Result: Arsenal 3 – 1 Man United
Competition: Premier League
Date: 23 April 2022
Venue: The Emirates Stadium
Arsenal: Ramsdale, Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tavares, Xhaka, Elneny, Odegaard, Saka, Smith Rowe, Nketiah
Subs: Leno, Tomiyasu, Holding, Swanson, Lokonga, Azeez, Pepe, Martinelli, Lacazette
The Emirates played host to one of the most chaotic games in recent history as the Arsenal won 3-1 against Manchester United.
Tavares and Saka put the team ahead before Ronaldo halved the deficit. Xhaka made it 3-1 in the second half when the team were on the backfoot.
Arsenal closed out the game calmly to stake a strong claim for a Champions League position.
Pre-Match
Fresh from taking down Chelsea, Arsenal named an almost unchanged side from the team at Stamford Bridge.
Holding made way for Cedric as Arsenal reverted to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Xhaka and Elneny anchoring the midfield. Nketiah retained his place upfront after scoring 2 goals and Tomiyasu returned to the bench after months of absence.
First Half
The atmosphere was electric at the Emirates and the same vibes were well transmitted to the Gunners on the pitch. They kicked off with purpose and pushed United back. The away side could only resort to long balls which our defenders mopped up easily.
Xhaka returned the favour with a long pass from deep to the far post which comically eluded both United defenders. Saka cut in to strike and De Gea parried it well only to find Tavares lurking in the box to tap in unmarked. A lovely, fast start to the game 1-0 Arsenal
It wasn’t always smooth sailing after the goal. Arsenal started giving possession and space away which almost left Elanga and Fernandes to equalize on the break though the away side were calamitous in defence.
Nerves were creeping in, clearances were not made well and United were pushing forward. Dalot hit the bar.
But Arsenal fought back. Odegaard made a lovely back heel reverse pass into Nketiah whose strike hit De Gea. Minutes later, Odegaard was the architect of another lovely reverse pass in to Saka who was taken down in the box. The deflection found its way to Nketiah who scored with gusto. After ages with VAR, he was seen to be offside but a penalty was given for the previous encroachment on Saka. Our starboy made sure it was 2-0
Arsenal were not out of the woods yet as poor defending reared its ugly head for the home side. United crossed in for Ronaldo at the far post, there was a mix up between Gabriel and Tavares which led Ronaldo to skip past our defenders to stab the ball into the net. 2-1
The rest of the half continued in the same chaotic vein. Elneny had a shot from distance well saved and a brilliant counter had De Gea saving well from Odegaard from outside the box.
While chances came, defending was shakey, especially with Cedric playing poor. United were targetting him for good reason.
Arsenal went into the break ahead but had to do better with their composure and defending for the second half.
Second Half
Revitalised during the break, Arsenal started the game by slowing down the tempo. They were calm and more measured with their passing and that took the sting out of United’s tail.
But it took only 10 mins for chaos to ensue again. Tavares, hero in the first half, turned villain as he gave a silly penalty away by handling the ball while defending a corner. Even sillier was the run up from Fernandes to take the penalty. He hit the post.
The stadium came to life and the pace of the game went back to its chaotic state. Ronaldo put the ball into the net from a marginal offside and Dalot hit the post after Ramsdale got his fingertips to it.
Arsenal struggled to keep possession and the composure from the first few minutes was gone – Cedric and Tavares the biggest guilty parties.
When you needed experience to push the team forward, enter Granit Xhaka. In a rare foray upfield, Elneny cut across a United clearance outside the box and laid off for Xhaka. The Swiss hit the ball with the full force of his left foot to curl it away from De Gea, into the net. 3-1 Arsenal
Unfortunately, the game took its toll on Saka as the winger went down with a muscle pull. Holding replaced him to make it a 5-4-1, Arteta closing shop.
United took off Matic and Elanga for Rashford and Lingard and without the Serbian midfielder, the away side ceded possession to Arsenal.
