“This time last year we needed 9 new players. We have only added Willian and Gabriel to the squad since then”.

I read that yesterday on Twitter and it got me thinking (dangerous I know).

Arsenal have had some criticism from certain quarters for only adding 2 players to their first team squad team “this time last year” but the reality is somewhat different.

Willian and Gabriel are new signings confirmed this summer. But they have not been the only signings confirmed by Arsenal.

The club also made the loan deals of Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares permanent.

“But they were at the club last year” the moaners moan.

Yes, yes they were. But they were not here this time last year, and having both picked up injuries, only played 4 games between them for The Arsenal in 2019/20.

No matter which way you spin it, Mari and Cedric are new signings that were not here this time last year.

Likewise William Saliba was not here this time last year.

Yes, he was signed last summer, but he remained in France on loan with Saint-Étienne. He was not available to Arsenal this time last year.

So that is Arsenal up to 5 additional players that were not available at this point last season,

Another out on loan was Eddie Nketiah.

This time last year, we would not have had a striker on the bench to come on for Alexandre Lacazette with 15 minutes to go and score the winner against West Ham.

We started games with Nicolas Pepe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lacazette. If that did not work we did not have an option to bring on.

I am sure one of the “9 new players” that we needed last season included a back up striker for Lacazette. Nketiah is basically a £20million new signing. Someone who was not available for selection this time last year

The development of both Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli is also key.

Arsenal fans a year ago would have been worried about the lack of options on the left wing. “All we have is Aubameyang, who is a striker anyway” they moaned. They would not have taken into account 17-year-old Saka and the new signing from Brazil who was bought for the U23s.

By this time last year, Martinelli had played just 6 minutes of football for Arsenal, coming off the bench against Newcastle. He would not be seen again in the Premier League until October.

Likewise Bukayo Saka was not in contention this time last year.

The season previous (2018/19) he was very much a reserve team player, spending most of his time in the Premier League 2 for the U23s.

He had 1 senior start to his name, in a Europa League dead rubber against Qarabag. His sole Premier League game was a 7 minute cameo against Fulham.

This time last year, nobody could have foreseen Saka’s rise from U23 player to Arsenal’s first team.

If we are talking about needing “9 new players from this time last year” Saka and Martinelli are certainly 2 of those.

What sums up both players meteoric rise is that a year ago today, Transfermarkt valued them at £6.2m and £7.2m respectively. Today they are valued at £31.5m and £22.5m. Both have stepped up from U23 to first team.

Cedric, Gabriel, Saliba, Mari, Willian, Saka, Nketiah and Martinelli.

8 players who were not in consideration as first team squad members this time last year. All now set to be important players for 2020/21.

Now if only we can get another 1 or 2 over the line, that will be 9 or 10 new players compared to this time next year.

And that is without even mentioning Mo Elneny (out on loan), Emile Smith Rowe (out on loan) and Joe Willock (U23).

Keenos

Arsenal (1) 2 West Ham United (1) 1

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Saturday, 19th September 2020. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhães, Sead Kolašinac, Hector Bellerin; Dani Ceballos, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Willian Borges da Silva, Alexandre Lacazette; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Substitutes: Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Nicolas Pépé, David Luiz, Mohamed Elneny, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock, Matt Macey.

Scorers: Alexandre Lacazette (24 mins), Eddie Nketiah (85 mins)

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 63%

Referee: Michael Oliver

Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett

Fourth Official: Darren England

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Chris Kavanagh; AVAR Neil Davies

Attendance: A maximum of 300 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restructions

Our second Premiership match of the new season, and another London derby as well! It is to be noted however, that before we went into the match tonight, that Arsenal have won ten of our past eleven home games against West Ham United across all competitions, and that our opponents have lost thirty-one Premier League matches against us, more than against anyone else. Therefore. one could say that the omens are good for this, our first home game of the season. Let’s go!

The opening stages of the match appeared to be played mostly in our half, as the visitors decided to attempt to try to take the game to us, which came as some surprise to our defenders as they were put under pressure by a lively and creative West Ham United. We struggled to find our rhythm as our midfielders saw their passes go astray and the strikers were forced to come back to win the ball, as opposed to them being in the position to receive it. Bukayo Saka was caught offside when he ran onto a pass that took him into the visitors’ penalty area, and after twenty-four minutes, we took the lead when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ran onto a ball from Bukayo Saka and crossed the ball for Alexandre Lacazette to powerfully head the ball into the net, which unbelievably, was our first shot on target in the match. Of course, there was the usual VAR check when it was thought our captain was offside when he collected the ball, but thankfully the goal stood. This goal certainly fired some much-needed confidence in the team, and suddenly we looked in control. Ironically, there was a VAR check for a possible penalty against Gabriel a few minutes after we scored, but thankfully it wasn’t given as the VAR team decided that the ball didn’t hit him below the T-Shirt area, which is a new rule for this season, of course. In the minutes up to the break, we appeared to lose concentration at the wrong times; literally with a minute or so before first-half injury time, Michail Antonio equalised for the vistors with a well-taken goal from point-blank range. As our players went off for the half-time break, one could sense the feeling of disappointment amongst them, with a collctive realisation that they must do better in the second half.

With no half-time changes, we earnestly started the second half in good heart, with Bukayo Saka’s shot being pushed around the post by Lukas Fabianski for our first corner of the new half. Our passing was better, our movement off the ball suddenly became more urgent overall. Bernd Leno made an amazing save at close quarters from the feet of scorer Michail Antonio and this incident made us realise that danger could be upon us in a heartbeat. Somehow, we appeared to fall back into the same sluggish first half habits that got us into so much trouble; on the hour, Willian was substituted for Nicolas Pépé by Mikel Arteta in order to zip things up a bit. Obviously not, as shortly afterwards, chaos reigned when Michail Antonio’s header bounced off the crossbar, and Bernd Leno dropped the ball, falling awkwardly, but composed himself quickly enough to save a snap shot shot from Jarrod Bowen. That was a close run thing. Eddie Nketiah replaced Alexandre Lacazette to add yet more bite to the strike force with fifteen minutes remaining, which it did. Eventually. With five minutes of normal time remaining, Bukayo Saka released Dani Ceballos on the left, who deftly slotted the ball across the visitors’ penalty area for Eddie Nketiah to make no mistake from six yards. David Luiz was brought on for Bukayo Saka with minutes left of the match to shore things up at the back, and with four minutes’ injury time, his experience was desperately needed out there tonight. Thankfully the whistle was blown soon after, and three points was ours. Thankfully.

Let’s not dwell too much on the why’s and wherefore’s of this plodding, pedestrian, and at times, boring match. Let us just be thankful of the three points that we got here at the Emirates tonight. Yes, it could have gone badly wrong, but it didn’t. The visitors could have had a penalty, but they didn’t. At the end of the day, we scored two goals, we attained sixty-three percent possession, we have a one hundred percent record, and tonight Arsenal are second in the Premiership behind Everton. And that’s it.

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: Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Wednesday, 23rd September at 7.45pm (Carabao Cup). 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.