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
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Morning! One thing I love when the games come at us thick and fast is just how little I need to plan what blogs go out and when.
It basically goes:
Match report (writing by the brilliant Steve) My view on the last match Pre-match blog Match report And so on….
I then schedule an opinion piece on something non-game related on those days when we have 3 days between games rather than two.
So Manchester City…
It was basically two heavyweight champions cautiously slugging it out, whilst being aware of the others knockout power.
We might have had just 28% of the possession, but we were playing rope-a-dope. We sat behind our solid defence, barely gave City a sniff, and then counter-punched when we got the chance.
Neither team really had a great chance.
David Raya made one top, top save whilst Arsenal played a few dangerous balls across the box that led to nothing.
Perhaps our best chance was one that never actually became a chance as Leandro Trossard found himself but failed to play in Gabriel Martinelli.
I have seen a bit of criticism for Trossard for not playing his teammate in, with some saying it would have led to a certain goal. But I do not think it was the easy pass and chance some are making out.
The only way the pass would have got to Martinelli would have been if it was played first time by Trossard, whilst he is striding forward at pace, on his weaker foot. He would have had to have instinctively played it in the hope / expectation that Martinelli had made up the ground on the other side of the pitch.
As soon as Trossard got his head up as he took a touch, the chance was gone.
Had he played the magic ball, I do not think Martinelli would have had the easy chance some think he would.
The Manchester City defender running back in the middle would have continued his running line towards the penalty spot rather than going towards Martinelli. by the time the ball had reached Gabi, the City defender would have made up the ground and reduced the angle, blocking off half of the goal.
It would have been a tough chance for Gabi, with a shot across the keeper likely to be blocked by the defender. His best chance would have been to then go hard at the near post and hope his power beats the keeper.
A draw probably suited everyone and no one at the same time. And I include Liverpool in that.
Mikel Arteta believes the magic number for this season will be 90 points. Before Sunday’s game, that would leave Arsenal needing to win 8, draw one and lose one to take us to 89. Liverpool the same. Manchester City would have needed to win 9 out of 10 to take them to 90.
The draw means that Manchester City now to win all 9 of their remaining games to reach that 90 figure (9 wins takes them to 91). Meanwhile, we need 8 wins and a draw to get to 90.
Liverpool are probably still in prime position, as 8 wins and a defeat takes them to 91.
I honestly can not see any team winning all 9 of their remaining games, and if they do they will probably secure a well deserved title.
Our longest winning run this season was 8 (ended up the draw on Saturday). Liverpool’s longest was 5 and Manchester City’s is 6. I expect every team to drop points in at least 1 game.
Liverpool dropping points in 1 game takes them to 91 at worst. For us it takes us to 89 and Manchester City to 88. And that is if the dropped point is a defeat.
It is going to be a tight old run in, with Liverpool still having to go to Manchester United, Everton, West Ham and Aston Villa.
Manchester City probably have the easiest run in, with a trip to Tottenham the only real danger. But after their failure to beat us, losing to Spurs and winning the rest will only leave them with 88, which will probably not be enough.
Meanwhile, we still need to go to both Tottenham and Manchester United, as well Wolves and Brighton. 2 tough aways and two tricky.
But we are getting too far ahead of ourselves. We need to focus on the next game. And tomorrow that is Luton.
All 3 teams are at home during this game week, with Liverpool facing Sheffield United and Manchester United against Aston Villa. I can not see any of the 3 teams dropping points…
Manchester City (0) 0 Arsenal (0) 0 Premier League Etihad Stadium, Ashton New Road, Manchester M11 3FF Sunday, 31st March 2024. Kick-off time: 4.30pm
(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Jakob Kiwior; Martin Ødegaard (c), (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus. Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith-Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Leandro Trossard, Fábio Vieira, Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Yellow Cards: Gabriel Jesus Arsenal Possession Percentage: 28%
Referee: Anthony Taylor Assistant Referees: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn Fourth Official: Tom Bramall VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Jarred Gillett; AVAR Darren Cann
Attendance: c.53,000
Without a shadow of a doubt, today’s match at the Etihad is the most eagerly awaited game of the season, between two of the three hotly tipped favourites to lift the Premiership crown in May of this year. All the predictions, all the talk, all the opinions mean nothing. This afternoon it is down to just Manchester City and ourselves; everything to play for, the biggest prize of them all awaits.
