Earlier this week I wrote about how easy it is to blog when the games come thick and fast. You do not need to overthink things. And it is not much different for Mikel Arteta between now and the run-in.
Brighton will be our 3rd game in less than a week, having played Sunday and Wednesday. In between the games, the players would have slept, eaten and done some preparation work. It is all kept very simple at this time of year.
The fitness work is already in the tank. Playing so often is what keeps you fit and match sharp (rather than endless running). Players will maintain what they have, and focus more on recovery.
There will also be very little core tactical work being done. If a player has not got the shape and patterns Arteta wants by now, they will never get them.
Preparation will be team specific with minor tweaks to expose the opponent’s weakness, and set piece work. It is not complicated.
There is not much time for much else, and there is not much time for Arteta to think.
The boss will also now be in a routine. Game day, post game interview, oversee recovery work, pre-game interview, game day.
Everyone now will be on auto pilot and we should now benefit from holding back a bit at the beginning of the season.
Mental and physical fatigue is what let us down last season. This year we started slower (by design), to ensure we had more left in the tank for the run-in. Arteta has also been able to rotate more – 5 changes mid week was something that did not happen last season.
And as fans, we are not doing much more than eat, sleep and prepare.
As one game finishes, we got to bed to sleep off what we drank. By the time we wake up we are already looking towards the next game, preparing what time we will meet and where. In a blink of an eye, we will be at Victoria, St Pancras or Farringdon ready to travel down to Brighton. And a couple of days later it will be Munich, then Villa before Munich again.
In between, we might get a bit of work done. Grab a bacon sandwich.
Today will be about having a big dinner ready for tomorrow, deciding exactly where we want to go, and ensuring I have the food in for a fry up tomorrow.
Sleep, eat, prepare.
Keenos
Arsenal fans – heading out to Munich for the Champions League? Grab yourself a new bottle opener.
Our retro kit bottle openers can be added to your keys, put in your wallet/phone case. No issues getting through airport security. Perfect for Euro aways!https://t.co/lBkFuWS5xapic.twitter.com/H39nZoUvzf
Arsenal (2) 2 Luton Town (0) 0 Premier League Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU Wednesday, 3rd April 2024. Kick-off time: 7.30pm
(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Thomas Partey, Emile Smith-Rowe; Reiss Nelson, Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard. Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Takehiro Tomiyasu, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fábio Vieira, Declan Rice
Scorers: Martin Ødegaard (24 mins), Daiki Hashioka (o.g., 43 mins) Yellow Cards: Kai Havertz Arsenal Possession Percentage: 59%
Referee: Craig Pawson Assistant Referees: Marc Perry, Steve Meredith Fourth Official: Simon Hooper VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Tim Robinson; AVAR Dan Robathan
Attendance: 60,262
Following last Sunday’s draw at the Etihad, it is of course imperative that we secure a victory against the Hatters tonight. Of course, our title rivals Manchester City are plying their trade against Aston Villa this evening, so we need to keep them at bay, and only a win will do!
A firm, yet casual start by the chaps tonight, and within a couple of minutes we were immediately on the attack as Kai Havertz surged through the middle of the park. Leandro Trossard made a good run into the penalty area but the pass from Kai Havertz was way too heavy and the opportunity disappeared into the ether.
Not deterred, we started to play well, both on and off the ball, finding our men easily and moving forward towards the visitors’ goal. Oleksandr Zinchenko received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and took a strong shot at goal, but Alfie Doughty blocked it, and foolishly, the visitors attempted to play out from the back, but they lost the ball quickly and a Kai Havertz shot was also blocked by a rather panicky Hatters defence.
We were pressurising the Luton defence, and attempting to find a way through somehow, and you could see a good pattern of play here tonight by our team. However, Ross Barkley played a great ball to send Jordan Clark away down the left wing. He raced towards our penalty area and then fired in a low ball looking for Andros Townsend, but Oleksandr Zinchenko read the danger well and cleared the ball.
After twenty-four minutes, we took a well-deserved lead when Emile Smith-Rowe capitalised on a mistake by Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu before neatly slotting a ball to Martin Ødegaard, who performed a clever one-two with Kai Havertz, before firing the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
The visitors appeared to spring back into life after our goal, with Andros Townsend causing one or two problems at the back for our defence. Thomas Kaminski made a really good save to keep out Emile Smith-Rowe’s curled effort inside the penalty area, but then the match was stopped briefly after a couple of Luton Town defenders went down to the ground injured, but after treatment, they continued on with the game.
Ben White did some clever work on the ball before passing it to Kai Havertz, whose left-footed shot was again saved by Thomas Kaminski, who correctly dived to his left in order to save the shot.
A couple of minutes before the half-time break, we grabbed a second goal when Emile Smith-Rowe took the ball to the by-line, slotted the ball across the face of the goal and the ball then appeared to come off a beleaguered Daiki Hashioka and into the net. Although there was four minutes injury time, nothing much happened and we went into the break two goals to the good.
