Arsenal (0) 0 Newcastle United (0) 0

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Tuesday, 3rd January 2023. Kick-off time: 7.45pm

(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Kieran Tierney, Rob Holding, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Fabio Vieira, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Mohamed Elneny, (Marcus Vinicius Oliveira Alencar) Marquinhos, Matt Turner, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji.

Yellow Cards: Eddie Nketiah, Granit Xhaka, Martin Ødegaard, Oleksandr Zinchenko

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 67%

Referee: Andy Madley

Assistant Referees: Lee Betts, Ian Hussin

Fourth Official: Jarred Gillett

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Stuart Attwell; AVAR Wade Smith

Attendance: 60,319

Another important match, this time between first and third in the Premiership and another night on which we need to get the full three points available. We are on a run of ten straight league victories at the Emirates, dating back to last season and we have now won fourteen of our opening sixteen top-flight matches; it is to be noted that the five other teams to have started a season at least as well as us all went on to win the title. Emile Smith-Rowe is still not available due to a groin injury, and on a darker note, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba are both one booking awayo from triggering a ban, which is something that any of us neither need nor want.

After the kick-off in the driving rain in North London, the visitors won an early free-kick after a foul by Granit Xhaka that went nowhere, and a minute or so later, our captain Martin Ødegaard had a great chance to score, but sadly his effort went flying over the bar. We started to take command of the match, pressurising the visitors relentlessly, and both Bukayo Saka and Granit Xhaka were unlucky in not scoring with some quick thinking chances within the first ten minutes. The game started to settle down, although there were some heavy tackles flying around, with the conditions not making things any better in that department. Callum Wilson spun around and took a snap shot at our goal, but Aaron Ramsdale easily saved the ball with little effort on his part. Martin Ødegaard was desperately unlucky not to score after Bukayo Saka put the ball through to him, but the Newcastle defenders blocked him in on the byline and the chance went as quick as it came, sadly. It was becoming fairly obvious to all that Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka were already threatening the Novocastrian defence on both flanks, and it seemed to be a matter of time before their hard work will see a reward. Ben White and Joelinton collided and the match was stopped for a few minutes whilst the Newcastle medical team came on the pitch to treat and assess him, and the game continued with the player being cleared to carry on. Gabriel Martinelli tried to pick out Eddie Nketiah but Fabian Schär intercepted him. He then beat Oleksandr Zinchenko but with only Callum Wilson in support, he was quickly pounced on by three of our players and lost the ball, which went aimlessly across the pitch. Bruno Guimarães and Callum Wilson were booked for fouls on Eddie Nketiah and William Saliba, and suddenly it started to look like the only way for the visitors to stop our players advancing down the pitch was to foul them. In frustration, Eddie Nketiah was booked for pulling back Fabian Schär and with eleven minutes before half-time, a spiralling Martin Ødegaard free-kick found the head of Gabriel, but his superb effort went wide of Nick Pope’s left-hand post. Martin Ødegaard tugged the shirt of Miguel Almiron but the Newcastle man wriggled away before eventually losing the ball; it was called back for the free-kick and another yellow card, which was the fifth today so far. This game has become a scrappy one, it seems just a matter of time before the referee produces a red card on someone, somewhere. Anyway, after two minutes injury time, no goals were scored, and both teams went into the break with honours even.

