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Match Report: Leicester City 3 – 0 Arsenal

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Leicester City (0) 3 Arsenal (0) 0
Premier League
King Power Stadium, Filbert Way, Leicester LE2 7FL
Sunday, 28th April 2019. Kick-off time: Noon

(4-2-3-1) Leno; Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Sokratis, Kolašinac; Mkhitaryan, Torreira; Xhaka, Iwobi, Aubameyang; Lacazette.
Substitutes: Čech, Elneny, Koscielny, Mavropanos, Guendouzi, Nketiah, Willock
Red Card: Maitland-Niles
Yellow Card: Maitland-Niles, Sokratis
Referee: Michael Oliver
Attendance: 32,037

What a terrible end to an awful week. Nine goals conceded over three matches, and not one solitary point won by the team over that time. Let us be honest about it, with no disrespect intended, Leicester City are hardly Barcelona, but today our performance at The King Power Stadium certainly made them look like the Catalonians. Right from the start of the match, we were on the back foot, and the sense of déjá vu in the stadium amongst the Arsenal supporters became evident.

The talking point of the first half was all about Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Having collected a yellow card for a foul on Ben Chilwell, his second yellow (and subsequent sending-off) after 36 minutes for a controversial tackle on James Maddison merely served to compound impending disaster for us. Both Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy came close to opening the scoring for the home side, but if it were not for the agility and positioning of Bernd Leno, we could have been on the back foot a lot earlier than we actually were. Unbelievably for a club of this stature, Arsenal only had one shot on the Leicester City goal over the whole of the match, and that was from young Alex Iwobi in the latter stages of the first half.

Ironically, it was Alex Iwobi that was sacrificed for the first of three substitutes at the beginning of the second half; his replacement was defender Laurent Koscielny, and it was now obvious that Mr. Emery was realising that things were going badly wrong, and maybe a change of formation and player may just help slow the progress of the home side down. No chance. On the hour, our punishment started. James Maddison, who was unmarked, placed a perfect cross into the Arsenal penalty area for Youri Tielemans (an on-loan player from Monaco) to have a relatively easy task in heading the ball into our net to open the scoring.

After this, everything from Arsenal’s perspective went horribly wrong. Leicester City were quick, dynamic and hungry; we became sluggish, uninterested and utterly clueless. Hoping to change matters, the ineffective Henrikh Mkhitaryan was replaced by Mattéo Guendouzi after 73 minutes, and then Eddie Nketiah for the disappointing Alexandre Lacazette a little while later, but even this didn’t help. Kasper Schmeichel’s upfield kick completely confused the life out of both Sokratis and Laurent Koscielny; so much so, that the quicksilver Jamie Vardy nipped in behind them, and cheekily scored with a second attempt after his initial shot rebounded off of the crossbar. And still the pain didn’t subside for us. In injury time, Ricardo Pereira, having drawn Bernd Leno out of position, simply slotted the ball to Jamie Vardy, who simply tapped the ball into the vacant Arsenal net.

Arsenal have only chalked up two victories on the road in the Premiership all season, which is quite frankly not good enough for a club of this stature. On these performances we don’t look good enough to finish in the top four, let alone winning the Europa League, talking of which we play the first leg of the semi-final in this competition at The Emirates against València on Thursday evening, a match that has become a must-win for us at all costs. This squad is utterly disastrous and needs to be completely ripped apart snd rebuilt in the summer (if Mr. Emery can get the necessary funds to do so, that is). There is no heart, no structure, no willingness to change matches within the squad; Arsenal have just slipped away and have bcome a timid version of their former selves. It was a good job that we had a winning run earlier in the season, otherwise we could be facing some even more serious issues with our Premiership position had this not been the case. So disappointing, so very, very disappointing. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. 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 pair to “job share” next season

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Yesterday I was doing what a lot of us do when bored, writing down how I hope the Arsenal squad would look next season.

When I got to central defenders, I had Calum Chambers in the “sell” column, I then began to doubt myself.

Next season Arsenal need to sign a right back to cover Hector Bellerin and a central midfielder to (potentially) replace Mohamed Elneny.

In the squad at the moment we have utility man Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

The Englishman has spent a lot of his senior Arsenal career playing full back or wing back; but there has always been the feeling that he is best playing in the middle of the park.

Maitland-Niles would be a competent 2nd choice right back behind Bellerin, and 4th choice central midfielder backing up Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira & Matteo Guendouzi. What he can not be, however, is both at one time. That will leave the squad too short of players.

So next season Arsenal need to add either a back up for Bellerin to the squad, and have Maitland-Niles as a specialist midfielder, or a central midfielder and continue pushing Maitland-Niles to right back.

Straight away your mind will start thinking about “what players we could buy”.

Houboulang Mendes is one name that has been mentioned a few times. You then have the young lad Max Aarons at Norwich. There are also senior options such as Juanfran on a free from Atletico Madrid.

If we decide to pursue a central midfielder instead, Joan Jordan from Eibar in Spain has been heavily linked in recent weeks. There has also been plenty of talk about Adrien Rabiot.

Arsenal could, however, decide to fill the role from within and use Calum Chambers.

Like Maitland-Niles, Chambers has spent a lot of his career playing at both full-back and central midfield. He has been the shining light for Fulham this season and has seen his stock rise.

His performances for Fulham create a double positive for Arsenal.

His value would have soared after his performances. He is certainly good enough to play midfield for a mid-table Premier League side. We would expect northwards of £20million were we to sell him.

