Brighton and Hove Albion (0) 0 Arsenal (0) 1

Premier League

The AMEX Stadium, Village Way, Brighton BN1 9BL

Tuesday, 29th December 2020. Kick-off time: 6.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Pablo Marí, Kieran Tierney; Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Substitutes: Dani Ceballos, Alexandre Lacazette, Alex Rúnarsson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Cédric Soares, Nicolas Pépé, Shkodran Mustafi, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah

Scorers: Alexandre Lacazatte (66 mins)

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 00%

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Assistant Referees: Gary Beswick, Sian Massey-Ellis

Fourth Official: Michael Oliver

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Peter Bankes; AVAR Matthew Wilkes

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

So we can do it then. The Boxing Day battering of Chelsea at the Emirates proved beyond reasonable doubt that this group of players are more than capable of meeting challenges head on, and coming through them releatively unscathed. Not only did our remarkable and unexpected victory end our seven-match winless Premiership sequence, but it gave notice to everyone that we are capable of a cohesive, ruthless performance that can put the very best of them to the sword. Now all we have to do is keep it up. Let’s go! 

The match started off fairly even, with both sides halting each others’ progress, but overall, we created the more opportunities to score in the first quarter of an hour or so. The game started to get rather ploddy, with players attemtping to capitalise on some half chances that never really had much of a chance of coming off. Just after the half hour, from a direct free-kick, Granit Xhaka’s left footed shot from outside the box went too high and into the empty stands. Bernd Leno made a superb double save from Alireza Jahanbakhs, which was by far the best chance the home side have had this match. With chances few and far between for both sides, it was an absolute relief when Martin Atkinson blew his whistle for the half-time break.

With no shots on target in the first half, we hope that at the start of the second half, our strikers find their shooting boots in earnest here at the AMEX stadium tonight. Less than a minute of the restart, Brighton claimed a penalty over a suspected foul by Rob Holding, but thankfully VAR cancelled the rather tenuous claim. Minutes later, we had out best attempt to score of the match so far, when Bukayo Saka fired over a cross from the left, to be met by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose shot from point-blank range was pushed aside by the goalkeeper. Then Gabriel Martinelli fired a superb shot over the bar from close range after some sterling work by Emile Smith-Rowe, cutting in from the left, and already, we have looked more lively in the first ten minutes of the second half than all of the previous one! The match started to quieten down and the pendulum swung back a little in the home team’s favour with their forwards showing desire to score. And so, with twenty-five minutes left of the game, Gabriel Martinelli made way for Alexandre Lacazatte; an inspired choice by Mikel Arteta, as literally seconds later, Bukayo Saka tore down the right wing, crossed a low ball, and who was there to tuck the ball away? Yep, you guessed it, our substitute, who announced his entry into the match in the most positive and grandest manner. Bukayo Saka nearly added a second goal five minutes later, when Kieran Tierney cut a ball back from the byline, but his shot was blocked by a couple of Brighton defenders. Dani Ceballos replaced an already injured Bukayo Saka, who hobbled off the pitch after eighty minutes, and following a rejig of the formation, we carried on regardless. We did have one or two lapses of concentration in the final few minutes of the match, but that was addressed by Ainsley Maitland-Niles replacing Emile Smith-Rowe to shore things up at the back somewhat. And it worked, so now we have back-to-back wins in the Premiership in December, and for that we all have to be truly grateful, my friends.

Whatever went on in the dressing room at half-time, it certainly worked! The first half was extremely lack lustre, but the second half was a totally different case in point. They played like a different team, and although it certainly was not pretty at times, we grabbed the three points, which is what counts at the end of the day. Happy New Year.

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: West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Saturday 2nd January 2021 at 8.00pm (Premier League). 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.

This is my last blog of the year.

Blogging has always been something I’ve done for enjoyment. It is an outlet. I am not driven by making money (the blog makes none) or by social media followers. I do it for me. But with the negativity flying about the world, I think it is time to stop. To enjoy Christmas.

