Arsenal: Cech, Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Holding, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Elneny, Iwobi, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang
Subs: Ospina, Chambers, Willock, Nelson, Nketiah, Wilshere, Welbeck
—
Petr Cech saved a penalty from Troy Deeney as Arsenal got revenge against Watford with a 3-0 win at the Emirates this afternoon.
Arsene Wenger made six changes from the team that beat AC Milan during the week, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles deployed at right-back while Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey were rested completely.
The Gunners had the first sight of goal early on when Mesut Ozil played through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but the striker’s effort was saved well by the keeper. Richarlison shot wide at the other end, but in the 8th minute Arsenal were ahead via Shkodran Mustafi.
It wasn’t dissimilar from the goal he scored against Sp*rs earlier in the season. Ozil curled in a free kick from the left hand side, and his fellow German rose highest to head home. 1-0.
The visitors looked to respond quickly and Cech was forced into a good save from Doucoure after he’d been set up by Richarlison. Elneny and Kolasinac combined for the Bosnian to fizz a low cross to the back post which Aubameyang just couldn’t quite get to in time, before Arsenal had a real let off.
Xhaka gave away a free kick outside the box, Richarlison forced Cech into a save but he could only parry it to the feet of Pereyra who blasted over from close range. Almost immediately, Ozil almost doubled the lead after great play saw him one one one with Femenia, but the Watford keeper saved with his leg.
Rob Holding deflected a cross just over his own bar as Watford pressed for an equaliser, and in injury time Cech made a fine save from a Richarlison header to ensure the reds took the lead into the break.
There were no changes by either manager at half-time, and Watford began the second period well with a succession of corners. Mustafi picked up a yellow card and Arsene Wenger’s men found it hard to cope with the pressing from the visitors who were certainly on top.
So, it was very much against the run of play when the Gunners doubled the lead just before the hour mark. Mkhitaryan picked it up, drove through midfield and slipped the ball through to Aubameyang who went around the keeper and rolled the ball home to make it 2-0.
Almost straight away though, Watford had a chance to get back into it when they were awarded a penalty. Troy Deeney, with his big fat cojones, stepped up and at long last Petr Cech saved from the spot and Deeney remained a big fat bollix. Stick those cojones up your jacksie, tubs.
Up the other end Mkhitaryan was taken out in the box, it was as clear a penalty as you’ll ever see, but somehow Martin Atkinson did not point to the spot. Danny Welbeck came on to replace Iwobi in the 67th minute, and Calum Chambers replaced Mustafi five minutes later when the German went down with an injury, leaving Arsenal with a fairly inexperienced and makeshift back four.
However, the game was made safe withArsenal worked it down the left, Ozil’s low cross was deflected to Aubameyang who played it back to Mkhitaryan and the Armenian’s shot found its way through and into the net. 3-0.
Jack Wilshere came on for Mkhitaryan with 13 minutes to go, perhaps a shame not to give some minutes to Reiss Nelson. Welbeck forced a save from Ferminia, and while there was some late danger from Watford the result and the three points were never in doubt.
This winning thing is nice.
Good comfortable win, 1,000 Arsenal PL goal, Cech penalty save and 200th PL clean sheet, Ozil fastest ever to 50 PL assists, Deeney without the cojones to score a penalty. Difficult to improve on that.
Sometimes football can seem a cruel and gruelling infatuation. I’m sure all of us have uttered the phrase “why do I fucking bother?” over the last weeks and months. And then something happens so karmic, so steeped in irony and so bloody hilarious that it somehow makes all the struggle worthwhile. Ok we haven’t won a trophy, we won’t finish top 4 and our future is no more clear than it was at 1.30 today. But by god, we watched Troy “cojones” Deeney fluff a penalty like a mega-twat which would have given Watford a lifeline back into the game.… Read more »
At that moment I was sat with maybe 7 other Arsenal’s fans at an obscure pub in south west London shouting ‘wanker’ at the telly and laughing. Simply fantastic 🙂
And me and the grandsons hopping around the living room punching the air drew dissapproving looks from grandma. And we’re still laughing
Why the f**k would anyone downvote this?
grandma and her friends read Arseblog
Troy Deeney’s family trolling in here?