But he has also proved that he is a reliable, Premier League quality central midfielder.

If Arsenal went out into the transfer market, would we find a better player than Chambers to be 4th choice. Add in his Premier League experience and home grown status and keeping him as 4th choice would be attractive.

You could have him in a job share alongside Maitland-Niles.

Both cover similar positions, but both are very different players.

Chambers is more defensive; whilst Maitland-Niles better at getting forward.

Were Bellerin to be out against (for example) Brighton at home, it would make more sense to play Maitland-Niles at right back rather than Chambers. But if we were away to Manchester City, the more defensive option in Chambers would be better.

In the middle of the park, who plays could depend on who is out.

Xhaka and Torreira are a good partnership.

The Swiss-man is fairly static whilst Torreira gets around the park.

Were it Xhaka to be out, you would probably punt for Chambers, who would provide a disciplined defensive option in the middle. This would then free up Torreira or Guendouzi to press.

And if it was Torreira that was out, Maitland-Niles would be preferable so that you keep someone with high energy alongside Xhaka.

Instead of pigeon holing both Maitland-Niles and Chambers into one position or another, you could have them covering both right back and the defensive midfield.

Both would be 2nd choice right back. Both would be 4th choice central midfielder. And who plays depends on the opponent.

I am still leaning towards selling Chambers.

The £20-30million that we could receive for him could be put alongside the £20-30million that we would also get for selling Shkodran Mistafi. That could then be rapped up and spent on a top class defender such as Samuel Umtiti.

This option would still leave us need to buy either a new right back or a 4th choice central midfielder; which we could easily afford due to having around £100million available to us this summer.

Chambers just gives us something to think about.

Keenos

Defeat to Wolves not as damaging as Crystal Palace loss

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That target of 75 points seems impossible now.

With just 3 games to go, Arsenal sit on 66 points; meaning we need to win 3 from 3 to reach the 75.

The Wolves defeat was disappointing, but should not have been surprising. They are a good side who have performed well against the top 6 this season.

Whilst they are a newly promoted side, they won the championship with a team of Premier League players. Experienced internationals who were clearly playing at a level below where they should have been.

Ruben Neves is a perfect example of this.

He was Porto’s captain as a teenager, playing in the Champions League. He should never have been playing in the Championship. The owners links with certain agents enabled them to sign players who would not have joined any other Championship team.

Now in the Premier League, they are exactly where they should be. 7th.

I have seen some say that Nuno Espírito Santo should be manager of the season. But when you look at the players he has, 7th or 8th is probably Wolves par. They have just as good squad of players as the likes of Everton and Leicester City.

Wolves have done brilliant against top 6 sides this season. It is the performances against the sides at the bottom end of the table that has stopped them challenging for a top 6 place.

This season Wolves have beaten Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal at home, and Tottenham away. They have lost just 3 games against top 6 sides – away to Manchester City &  and at home to Spurs & Liverpool. They are unbeaten against Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal

Meanwhile, against the bottom 6 they have lost 6 games.

Beaten twice by Huddersfield,  as well as defeats to Cardiff, Brighton, Southampton and Burnley. They have failed to beat both Huddersfield and Brighton either home or away this season.

A few weeks ago I wrote how we needed 75 points to finish top 4. We needed to win both home games and 2 out of 4 away.

Things started well beating 10-man Watford. That left us with needing to beat Palace & Brighton at home and 1 of Burnley, Leicester & Wolves away. more than achievable.

But then we collapsed at home to Crystal Palace. The defeat killed us.

Losing away to Wolves was always slated in, was always predicted. Their form against top 6 sides and our form away from home. Arsenal were always going to do well to get 3 points from the Molineux

The Palace loss killed us.

There used to be a time when playing safe, mid-table team towards the end of the season was what you wanted. Their minds would be on the beach, not scrapping to remain in the division or for a Champions League place.

Hats off to Wolves, Watford, Palace, Everton and Leicester who have remained motivated, even if it is to our detriment.

Such is the performance by Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in recent weeks that, despite suffering 3 defeats in the last 4 games, Arsenal could find themselves beck in the top 4 come Sunday.

In the lunchtime kick off, Arsenal face Leicester. Like Wolves, it will not be an easy game, but following the loss to Crystal Palace, Arsenal must win.

A few hours later, Chelsea kick off at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

Following the weekend games, Chelsea host Watford and then visit Leicester on the last day of the season, whilst Arsenal play Brighton in London before visiting Burnley on the final game.

Manchester United have the easiest last 2 games – away to Huddersfield and then home to Cardiff.

If Man U beat Chelsea at the weekend, and Arsenal fail to beat Leicester, they are surely favourites for that final Champions League spot.

If Chelsea win and Arsenal lose, it will be Chelsea who would become favourites.

The best result for Arsenal is a draw – meaning that even if they lose to Leicester they would be still be just 2 points off of 4th.

Of course, we need to target a win against Leicester. Put the pressure on the other two by securing the 3 points before they have kicked off.

We do that and it ensures no matter what the result is between Man U and Chelsea, we are in with a shout. We would, at worst, be going into the last 2 games of the season 1 point behind.

If we win and Chelsea and Man U draw, it would leave Arsenal 4th and 2 points ahead of Chelsea in 5th. Man U would be 4 points behind, and surely out of the running.

We need to shake ourselves down, and secure that 3 points against Leicester on Sunday.

Keenos