We kicked the second half into life, and almost immediately there seemed to be a change of attitude with Arsenal pressurising Newcastle United for the first few minutes of the half. A free-kick for the visitors saw them come close to scoring, and then a mistake by Aaron Ramsdale almost allowed the visitors in but Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock could not find space to shoot, thankfully. But Newcastle kept possession though and the ball zipped across our six-yard box, inches past Callum Wilson, thankfully, which was a real let-off. Martin Ødegaard tried to spread the ball across to the right-hand side but Joelinton got back and closed him down. Bukayo Saka was brought down on the edge of the penalty area by Joelinton, who was duly booked for his trouble, and although the subsequent free-kick went nowhere, it strengthened our resolve to put pressure on the visitors to try and open the scoring. Gabriel Martinelli received a fantastic ball from Ben White out on the left wing, and his shot on goal after cutting inside was easily picked up by Nick Pope, and former Gunner Joe Willock received the ball and ran down the left wing to bring it over the halfway line but our defenders easily halted his progress. A disappointing Gabriel Martinelli corner was easily cleared by the visitors’ defenders, and with sixteen minutes of the game remaining, Ben White was replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu, and the substitution started to wake us up a bit, with Gabriel Martineli coming very close when his header narrowly went by the far post. Granit Xhaka played Gabriel Martinelli in on the left for Martin Ødegaard to make the run and slipped the ball to him. He moved it on first time for Granit Xhaka but he could not connect with it in the penalty area. The chances are coming, with a superb goalscoring chance by Eddie Nketiah which was kicked away with an outstretched leg by Nick Pope, and a minute or so later, Granit Xhaka crossed the ball for Eddie Nketiah to head the ball straight into the arms of Nick Pope. In the five minutes’ injury time, we had a surefire penalty appeal turned down by referee Andy Madley, which was confirmed by VAR and after that, the match just petered away to its natural conclusion.

All in all, a very frustrating evening for us. Although we had sixty-seven per cent possession, we just could not convert our domination into goals, despite some superb efforts over the course of ninety minutes. It did descend into a bit of a scrappy match (with eight yellow cards being handed out across the teams by referee Andy Madley), we still did enough to win the match, but we just could not break the Newcastle defence down. Still these things happen, at least we came away with the same point that we started the match with, which overall, is okay. Disappointing, but okay.

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: Oxford United at The Kassam Stadium on Monday, 9th January at 8.00pm(FA 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

Arsenal (0) 2 Newcastle United (0) 0

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Saturday, 27th November 2021. Kick-off time: 12.30pm

(4-4-4-1) Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Nuno Tavares; Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Emile Smith-Rowe; Martin Ødegaard; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Kieran Tierney, Alexandre Lacazette, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding, Nicolas Pépé, Mohamed Elneny, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.

Scorers: Bukayo Saka (56 mins), Gabriel Martinelli (66 mins)

Yellow Cards: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 66%

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Assistant Referees: Dan Cook, Harry Lennard

Fourth Official: Robert Jones

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Darren England; AVAR Mark Scholes

Attendance: 59.886

After last week’s bruising encounter at Anfield, the boys return to action today with a match against Newcastle United, who are currently lying at the base of the Premiership with just six points from twelve matches. However, don’t be misled by this, as there is many a sting in the tail of a team which is hungry to survive in this tough division, and as we have seen so many times previously, they will fight tooth and nail to maintain their fading status. We need to show our true mettle at all times today, and must not be complacent on any level in order to obtain maximum points. It’s more than important for us to bounce back in the correct manner to consign the result (not to mention the humiliation) of the previous match to the dustbin of history.

We kicked off today’s encounter, and it has to be said that the opening minutes of the match were quite sluggish, with both sides merely jockeying for positon to try to test each other’s players and formations, of course. It was becoming fairly obvious to all and sundry that between the two sides out there today, Arsenal were by far the most organised, and as such, were slowly gaining the measure of the Magpies in all areas of the pitch. Our possessional domination was good to see, especially when it came to the visiting side trying to put a few moves together; any one of our players were there in an instance, neutralising a problem before it got too serious. Both Nuno Tavares and Takehiro Tomiyasu were doing sterling work out on the wings, pumping balls into the penalty area for our players to grab, and Albert Sambi Lokonga was looking very impressive in his desire to open the scoring in these early exchanges; speaking of which, after a quarter of an hour our first real decent chance of the match came when his long-range pass found Bukayo Saka, who was desperately unucky not to score when his attempt went narrowly wide of the goal. It seems to be that long balls appear to be the key that will undo the Newcastle lock today, as when these moves are executed by our midfielders, the visitors’ defence have little answer. After twenty minutes, Martin Ødegaard fired in an excellent left-footed shot from a free kick just outside the penalty area, and somehow Martin Dúbravka managed to leap across the goal to push the ball away for an Arsenal corner. The defensive pattern of the visitors were causing us utter frustration at times, but the groupthink amongst our players seemed to be along the lines of “the more we knock, the more likely the door will open.” Keep on knocking harder, chaps. However, after half an hour, a Jonjo Shelvey shot from outside the penalty area was tipped on (and over) the bar by Aaron Ramsdale, which, leaving his excellent save out of this, was an object lesson of how not to be too complacent in these situations. Having had a wake-up call, we certainly need to raise our game more, and after a hiatus in play when two Newcastle United players collided after an Arsenal free-kick, we continued our high-pressing game. Just five minutes before half-time, a Bukayo Saka cross from the byline found Emile Smith-Rowe just outside the six-yard box, and his superb subsequent header was saved by Martin Dúbravka, who pushed it into the path of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose quick-reaction shot hit the outside of the post from point-blank range. How it was not a goal is anybody’s guess, but despite several great chances afterwards, we entered half-time goalless. How?