2020 has been filled with good and bad both football and professionally.

The football year has seen us struggle on the pitch yet still win 2 trophies. The hardest part has not being able to go games with mates.

Going pub before and after the game, celebrating success and commiserating defeats together is perhaps more important than the 90 minutes. With COVID19 that has been taken away from us.

I still managed to have 12 or so people round mine for the cup final. A great memory in the garden, with close friends, watching us win. We made the best of a bad job.

But we finish the year in an awful position. One I don’t have the energy to go into.

Personally it has been a year of ups and downs as well.

As I’ve said, I blog for enjoyment. But 2020 has seen some right weirdos attempt to ruin my life. All because of the opinion I share.

I had 2 people write to my work claiming I had racially abused them, demanding my work to be sacked. I had two stalkers and I had someone distributing my name, address, place of work and pictures of me on social media.

The first person to accuse me of racism was wary in the year. The girl in question, let’s call her Jazz, provided a Tweet I wrote 4 years ago as proof that I was “always racist on twitter”. She also claimed I was sexist, homophobic, etc, etc. My work saw through her BS and stuck with me. They asked her for more evidence. None came. Clearly some issues there

The second person to claim racism wrote a letter to my work saying that they were my “neighbour” and that I had racially abused them in the street. They said that they did not know my full name, but knew who I worked for and had tracked me down on my company website.

On my company website, it has my full name…

They threatened that if my work did not sack me, they would go to the police. Surely if someone has racially abused you, your first thought is go to the police, not their place of work?

My work advised them to go to the police. I still have not had a knock on my door. It was clear and obvious that they were not a neighbour, and just some weird little kid who had managed to get my street name, first name, picture of me and my place of work. A few people from a certain fan TV channel we’re distributing these details online.

Then we have the stalkers.

Let’s call the first Johnny. He spent a few days calling up my office, abusing me down the phone then hanging up.

Johnny apparently has a reputation for this and I am not his first victim.

The second, let’s call him Tony, has sent me over 100 message through the blog for 4 years. He is a 50 year old man with a family, sitting their weekly stalking someone on line.

This year I had enough of him so publicly shamed him in the hope it stopped. I made it clear that I knew who he was, the names of his daughters, where he lived, without releasing personal details. Overnight his stalking stopped.

These four people have made me wonder whether it is worthwhile still blogging. But then I realise that I blog for me. And they will not stop me.

The issues are clearly with them and I am probably not the only person they have tried to get sacked or stalk. I hope in 2021 they all received the help they need.

But the year is ending on a high. Work is going great and the side hustle I started during lockdown is making good profits. I am in a good place. Hopefully in 2021 I will be able to get abroad again. I have missed that in 2020.

2019 I went Antigua, Morocco, Liege and Lisbon. The first two on my own, the later two with great mates. Trips abroad for cricket, football, culture and beer have been missed this year.

I also wrote a book in 2020, helped host online quizzes and spoke to my family more than I had done in any previous year.

So I go into 2021 in a strong position than I started 2020. The nut jobs that attached themselves to me this year seem to have slithered back under the rock. I am buzzing for next year.

Enjoy Christmas.

See you in the New Year.

Keenos

Everton (2) 2 Arsenal (1) 1

Premier League

Goodison Park, Goodison Road, Liverpool L4 4EL

Saturday, 19th December 2020. Kick-off time: 5.30pm

(3-4-3) Bernd Leno; Rob Holding, David Luiz, Kieran Tierney; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Mohamed Elneny, Dani Ceballos, Bukayo Saka; Nicolas Pépé, Eddie Nketiah, Willian Borges da Silva.

Substitutes: Hector Bellerin, Alexandre Lacazette, Alex Rúnarsson, Cédric Soares, Shkodran Mustafi, Joe Willock, Sead Kolašinac, Emile Smith-Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli.