Would like to say we showed Deeney our Cojones. But that just sounds wrong.
At that moment, I just went mental and I’m sure my entire apartment complex would have thought that I had my pants on fire and my kid was asking my wife on why I was angry at the TV set and was screaming at it!
You must’ve been shouting it a lot as Atkinson was the ref as well!
Best comment I’ve seen for ages, Mein Bergkampf!! Where’s Ramblin’ Pete,tho’? Could have used him thru’ times of darkness and despair.. Arsenal Forever.
Cech getting his 200th Premier League clean sheet by saving a penalty against football thug Deeney after he was talking trash following the previous fixture. Absolutely delicious.
Yes! Up yours, ugly Shrek
Sp*rs get knocked out of the champion’s league
Arsenal beat Milan in the San Siro
This was a good week
Credit where it’s due! To a man our boys turned up and represented the shirt admirably. We saw today the real Arsenal of old. Fast-paced, determined, hungry, fighting in packs. We played them off the park! Well-done Arsene and the team. Now on to Milan!
Watching how everybody played today and considering Per’s interview, I get a feeling that jittery nerves and buckling pressure, more so than any other reason, might have been the catalyst to our abysmal run this season.
You could see it in the game, until Deeney missed the penalty and then it went the other way
Was looking forward to making fun of Deeney’s cojones after the win, but turns out he doesn’t have any. Cech exposed that to the world. 🙂
A Mother of a Day.
(on Mother’s Day in the UK).
And nice of @Arsenal to copy this just now.
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/972870815485235201
OMG CECH SAVED A PENALTY
Deeney’s cojones breaks the spells on Chech. The first ever penalty save and the 200th clean sheets.
You can’t write a better script than that. Cech FINALLY saving his first penalty for Arsenal against Troy Fucking teeny cojones to earn his 200th EPL clean sheet.
Karma served on a silver platter. Now let’s make that Europa cup our golden platter!
Cech saves a penalty
Cech gets a clean sheet
Commentator: “Great defensive cover from Xhaka”
Such a strange day?
A penalty save. A clean sheet. A win. I can’t believe it.
Cajones.
…..is what Deeney lacked
Cajones means cupboard. Although to be fair Troy moves like a wardrobe. Cojones is what he lacks!
Actually it means drawers. But still you could look in umpteen cupboards, drawers, armoires and still not find Troy’s balls.
That’s my Arsenal. Just effing brilliant!
I actually got goosebumps when Cech saved the penalty!!!!
‘Sluggish start by Watford’. Cue Picture of Troy Deeney looking like a slug.
He looks like a Sloth
He looks like Fat Drake.
He looks like lenny from a sharks tale, hatefucked sloth from the goonies.
And his eyes are on a trial separation
You might have the name of a character from one of the greatest TV shows of all time Stringer+Bell, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Them sloths are somewhat adorable yo……
Oooaahahahahaahahhaahh! Poor old……Sluggy. To be compared to Troy Deeney of all creatures!
I wonder whether Troy Deeney knows what the score is
Doubtful. Pretty sure he struggles to count further once he manages to reach the number 1.
Cech man of the match for me. Saved a penalty and worked so hard for his 200th clean sheet
Credit where its due.Well played you gooners.
Getting a 200th clean sheet – Great
Getting a 200th clean sheet by saving your first penalty for Arsenal after Troy Deeney’s effort lacked cajones – priceless
For everything else, there’s MasterCard
That Deeney ankle kick on Xhaka about sums up everything is really is: pathetic
Mariappa tackle on Mkhitaryan as well. Pathetic. Loved Mkhi’s reaction to that one.
Shambolic refereeing. Xhaka given a yellow card for routine things.
I’m glad the ref didn’t fall for Ricardalson’s 20 dives but how did he not give the pen for Mkhitaryan?
It’s almost like the guys who run PL have decided teams like Liverpool have paid their dues by staying out of the top 4 for a long time and now it’s Arsenal’s turn. It’s all controlled by the TV people now.
We need to stick together, get back in the CL ASAP and buy top players.