The second half began with Arsenal taking the bull firmly by the horns, and getting stuck into the Arteta gameplan. After five minutes into the second period, Bukayo Saka was unfortunate not to score when his accurate, but strong shot was pushed away by Martin Dúbravka, sadly. We started to ramp up the pressure now, with the game certainly getting more physical with tough challenges being metered out by both sides. Eleven minutes after the restart, Bukayo Saka scored with an excellent low left-footed shot that was drilled past the Magpies’ goalie after sixteen passes in which no Newcastle United player got even close to getting. What was even more impressive was the combination of passes between the players, particularly Emile Smith-Rowe and Nuno Tavares. Shortly afterwards, our goalscorer went to the floor, injured. Although he carried on, he looked in severe difficulty, and knowing just how important he is to both club and country, this was a most concerning point in the match. The goal certainly fired us up and into full body and life; as expected Gabriel Martinelli replaced Bukayo Saka finally after sixty-three minutes, and two minutes later, the substitute grabbed our second goal of the afternoon when he ran into the Magpies’ penalty area and collected a superb ball from Takehiro Tomiyasu and neatly lobbed the ball over Martin Dúbravka and into the net. Classy, classy stuff from our boys. The visitors started to take a few desperate chances with a couple of long-range shots, but they nearly all went either high or wide of the mark, which in itself was not only a blessing, of course, but judging by their poor shooting abilities was abut par for the course. Arsenal looked fairly confident now, and just before he was subsituted after seventy-four minutes for Alexandre Lacazette, our captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was booked for a messy and clumsy challenge, which was a shame, really, as it took away from what otherwise would have been a peerless performance by the boys. As the match entered its later stages, silly mistakes were being committed by both sides, and with ten minutes of the match remaining, we broke out in a classic smash’n’grab operation, when Emile Smith-Rowe released Gabriel Martinelli out on the right, who advanced and passed the ball to Alexandre Lacazette, who dropped a shoulder, lost a defender, and watched his left-footed shot hit the side netting. Thomas Partey was substituted for Mohamed Elneny after eighty-four minutes, and as the match started to slow down to its natural conclusion, both sides were having their chances on goal, but the score remained the same, despite four minutes’ injury time. A good, satisfying victory.

Make no mistake about it, this was an extremely important victory today against Newcastle United. Okay, the first half was a wee bit patchy, but after last week’s Liverpool match, the boys may have had a bit of trouble in the confidence area, but all that was forgotten as soon as the whistle blew for the second half. So many good things to talk about on the pitch today: Aaron Ramsdale was truly sensational in both positioning and saving multiple shots from a very dangerous Callum Wilson; Nuno Tavares and Takehiro Tomiyasu never stopped running and tackling, and it is to be wondered, just how Kieran Tierney is going to get back into this side?; Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe were their usual electrifying selves, whilst Albert Sambi Lokonga was just another class. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and both Alexandre Lacazette were unlucky not to get on the scoresheet this afternoon, and just how good was our supersub Gabriel Martinelli this afternoon? We are fifth (joint fourth) with West Ham United in the Premiership tonight, and with our next match being Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday evening, not only our confidence will be rebuilt today, but our burning desire to win and control matches has returned. All things considered, a very good day for all those involved with Arsenal Football Club.

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: Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday, 2nd December at 8.15pm (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.