We played keep ball better in the centre with Odegaard pulling the strings and our defenders stepped up confidently up to midfield to help win tackles. And when the ball was crossed in, Holding was there to head it away.
Composure returned, even the full backs looked good. We wrapped up a great, albeit nervy, result with Tomiyasu coming on to close the game. The hunt for top 4 continues. C’mon Arsenal!
Tavares with a big first half followed by probably the worst 20 mins of his career at the start of the second half. I still love you but my blood pressure doesn’t
For some minutes I thought he would cost us the game.
Yes, I wonder for all his athletism, He has a low level of mental-technical abilities on the ball. He is like a traore in defense, and that is going to define if he makes to top level. This is some thing which comes naturally mostly.
That ‘worst 20 minutes of his career’ is a bizarre comment. His first half v Chelsea the other night was very similar…as were plenty of his other performances.
Hopefully we get him out on loan and he improves but right now he is nowhere near the level required.
Agreed. Dude’s a liability.
Looks a great player going forward with pace but defensively not quite there yet
Alternatively, maybe we should consider a position change for him? Could potentially try him as a winger, because defence doesn’t really look like his thing if I’m being honest.
Yeah, maybe…but the fact that his shooting & crossing are both so awful doesn’t fill me with confidence that he would be a success there either….
We’ve already got better options there
They are all so young! Well done lads!
He owes me the dry cleaning fee for a pair of trousers and pants.
Oh. Add socks too. Had a curry last night.
COYFG!!!!!
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnn!!!!!!
I had a curry last night too, Johnny. What did you have?
I had one special rice, one chicken vindaloo and a Bombay aloo. Lovely. 😋
Lamb vindaloo mate! It’s my go to. I like it hot and madras just doesn’t cut it anymore. But I had a phall once and it was too mental. Couldn’t see by the end of it.
Woah, 2 arsenal fans had curry the same night before a winning game. It’s a sign… The holy curry!
What prick is downvoting having a curry? Got to be an angry spud after the 2nd game in a row without getting a shot on target.
And he would have. The penalty messed up his head and I prayed Arteta should have taken him off!
I hope this game improved Tavare’s confidence now. No more shit show please!
i must say, tavares is oddly making me more comfortable xhaka won’t do the stupidest thing on the pitch.
Easy with the Xhaka stuff. He’s just won us that game. Redemption arc nearing completion.
But in all seriousness, he’s been one of our best players this season so let’s evolve the narrative.
Show the man some love. He’s one of us!
sorry for the confusion, i meant that to partly convey how much more comfortable i am with xhaka lately and while i don’t want elneny in my starting 11, i am thrilled that he is a soldier for this squad
Why? He was with Odegaard our best player today.
i’d prefer a healthy partey but absent that, i am thankful he is there for cover.
Yeah man. I wasn’t having a go. I just feel in recent weeks, with the interview and stuff, that Xhaka is desperately holding out an olive branch to all us fans. He just wants to be loved, like the rest of the human race. And I think it’s time we really took him into our bosom.
Spilt milk under the bridge. Love you Granit.
He got an awful lot of abuse for years before he snapped. Same with Arsene, who was also treated shamefully. Difference is Arsene is to polite to tell people to fuck off. We are left with embarrassing situation where the best manager we’ve ever had might not set foot inside the ground that’s there because of him because of cunts online letting piers Morgan and the like get them fired up. The abuse xhaka and Arsene got was a disgrace. It’s an embarrassment to arsenal that he might not ever go back. The cunts that abused him, hired the plane’s,… Read more »
Arsene was a man who achieved greatness for us and had the upmost respect from most Arsenal fans. Xhaka Brought most of his woes upon himself so completely not the same argument.
He’ll be the first one to have pop when he leaves to join Roma or whoever that may be.
Gotta love that kiss-blowing celebration.
Redemption arc is complete for me. He can be upgraded for sure talent-wise, but the man’s a beast and he always puts 100% in. That 100% also make his appalling treatment of fans and armband more forgivable – he really cares. I like him and he’s had a great season. Still want an upgrade but I can’t even remember his last costly mistake.