We kicked off the match here at the Etihad, and as expected, the first few minutes were both nervous and jittery for both teams. An early free kick from the home team saw a Kevin de Bruyne ball headed away for a City corner by the towering presence of Ben White, thankfully.
A quick Gabriel Jesus shot went inches past the post from just a few yards out, and then the home side started to apply pressure on our defence, which was holding firm. Ben White and William Saliba were totally immense at the back, deftly taking balls away from City strikers and clearing the danger.
David Raya amazingly saved a header from point-blank range via the head of Nathan Ake and at the other end, a Bukayo Saka corner swung into the City goal, but Stefan Ortega came off his line to pluck the ball out of the air. Overall, the match was a pretty cagey one which is perhaps understandable considering what is at stake this afternoon. We retreated in numbers soaking up all of the home sides’ possession.
Bukayo Saka ran at the City defence, but Josko Gvardiol slid in to rob our man of the ball, and both Declan Rice and Rodri were having a good old fashioned tussle in midfield whilst Kevin de Bruyne almost opened up our defence with a decent pass but Manuel Akanji’s pass inside the box was cleared by our defenders well.
Again, another great Gabriel Jesus attempt which whistled just wide of Stefan Ortega’s post, and with ten minutes or so left of the first half, our supporters are in good heart, inspiring our boys to create more chances to score.
A cross was floated into our penalty area and Erling Haaland, who was being expertly marked by Gabriel, jumped up to meet it but it went wide of the mark, thankfully. Gabriel went down hurt after trying to prevent a Rodri header which flashed well wide of David Raya’s post, and in the last few minutes of the first half, the home side were pressurising our defenders, and despite the home side having the dominant possession in the first forty-five minutes, it was honours even at the break.
The second half started with both teams getting scrappy and tense, with not much given away by anyone, anywhere.
A clever Bukayo Saka cross flew merely inches away from Gabriel Jesus as he dramatically slid in to connect, and Mateo Kovacic got very close with a curling effort from distance that flew past David Raya’s post, and then Bukayo Saka was sent sprawling to the ground by a harsh tackle, but referee Anthony Taylor allowed play to carry on, despite our pleas for a free kick.
The atmosphere became quite febrile with players of both sides going down after some heavy tackling, but no yellow cards were issued at this point in time.
The match started to open up, and despite the attempts by the home side to score, our excellent centre-backs were clearing the balls perfectly as they came flying into the six-yard box.
We looked dangerous on the break, and just after the hour mark, Mikel Arteta introduced some fresh legs to the proceedings with Takehiro Tomiyasu and Thomas Partey replacing Jakub Kiwior and Jorginho, and almost immediately, they made their presence felt on the pitch in a positive way.
Gabriel Jesus was pointlessly booked by referee Anthony Taylor, and after some close shaves from the City forwards, Leandro Trossard replaced the booked Gabriel Jesus with around fifteen minutes of the match remaining.
After an incident between Kevin de Bruyne and Bukayo Saka, the latter was substituted for Gabriel Martinelli with ten minutes of the game left to play.
Following an Erland Haaland header in our six-yard box that went narrowly wide, we then managed to catch City on the break with Leandro Trossard firing the ball straight at goalie Stefan Ortega instead of slotting the ball across to Gabriel Martinelli, who would have surely scored. During the five minutes injury time, we dug deep and when the final whistle was blown, we were mightily relieved.
Overall, it was a match that saw both sides cancel each other out, but our defenders today were the stars of the show, in particular the centre-back pairing of Ben White and William Saliba, who were immense.
Although the home side had the far greater possession stats, we stopped them from even getting close to scoring which was a master stroke from Mikel Arteta today. With regards to the stats, Manchester City only managed to get two shots on target against us, whilst we had one against them, so in essence, we did very well.
To come away from the Etihad with a point is a real achievement, and although the match was not the classic that it was predicted to be, the boys did well doing what they did today. 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: Luton Town at the Emirates on Wednesday, 3rd April at 7.30pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
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She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 