Scorers: Nicolas Pépé (35 mins)

Yellow Cards: Kieran Tierney, Joe Willock, Mohamed Elneny

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 58%

Referee: Andre Marriner

Assistant Referees: Scott Ledger, Simon Long

Fourth Official: Paul Tierney

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Michael Oliver; AVAR James Mainwaring

Attendance: A maximum of 2,000 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restrictions

With no Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this evening due to a calf injury, we are starting with Willian up front, playing in a 3-4-3 formation, which is going to be extremely difficult here at Goodison Park tonight. Let’s go!

Everton started very much in the ascendancy, with Arsenal being pushed back firmly into their own half, which was a worrying development, so early in the match. We were very nearly one down after fifteen mintues, when Michael Keane hit a thirty-five yard shot which flew just past Bernd Leno’s right-hand post, and a minute or so later, we somehow managed to break out of our half when Kieran Tierney made an impressive thirty-yard run before crossing the ball into the penalty area for Eddie Nketiah to run onto, but all his good work was undone by a clearance from Abdoulaye Doucoure. After twenty-two minutes, we went one-down when a ball from ex-Gunner Alex Iwobi was headed towards the goal by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but unfortunately Rob Holding diverted it past Bernd Leno into the goal. In reply, Eddie Nketiah capitalised on a mistake by Jordan Pickford, but sadly his effort went wide of the mark. We started to come back into the game; Dani Ceballos did well on the right-hand side before he was the recipient of a crunching tackle by Ben Godfrey, and despite all of our efforts in trying to get back into the game, the home side took control of the match yet again, and started to come at us relentlessly. Penalty! With ten minutes to go before the half-time break, Ainsley Maitland-Niles was brought down with a clumsy collision by Tom Davies in the penalty area; Nicolas Pépé stepped up (in the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang), and he introduced the ball to the back of the Everton net with a cool stroke of his left foot. Kieran Tierney was booked for a challenge on Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and the subsequent free-kick from Gylfi Sigurdsson went wide of Bernd Leno’s goal, thankfully. Literally, on the stroke of half-time, an Everton corner found the head of Yerry Mina and the ball clumsily went into the back of the Arsenal net after some messy touches from Bernd Leno in a valiant attempt to keep it out of the goal, to no avail sadly.

The second half began, as expected, with the home side performing strongly (having gone into the break a goal ahead), and shortly after the restart we did manage to hit the frame of the goal after fifty-one minutes, when a David Luiz strike (via a corner) was deflected by Tom Davies onto the woodwork and off and into open play. We certainly have made a decent fist of things since the break, with good passing, good movement with probing balls into the Everton penalty area. Despite all that, two substitutions were made within five minutes of each other; Gabriel Martinelli for Nicolas Pépé and Alexandre Lacazette for Eddie Nketiah with fifteen minutes left of the match remaining. And so the formation changed, and the more we tried, the less successful we became. Slowly the home side started to come back into the match, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Gylfi Sigurddson getting close to scoring, but thankfully Bernd Leno was on the spot to save our bacon yet again. During the five minutes’ imjury time, all the action was in the Everton half, with Bukayo Saka and Alexandre Lacazette being desperately unlucky not to score, but time ran out and it was not to be, sadly.

Fourteen points from fourteen matches, and of those games, we have lost eight. We are also five points off the relegation zone; these terrible facts speak for themselves. And we have Manchester City on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup (or whatever it is called this week) and Chelsea in the Premiership on Boxing Day. There is very little confidence in the side, the defending oscillates between poor and non-existent, the midfield is indecisive, and the strikers are not firing at all. Although we had fifty-eight per cent possession in the game here at Goodison Park tonight, it’s truly not much good if you don’t do anything with it, is it? How on earth Mikel Arteta is going to square the cirle with this squad of players? And we have a white-hot derby match on Boxing Day to contend with as well. Either way, it’s going to be the most difficult job of his managerial career, trying got put this train back on the rails, and quickly too.

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 City at the Emerates on Tuesday, 22nd December at 8.00pm (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.