpose and vision. Arsenal’s substitutes reinvigorated the side, changed their shape and ultimately we were able to end the match as winners. But it was a close run thing. 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 Selhurst Park on Saturday, 11th January at 12.30pm (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.

Strong Arsenal XI needed for Arteta’s FA Cup debut

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Third Round of the FA Cup. So often a game where we are used to see a reserve team rolled out following the hectic busy schedule.

Under normal circumstances, even against a high flying Leeds United, you would normally expect to see a second string be put out for tonight’s game.

It would include (if everyone was fit) the likes of Rob Holding, Calum Chambers, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Saed Kolasinac, Matteo Guendouzi, Reiss Nelson and Bukayo Saka. But these are not normal circumstances.

Taking into account Arsenal’s poor league form and the current mini-injury crisis we face, Mikel Arteta would be foolish to make too many changes.

Add in that Arteta needs to building confidence in his players following their 1st home win in months against Manchester United, and that it is a trophy that Arsenal can win, tonight needs to see a near full strength team.

One change by Arteta will be in goal. Emiliano Martinez likely to come in for Bernd Leno. The back 4, however, should be the same as that which kept a first clean sheet against Manchester United.

Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, David Luiz and Kolasinac must be given the chance to carry on their good work. To build a partnership. The unit of the back 4 is better than quality individual defenders.

Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding were having their fitness assessed ahead of Chelsea, but neither were deemed fit enough to start against United, with Holding on the bench.

Holding has been out injured for nearly 2 months, following his yearlong lay off. Whilst Bellerin has not played since the defeat against Brighton on December 5th. The importance of the Leeds game means it is not one we can use to bring senior players back to full fitness. They will have to battle their way back into the team.

In the middle of the park Arteta has to continue re-building the Xhaka / Torreira partnership.

They are our best, most balanced midfield due and neither has really played enough in recent weeks to be “tired”.

Ahead of them, Nicolas Pepe must start wide right.

The only way he will become a superstar is by playing football. Another good performance off the back of the Man of the match performance against Man U will do wonders for his confidence going into the second half of the season.

Likewise Mesut Ozil must be pressed into action in the middle.

One change should be Dani Ceballos to come in for Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang on the left.

Nelson and Saka would both normally be n contention, but both have been getting enough game time recently so do not really need an FA Cup game to continue their progression/

Club captain Aubameyang has been putting in some huge shifts on the left hand side. Also moving forward out best starting XI could be utilising the creative duo of Ozil and Ceballos with Aubameyang ahead of him.

Lastly up top should be Gabriel Martinelli.

Without a goal in 4 games, Alexandre Lacazette should be dropped and the young Brazilian be able to make a case to get more regular game time up top if Arteta continues with Aubameyang on the bench.

On the bench we should see Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Guendouzi, Saka, Nelson and Laceztte. Give Aubameyang the weekend off.

Likely line up:

Martinez

AMN Sokratis Luiz Kolasinac

Xhaka Torreira

Pepe Ozil Ceballos

Martinelli

Keenos