We kicked off the second half and it was fairly obvious to everyone that we continued in the same vein as at the end of the first half; in control, looking for spaces and chinks in the Hatters’ armour.
Leandro Trossard tried to get himself to another good Emile Smith-Rowe ball into the penalty area, but Fred Onyedinma defended well and won the free-kick. Tahith Chong cynically brought down Reiss Nelson deep into the Luton Town half, but referee Craig Pawson waved play to carry on, amazingly.
Our captain fouled Jordan Clark twenty-five yards from our goal, but the corresponding free-kick came to nothing, fortunately.
The visitors were trying to constantly find a way through our defence, and on one occasion Leandro Trossard tracked back to stop Andros Townsend taking a shot at David Raya’s goal, and then Kai Havertz was booked as referee Craig Pawson deemed that he went down to the ground too easily in an attempt to win a free-kick.
Shortly afterwards, Thomas Partey and Kai Havertz were replaced by Declan Rice and Eddie Nketiah with about twenty minutes of the match remaining. Oleksandr Zinchenko neutralised a Luton Town cross from the left wing when he chested the ball down to David Raya perfectly.
With eighteen minutes of the game remaining, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Reiss Nelson were replaced by Gabriel Martinelli and Takehiro Tomiyasu in order to try and grab some more goals here tonight, and within minutes, Takehiro Tomiyasu took a good shot that curled just wide of the mark.
Jorginho replaced Emile Smith-Rowe with six minutes left on the clock to try and put more spark into the game.
After a Daiki Hashioka shot which was blocked by our defence, at the other end just minutes later, Thomas Kaminski managed to get down to his right hand side in order to turn a ball around the post from Jorginho, and as the match entered the four minutes injury time period, game management became the order of the day, and we simply coasted to a fairly pedestrian two-nil win here tonight, which more importantly means that we are top of the Premiership by one point over our nearest rivals Liverpool.
All in all, it was a very comfortable win for the boys, with very little pressure from the visitors, who surely have their own problems as the season ebbs away.
Everyone played well, everybody looked comfortable both on and off the ball, and in many ways the score was a bit flattering as we should really have got a couple more, but in the end of the day, we earned our three points which has taken us to the top of the Premiership tonight.
Although we never really got out of second gear, Mikel Arteta managed to rotate the squad well, and everyone got a run out before preparing for the Brighton and Hove Albion match on Saturday. Let’s hope that Bukayo Saka is fit and raring to go for that one. 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: Brighton and Hove Albion at the American Express Stadium on Saturday, 6th April at 5.30pm (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 fans – heading out to Munich for the Champions League? Grab yourself a new bottle opener.
Our retro kit bottle openers can be added to your keys, put in your wallet/phone case. No issues getting through airport security. Perfect for Euro aways!https://t.co/lBkFuWS5xapic.twitter.com/H39nZoUvzf
There is no easy game in the Premier League, but to win the title you have to expect to be beating the likes of Luton Town.
The same could be said last season when we face Southampton at home and ended up drawing 3-3.
Southampton scored in the opening minute following a howler from Aaron Ramsdale, and Theo Walcott made it 2-nil with less than a quarter of an hour gone.
Having got back into the game through Gabriel Martinelli in the 20th minute, we then proceeded to go 2-behind again with less than half an hour to play. Goals in the 88th and 90th minute from Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka got us a point, but it was not enough in a tight title race.
Was it complacency? Did we come out thinking we only needed to turn up to win? Were we focusing too much on Manchester City 5 days later that we took the eye off the ball? Who knows.
To only have got 2 points from 2 games against bottom of the table Southampton was a big reason we did not win the league last year. And Arteta needs to use the experience as a reminder to the players today of the danger of Luton.
Luton Town are fighting for their lives to stay in the Premier League. It is between them and Nottingham Forest for that last relegation spot.
3 points in 9 games would not have you thinking “danger”, but in most of those 9 games they have had a chance to get something.
To start with, they have scored 15 goals in those 9 games. That is more than a lot of the teams above them.
Four of the six defeats came by a single goal, with their only really poor performances coming against Sheffield United and Liverpool.
It took Tottenham until the 86th minute to get ahead of them at the weekend, whilst Bournemouth scored their winner in the 83rd and Villa in the 89th. Today will certainly be one of those games that you will want to be staying until the end.
Ultimately, it we go out, play our usual high tempo aggressive game, we will come away from it with 3 points. But like with Southampton, we need to get the thought of “how many” out of our head and firstly just focus on winning.
Yes, this season could come down to goal difference, but for that to be a factor we need to get the 3 points first.
Get the win in the back, and then it is 8 to go.
UTA.
Keenos
Arsenal fans – heading out to Munich for the Champions League? Grab yourself a new bottle opener.
Our retro kit bottle openers can be added to your keys, put in your wallet/phone case. No issues getting through airport security. Perfect for Euro aways!https://t.co/lBkFuWS5xapic.twitter.com/H39nZoUvzf
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 