A win in the PL feels so good! Cech saved a penalty! And got his 200th clean sheets finally – many congratulations!
So good to have two creative players in Ozil and Miki. even though the Armenian wasn’t at his best, he still makes the decisive contribution in this game for me. loved the auba goal. also some very sharp passing from Mohammed “Pirlo” Elneny!!
Don’t tell Santori that
El Neny, the Egyptian Ray Parlour!
Hate how rashford is the Salford Pele, get your own nicknames.
ohhh that’s far far better.
And the Mkhi/Auba understanding is so good. I can see more goals coming from that pair
The Pirlo part made me smile. Elneny is a great player.
Troy Deeney…what a chavy pillock.
Life is so much better when we’re winning.
Spoken from the heart mate. Such a wonderful Sunday evening
A win was good but we need to start making the pressure count. Had Cech not saved that penalty we would have been in trouble. By that point we should have scored three.
Take that Deeney! Mwah hah ha
Well we won, but couldn’t protect the ball to save our lives. I’ve never seen such a weak bunch in our midfield. Dont know how to effectively press. Its zonal bollocks really. Watford pushed us around like kids, but thankfully left the back door open. To have any chance of getting back to where we used to be we need to find a better class of midfielder than xhaka. Suppose we should celebrate the victory but its a long way back.
Who let Troy Deeney in?
Couldn’t give a rats arse about Deeney. Hes been living off his ‘cojones’ comment for months, ably fuelled by some of our fans. The team need to deal with being bullied by teams like Brighton and Watford because its become obvious that‘s the way to play us. We took our goals well, but im not kidding myself that it was a top drawer performance out there today.
I think Xhaka was pretty good today.. especially defensively..!
Xhaka played really well today mate. He passed sharply, tracked back to defend, was involved in constant linkups, held on to the ball fiercely and made some fine challenges.
You’re dense. Too dense.
He did have his usual iffy moment a la backheel in the box but he’s improved greatly in the last 2 games. Credit where it’s due however I was more impressed with elneny today. I did like xhakas fight though
The backheal was smart… noone expected it!! Luckily Cech was switched on and cleared it calmly.
Spot on. We need a huge upgrade on Xhaka. I don’t hate the guy but he is not first team quality. Xhaka is bench level.
Great game by Arsenal today. MOTM M. Elneny. Defense played great as a unit and did not try too much. Loved Ozil today, played really well. Think it helped with 2 midfielder being discipline behind him. Mhik did good but need to be more careful on the ball. Cech i honestly expected to save the penalty as Deeney always goes hard down the center. AMN is a top top player just needs that little bit more focus.
Who ever said Elneny cannot pass forward? When he has players ahead he definitely can.
Totally agree with that. Did you see Elneny sprinting forward to close down their defenders in like the 90th minute? Man has a phenomenal engine.
Elneny worked his socks off and made some great passes and never hid. He’s got a decent footballing brain unlike Xhaka who I know is getting all sorts of plaudits here today. He was OKAY but for a guy costing £30 million + he ought to be more than that and he’s always got a mistake in him.
xhaka was good today two good performances in a row never seen that
even today Xhaka gave the ball away in a bad position, recovered to win back the ball, then back-heeled in our penalty box with Watford players close by!!
Think Elneny and Xhaka worked really well today. Elneny showed he can do more than pass sideways.
Granit Xhaka take a bow. Who knew he had a performance like that in him!
did anybody else just had the same fuzzy feeling that Cech will save the conteur’s penalty?
I had this feeling that he would save it!!! And saving the first penalty for Arsenal against Cojoneless deeney makes it sweet!!
I just knew it that Petr Cech was going to save that penalty. Well done on your 200th clean sheet. Class act.
Mr.Cojones.. what is the score?
i knee it when aj saw troy little cohonea face preparing to take it his face was scare im sure his comments run trough his mind and he gone for the middle great save by cech
Couldn’t imagine a more satisfying way for Cech to get his first penalty save for us, brilliant
Deeney, Cech picked up your cojones from the penalty spot if you want them back?