The yellow card was Xhaka as only he could do, but I’m actually starting to appreciate him now. He actually looks like a smart player.
Yes, it is really me
I think he was frustrated with what some ManU players had just gotten away with knowing that if he had done the same thing, he’d have seen yellow or worse. Still boneheaded maneuver.
His defending is wayward but those errors can be coached out of him. Otherwise I see his future as a left-winger.
I’m still quite happy to roll into next season with him as Tierney’s back-up and concentrate on more pressing matters in the summer transfer window.
Absolute chaos element. Tavares is the proverbial beat of the butterfly’s wings, everything leads back to him. This would have been a boring 0-0 if Tavares wasn’t playing, nothing would have happened. But he did play, he was glorious, he was awful, things happened, and they happened to happen in such a way that we came out on top. Cosmic performance, unrateable. None of us can accurately judge exactly what he did out there, we can’t comprehend its scale. We rolled the dice and we won.
also I just want to give him a hug, he was so clearly in his own head at times out there and I’m so glad he came through it with no harm done. He seems like a streaky confidence player and I hope so much he can win that psychological battle and let his football do the talking. There’s a good player in there, good enough I don’t know but I hope he gets himself to a point where he can give a good account of himself.
This will pass for a good poem.
Tavares performance captured succinctly in this not too few sentences of yours. He is precocious at the moment but I see a great potential in him already
But o boy that guy can surely raise one’s blood pressure
Why is Tavares a defender? His attacking instincts are far better than his defensive ones. He cost us big games with inability to stay back but was in the right place to score today
He is so so raw, but the promise is there. He will be a nice project for Arteta and his coaching. Wenger took a lot of players with that kind of raw potential and refined them into superstars, Arteta has the chance to do the same with Tavares.
No, this is not a project Arteta should pursue. By raw do you mean he’s fast and strong and makes forays forward? That looks exciting but if he can’t do the essential work of a lb – positioning himself correctly, making intelligent decisions, and playing under pressure then he can’t be a starting Arsenal left back. He reminds of Andre Santos in that I’d never trust him to concentrate defensively for the whole game but he was fun to watch because of his will to get forward. We need players like Tierney who can do both.
Have you forgotten Ashley Cole, Bellerin, Kieran Gibbs? All wingers converted to international calibre fullbacks who started out with very similar profiles to Tavares. In Wenger’s own words, it’s easier to teach someone to defend than it is to attack. Andre Santos was 29 when he signed, Tavares is only 22, about the same age Cole broke into the first team. He has time to learn And the other day Gunnerblog brought up Alex Song.You wouldn’t believe the player who debuted against United that day would turn into the midfielder teeing up highlight reel passes for Van Persie and Henry.… Read more »
Ashley Cole was the best LB in England at 22 so not sure that comparison helps your argument 😀
Which at that point in time just meant he was better than…Wayne Bridge? He wasn’t the finished article at that age was my point.
I said ‘in England’, not English.
The point is at the end of his first season, he had clearly pushed Sylvinho out of team and was unquestionably our no.1 LB. The only question for Tavares at the end of his first season is can we trust him as no.2 LB again next season. The comparison doesn’t stand up at all.
In addition to P.D.s comment : Gibbs did start late but world class? Bellerin was a starting player at 20 and comfortably held down RB. Agree to disagree – I just don’t see the raw materials there to shape a player who will consistently put in good performances. I think the desire to see players improve sometimes outweighs the evidence that is there.
Way off the mark with the Ashley Cole comment. Arguably the best left back we’ve ever had. Played for Crystal Palace as LB on loan and was bossing it even then. Might have played on the wing and some point, but a stretch to say he was a converted winger…
We’re not arguing here boys!
