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Match Report: Arsenal 3 – 0 Rennes

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Arsenal (2) 3 Rennes (0) 0
UEFA Europa League, Round of 16, Second Leg
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Thursday, 14th March 2019. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Čech; Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles; Ramsey, Xhaka; Kolašinac, Özil, Lacazette; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Mkhitaryan, Torreira, Iwobi, Leno, Suárez, Guendouzi, Nketiah
Scorers: Aubameyang (2), Maitland-Niles
Yellow Card: Kolašinac, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Mkhitaryan
Referee: Andris Treimanis (Latvia)
Attendance: circa 50,000

And so, finally, our Europa League challenge continues in style. And who would have thought it two weeks ago? Somehow, we have lifted ourselves up, propelled ourselves into the quarter-finals of the Europa League, and, even better than that, we are knocking on the door of third position in the Premiership. Wow. And in March as well!

Right from the kick-off, Arsenal showed intent and determination to right that wrong of last week in France. Just five minutes into the match, not only did we grab the moment to push ourselves into the lead, but it was how we did it became paramount. Ainsley Maitland-Niles received a lovely backheeled pass from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who in turn slotted it to Aaron Ramsey who whipped a cross in for the man who started the slick movement underway, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, to score easily from close range. There’s nothing like a goal early on in the game to liven things up a bit, so Arsenal came forward again and again until the Rennes defence simply gave way, like water rushing through a breached dam.

We do love our controversies here at Arsenal, so the second goal simply underlined the fact. In a move reminiscent of the horrific 1932 FA Cup Final incident against Newcastle United, the wonderful Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang crossed the ball (when many thought it was over the byline, but TV proved it wasn’t) for Ainsley Maitland-Niles to move, almost ghost-like around the back of the Rennes defenders to head a powerful goal into the net for our second of the night, and the most important, as this one equalised the score over the two legs. Funnily enough, from this point until the half-time break, we become rather scrappy and at times looked quite lacklustre; but the good news was that we did get to half-time two-up, and more importantly we didn’t leak any unnecessary goals in the thirty-minute period from the second goal being scored to the ref’s whistle to signify the start of the break.

The second half saw some heartstopping moments with M’Baye Niang hitting the post with a thunderous shot, along with some rather tasty tackles being implemented by both sides. Four players on both sides were booked, and it seemed a matter of time before someone would receive the dreaded red card; thankfully it was not to be, as cool heads prevailed, and Mr. Emery bought on Lucas Torreira, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi for Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Özil and Alexandre Lacazette deep into the half. These inspired substitutions completely invigorated Arsenal, and we now were confident, ascendant and dominant. Around fifteen minutes from the end, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the final goal that placed us into Friday’s quarter-final draw. Fresh legs are always important at this stage of the match, and the pace of Henrikh Mkhitaryan certainly made all the difference here. After some lovely passing movements between Sead Kolašinac and himself, a low cross found the hero of the night, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who stabbed it into the back of the net with some aplomb for the third and final goal of the night; he celebrated in unique style courtesy of a Black Panther mask, which is also the emblem of Gabon, his home country.

A magnificent performance by all players, who finally understood the importance not only of this competition, but how critical Arsenal is to the people who really count, the paying spectators in The Emirates Stadium. Our next match is on April Fools’ Day here in North London against Newcastle United; could this be the match that pushes us into third place in the Premiership? It’s all to play for now, chaps. 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 face tough task at home to Rennes

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I am concerned about tonight.

Arsenal really should have put the tie to bed in that first leg.

Prior to Sokratis’ sending off, it was all Arsenal. We should have scored 2 or 3. Not for the first time this season we failed to get that second goal. I am confident had we got that, we would have gone on to win comfortably.

Instead it all fell apart when Sokratis received an extremely harsh second yellow which reduced Arsenal to 1-men.

Let’s get things right. It was not a yellow card. The players came together, tangled themselves. It was not even a foul. And from the resulting free kick Rennes equalised with a stunning finish.

If the first was a world class strike from a free kick that should never have been given, the second was down to simple bad luck – the ball deflecting off of Monreal. Own goal.

I could have taken a 2-1 defeat. Not the best result. But it was also not the worst, circumstances considering.

1 goal down with the away goal in the bag, Rennes not overly looking threatening despite having 11 men. You would back Arsenal to overturn the deficit quickly like they did against BATE Borisov.

Instead, in the 88th minute, Arsenal shot themselves in the foot conceding the 3rd goal froma counter attack.

I remember a game a few years ago against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group stages.

Having been 1-0 down at home, Olivier Giroud had made it 1-1 at half time. With 10 minutes to go. Arsenal were pushing forward. Wave after wave of attack. They were hit on the counter attack and lost the game 2-1 with Robert Lewandowski scoring with just over 5 minutes to go.

Better game management would have recognised that a draw was not a bad result. Would have left Arsenal not pushing forward as aggressively, and resulted in both sides leaving north London with a point.