Taking a moment to appreciate Robbie Holding’s through ball to Ozil
Cech finally got the clean sheet…
Soo many celebrations:
Cech got his 200th clean sheets
Cech save from the box
Troy Deeney the cojones missed from the spot
Arsenal won
Ozil asaisted
Aubameyang scored
Mhyrkitaryan asaisted
Mhyrkitaryan scored
I am an Arsenal fan
Seems we have remembered how to play football again. Excited for the Mhkytarian/Aubamayang partnership to flourish once more. Happy Gooner today!
Back to back win and clean sheets + penalty save by Cech!
I feel good…. da dah da dah da dah da!
so good, so good, my club won!
Great team performance, everyone up for it with no passengers. Cech showed his class and gets that we’ll deserved 200 clean sheet. And no balls Deeney gets what he deserved to, so everyone’s happy.
Sorry lads,but that was just watford , who couldn’t score away from home.
And we’ve been lucky not to concede. I didn’t saw anything to be optimistic for the rest of the season. Milan was a great performance, but today was average mid table stuff.
Totally agree. Goals were well taken, but the regularity with which we were caught on the ball and dispossed was worrying. Passing was abysmal during periods of the game. But let the fans celebrate I guess. A win is a win.
World is so much better when arsenal win. Can we just keep it up.
Finally that sense of urgency missing all season. Elneny also showing great form with his best display for us yet. The question is why did we wait so long for this?
What I watched today was beautiful football after such a long time..!!! Wow!!
With so much to be happy about I almost don’t want to comment this but was I the only person watching that game thinking Iwobi could seriously benefit from some confidence boosting games at the u23 level or something? The man could use a reminder of how good he is.
Honestly the guy can’t shoot. For an attacking midfielder he is so poor in the final third it’s embarrassing.
Thought Elneny was excellent today. Buzzed around the pitch and strode forward with the ball purposefully. I think that lad is much better than a lot of people give him credit for.
I really enjoyed that! Taste it, Deeney, you fat f*ck!
Elneny is the kind of players we need. Ozil is dangerous innthe final third, but hes not suited to our build up style, poor runs and work rate. Miki seems frustrated by Ozil poor work rate, if we had a good LW, Miki could combine well w that player. Iwobi is a mess, Xhaka inconsistent in this match. Last but not least, we need a proper full back. Ainsley is exploited all match, Kolasinac is poor in final third. Every team needs a Jordi Alba, Carvajal style full backs
You should move into management.
It was Watford FFS.
Wyn I do agree with all you say and this doesn’t change for me that we need a fundamental change at the club. And there were flaws in the performance yes. But I chose to have a holiday from Arsenal misery, enjoy the win, and see that fat cunt deeneys testicles shrivelled to the size of petis pois. Enjoy the moment. There will be plenty of occasions for us to bemoan before the seasons out I’m sure.
You must not have been watching Arsenal for the last few weeks. We’ve been beaten by Bournemouth, Swansea and Brighton. Not to forget Nottingham Forest and Ostersunds. There’s nothing like “It was Watford FFS”. Come on!
With what’s going on with the team recently, any win is a good win. Any win with such efforts put in, clean sheet and a Cech save is a great win! Sleep on that.
A win is a win after the nightmarish few weeks we had.
Let it hereby be known by royal decree there shall be no joy in all the land.
Because it was Watford FFS.
Someone remind me how many goals and assists Sanchez has for United? Lols
None. He could sit on the bench and laugh at himself. The treacherous little shit.
Arsene’s put one over on Mou.
2 wins and 2 clean sheets sure feel good..wish it was always like this
Such a great feeling winning like we did today,thought el neny was excellent today.
Thanks Arsenal for making my day, makes me realise why I won’t ever give up on you. Nothing to add here, except Aubameyang looks so good in one on one situations. Mark my words, he is going to be a live wire next season for us.
I had to read the first sentence 3 times, and even then I was sure I read it wrong until I saw the clip later in the report
How fucking useless was Atkinson? Giving offside as he played an advantage was superb stuff. If theirs no advantage don’t you give the free kick? The penalty he didn’t give was a cracker and their one, well to me their bloke jumped between our two blokes and rolled around. First home game missed in about four years and only saw second half but it confirmed a long held opinion. Atkinson a cunt.