Arsene Wenger says Arsenal’s second win and clean sheet in the space of four days will help them get out of the negative spiral that has so damaged their season in recent weeks.
Goals from Shkodran Mustafi and new boys Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan helped the Gunners to a 3-0 win on a day when Petr Cech kept a first clean sheet since December by saving Troy Deeney’s penalty; the first spot-kick he’s saved since moving to the Emirates in 2015.
After the game, Wenger said: “I thought we had a very good first half. I regret that we couldn’t take our chances and after that, in the second half, we suffered a bit because Watford put us under pressure. But we dealt well with the set-pieces.
“After that we stuck together and could take advantage of the weak moments they had defensively.
“In the end, it was a convincing win. Of course, it highlights what Petr Cech has done with 200 clean sheets in his career. That is remarkable. On top of that, he saved a penalty today, that having just seen it again, was a very generous one.”
He added: “I wanted absolutely to win this game and it was difficult, but overall, it gets us a little bit out of that negative spiral that we were in.”
“Yes,” was Wenger’s response when asked if his side, who’d suffered four consecutive defeats prior to Thursday’s win in the San Siro, had turned a corner.
“We need some more games. We had a nightmare week, so overall we still have some work to do. But we are on a good way.”
Henrikh Mkhitaryan now has the same record this season in nine appearances for Arsenal in all competitions as he did in 22 games for Manchester United (two goals, five assists).
Sanchez though, how is he doing?
My heart bleeds for him
Six assists, actually (if only to out-pedant Pedant). Three at home to Everton in the league, one today, and two at Ostersunds.
Thanks. Only 1 goal though I believe.
I was meaning Sanchez assists for United in the same time as Mkhitaryan. Does he have any?
Five assists unless you count the ‘assist’ for an own goal by Everton. Some do, some don’t.
We’ve just beaten a bad, relegation-threatened Watford side. So what? This result was utterly meaningless, as was demonstrated by the swathes of empty seats in the “sold out” stadium. Top four was gone a long time ago. And as for “turning the corner”, well under Wenger we’ve turned more corners than Lewis Hamilton in an entire grand prix season. I really hope we finish the job against Milan on Thursday an then go deeper into the competition; but I can’t see us winning it. The good thing is that word inside the club is that Wenger is toast come May.… Read more »
No one is celebrating like we won a trophy but if you can’t appreciate any of the history markers from today’s game: Cech’s 1st penalty save and 200th clean sheet, Ozil’s 50th assist, Arsenal’s 1000th PL goal, Arsene’s 700th EPL win, Troy deeney’s 2 shriveling cojones,
…well then, I feel sorry for you Fats.
I actually feel sorry for YOU. You’ve been conditioned to lap up all this bullshit about records. You know what? The only records which matter are trophies. Had we won the League Cup, instead of failing to even turn up at Wembley, then I would have been cock-a-hoop like everyone else. But we didn’t. Beating a shit team like Watford in a pointless end-of-season game just doesn’t get me going. Sorry.
BTW: Troy Deeney is a complete cunt, but he has a point about Arsenal and cojones. Just look at our away record.
A glass empty kind of person…you don’t meet too many of those.
Thierry wept. Can we just enjoy a league win for a few hours without the bullshit? We pretty much all agree change is needed this summer, but not before, so the negativity after a victory is completely unnecessary at this point.
Yes, it was a “Sold-Out” stadium because the tickets were sold. Was it properly attended? No, it wasn’t. I hate to nitpick but there is a difference between attendance records and sales records.
The funny thing about this whole things is that those fans who stayed away already gave arsenal their hard earned cash.
Sorry, Mr Trump. You’re dead right.
Surely you know that probably 25% of season tickets are in the hands of touts or irregular attenders who sell them on most weeks. My two are not in my name and it’s obvious from the changing faces all around me every game.
A ‘relegation-threatened’ side who are currently in the top half of the table and had won three of their last 4 PL games (two of which wins were against teams above them in the table) while we had lost our last 3?
Whether Wenger leaves at the end of this season or not, he’s certainly not toast.
This is part of the problem with Wenger over the last number of years. A few results and he believes that some players are good enough and then doesn’t strengthen in transfer window as he’s convinced himself that a midfield of xhaka Ramsey jack elneny and coq are enough. None of them would get in top teams midfield I’m afraid. It’s a huge blind spot Wenger has and why he’s in this position now.
I think you should elaborate on Ramsey. Feels weird you only giving him a mention without a full castration…
? clearly people think they are good enough after beating Watford. I really want to challenge for league. Forgive me ?
Well apparently that’s not going to happen this season. I’m watching matches, enjoying good results, not enjoying not good results, take it as it comes.
Seems to me that this “snobbery” that has crept into the game of football is actually ruining some people’s enjoyment of what is essentially a simple game. I would love to see us challenge and win the League again, but I wouldn’t swap that for the enjoyment of seeing the team win…no matter who the opposition is. I’m not calling you out in particular. It is now endemic and what happened with the West Ham fans on Saturday kind of proves my point…although to be fair, West Ham are truly crap.
10 months later and I’m forced to eat my words
I presume your aware that Coquelin now plays for Valencia…
I am Anthony and for your information the word is you’re not your. I presume you knew that ?
What’s wrong with your following sentence then?
‘None of them would get in top teams midfield I’m afraid.’
I can give you other corrections for you to make, though answering the Coquelin question that you diverted away from would be more interesting. Do you really think he still plays for Arsenal?
I thought my opening line “I am Anthony” was an obvious response. Keep up
You are Anthony? Or need to know how to use commas?
Part of Wenger’s problem is he hasn’t been doing his job properly. Yes he is complacent and even naive about the ability of some of the players, but worse than that for me is the fact that the last two games in which we’ve played fairly well and won only go to show that he does have some tactical awareness but has been too lazy to use it….until his job is on the line!
“On top of that, he saved a penalty today, that having just seen it again, was a very generous one.”
Haha, that’s the closest Arsene is going to come to telling Deeney to go fuck himself.
Funny how fortunes change when we have a midfield tasked with paying attention to defensive duty and the team plays with drive and intensity. Seems like something we should have tried a few months ago.
I’m sure the midfield _were_ tasked with paying attention to their defensive duties. Sadly, they didn’t pay attention to the task.
it’s sad that when arsenal lose it’s wenger’s fault but when arsenal win, he gets no credit. one of life’s great mysteries.
Ah, yea that.
Apparently there’s a memo going round that Arsene is to Arsenal, as Voldemort is to Harry Potter.
Load of bollocks I know, by what can ya do?
I give him credit, but don’t understand why he hasn’t got this type of performance out of the team over the rest of the season…just saying!
Good for Chech and players who played a good part in today’s game. 3 points welcome, but problem remains. Lets get Milan out of the way midweek for now.
Arsene, many of us hope you’re on your”good” way out of the club. A couple of wins won’t hide the apathy and mediocrity of this season and previous ones