In the end Arsenal did manage to qualify from a tough group including Napoli and Marseille.

The first leg against Rennes was similar.

Arsenal players (and management) should have recognised that 2-1 with the away goal was not a bad result. Especially down to 10-men. To be hit on the break and end up losing 3-1 was simply down to poor in-game management.

So now instead of needing just the single goal tonight to be leading the game, we need 2. It will a tough task.

Saying that, Arsenal were all over Rennes prior to Sokratis’ sending off. They could not cope with us.

With it being a 2 goal deficit, Arsenal know that they need to attack, attack, attack. And with that away goal in the back, Arsenal now it does not really matter if we concede one.

Rennes will set up to frustrate Arsenal. To protect what they have. It is a game to play Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with Grant Xhaka holding.

It does not matter if we concede one, we still need to score 3.

Go out and be aggressive. Start the men who can unpick the lock and have Xhaka dictating the play from deep.

The majority of the play tonight will be in Rennes half.

It really is a simple game plan.

Leave the central defenders (Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi) on the half way line. Xhaka just infront of them, and pile everyone else forward.

Bernd Leno has to be on his toes.

As we saw against Manchester United at the weekend, he is good at coming out of his goal. He will need to remain close to the edge of the box to cut out the long balls over the top.

Am I confident about tonight? No. Do I still expect us to go through? Yes.

We need to keep the dual paths to qualifying for the Champions League open.

Keenos

Arsenal target 15 points from 8 games for top 4 finish

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My Arsenal v Manchester United preview spoke about how the result could make or break our challenge for a top 4 place.

The 2-0 victory leaves it very much in Arsenal’s hands to finish top 4.

Prior to the weekend, very few would have thought that Tottenham would have lost to Southampton and Chelsea would have got just 1 point at home to Wolves. But that is what happened.

Prior to the weekend, Chelsea’s game in hand made me fearful. A win would put them 2 points ahead of Arsenal.

Had Arsenal then lost yesterday against Manchester United, it would have left top 4 out of our hands. We would have needed Manchester United to drop 4 more points & Chelsea to drop 3 more points than us in the last 8 games. It would have been an uphill struggle.

But we won, Manchester United lost and Chelsea drew. Also Tottenham lost to Southampton which drags them back into it.

Instead of it being 3 teams fighting for 1 spot and Arsenal being the bottom of those 3, it is now 4 teams fighting for 2 spots and Arsenal have to be favourites.

Even if Chelsea win their game in hand, Arsenal are still 4th. There would be just 3 points covering 3rd to 6th.

The wheels are coming off Tottenham.

Just over 2 weeks ago they were 10 points ahead of Arsenal. They could fall out of the top 4 next weekend if they fail to get a result away to Liverpool.

They are without a win in 4 games, and their only point came courtesy of a 90th minute missed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang penalty.

With games against Liverpool and Manchester City to come and tough home games against West Ham, Everton & Crystal Palace to come, it is hard to see Tottenham getting more than 15 points. That would leave them on 76.

Manchester United are still to face Manchester City and Chelsea at home.

They were on a great run under Ole without really playing a top team. Like Arsenal’s 22 game unbeaten run, it will be interesting to see how they respond. Like Tottenham, they will probably not be too far from the 76 point mark.

Chelsea have the trickiest of run ins, although they do have a game in hand.

They will do well to get points from trips to Manchester United and Liverpool, and also have tricky trips to Leicester and Everton.

Their draw at home to Wolves shows how fragile they are. I think they will struggle to make the 75 point mark.

So that will make it around 75-76 points to finish in the top 4.

Only once in the history of the Premier League has a team amassed 75 points and not made the top 4 – Arsenal in 2016/17.

To put that into perspective, Arsenal finished 2nd the season before with just 71 points.

Arsenal need 15-16 points to finish top 4.

My feeling is 76 will be enough for 4th. Anything above will be enough for 3rd.

The issue Arsenal face is we only have 3 home games left – Newcastle, Crystal Palace & Brighton. We need 9 points from those 9 games.

We have dropped just 7 points at home in the league this season – 5 of which were to Liverpool and Manchester City. It is not unreasonable to expect Arsenal to win all 3 of those games.

It is the 5 away games that will be key.

Arsenal are 9th in the Premier League away table with just 5 wins from 14 games. Although it has to be taken into account that 5 of the 14 away games were against sides in the top 6.

If you take games against the other top sides out of it, our away form reads a lot more favourable:

P 9 W 5 D 2 L 2 Pts 17

If we mimic this form in the 5 remaining away games we should get 9 points. If we add the 9 points from 3 home wins, that would leave us with 78 points in total.

From those 5 games, even if we end with 2 wins and 1 draw, that takes us to 76 points as long as we win those home games.

Ultimately it is winning those home games that is important. Do that and top 4 is ours. Maybe even 3rd.

Keenos