Just saying Tavares is too young to be written off. Can’t waste any of a beautiful day like this talking about Ashley Cole
big first half??? i thought he had the most clueless display i’ve ever seen by an arsenal player until the last 20 minutes when we had to put martinelli and holding next to him to make him look ok. absolutely horrible, almost gives away three penalties. really, there were patches in which he literally did everything wrong. don’t want to see him playing again for us for a long time.
Big three points?
Massive.
Tava Saka Xhaka.
Probably our most chaotic game of the season, serious question marks over some our “defending” but very happy with the points in the end.
Lose 3 on the bounce and score 1 goal, then beat Chelsea and United back to back and score 7. Are we any good or not???
We are young. Young = inconsistencies
Worth noting that after dropping Laca the team has started scoring magically … hmmm
Come on Brentford!
How many Gooners will make the trip across London from The Emirates to Brentford’s stadium to cheer on the Bees.
Quite a few I reckon.
If Brentford don’t, Liverpool will do it in a fortnight. We have to focus on our games.
West Ham play tomorrow and Thursday. We can capitalise on being fresher?
If we get three points from West Ham, the top 4 is ours to lose.
COYG.
How sweet if Eriksen hat trick crushed his old team?
lose to brighton and southampton. beat chelsea and united. just asking, do arsenal fans live past 55?
Brighton and Southampton structured their tactics to deliberately nullify Arsenal’s strengths.
Chelsea and United just played their normal game.
This is the comment I was looking for.I agree.
good point. Arteta on a learning curve too lest we forget. Even with no signings we’re a better team next year (although we absolutely have to sign a CF)
Fraser Forster also had a career game against us for Southampton, was ridiculously good in goal that game.
IRC, the man we paid tribute to at the start of the game was 1958 – 2022.
That’s 64, so yeah.
Hope so. I will let you know in 2 years.
Well past that age but have somehow survived!
Damn we were on the backfoot and probably a bit lucky to survive those 20 second half minutes without conceding. Thank you Xhaka for turning the game around, United went flat after that goal
Granit has 10 Arsenal career league goals, think about 4 of those have come against United
So much stress yet so much joy.
Well summed up.
Important win! It feels good to win against this bunch. But some shaky stretches…. Thank you Granit – well deserved!
Elneny appreciation post. When he plays he works tirelessly, does all the simple things incredibly well, and adds that little more calm and control to the midfield. Of all the players out of contract, he should be the one signed up to a new contact- the perfect midfield squad cover player.
Arsenal please offer him a new deal.
But I would fully understand if he wants to join a new club that will offer him a regular 90.
I never understood those who hated him. Always works hard, seems calm, puts in a shift. Certainly not our best ever midfielder, but he never scared the crap out of me when he was around the ball – you just know he won’t do something completely stupid. I wonder what he could have become, had he been given more time on the pitch. And he smiles a lot. That’s something I’ll take over drama, any day of the week.
The post I wanted to make!
He would be an excellent squad player.
I love this team
The two wins this week were really for the fans that stuck behind the team and the manager after those three defeats. Keep the faith and trust the progress.
Massive win today, but we got a bit lucky with the penalty miss and Ronaldo offside goal. Tavares should never ever ever ever play in a back 4. He is not good enough at defending. Going forward he is exciting but he is the worst Arsenal player I have seen defending in past 30 years. Massive performance by Elneny. We needed him today. That Xhaka goal felt amazing.
Mustafi’s only recently left. Not forgotten some of his displays already?!?
And then there’s Silvestre, Squillaci, Stepanovs *shudders*
Really impressed with how we played out the last 20 minutes.
Previous seasons we would have conceded again to set up a nervy finish.
Also, how good is it to see Tomi back?
Tomiiiiiiii
Brilliant, can’t wait to see him start at West Ham next week.
Amen to seeing Tomi back. Now do we start him and switch The Entertainer to left back? Although I think Tavares looked better when Martinelli came on… and let’s talk about Bruno – he should have been sent off. And I liked Ramsdale going full Martin Keown after the penalty miss. Nice touch by Gooners applauding on 7 minutes. Class is permanent. COYG!!!
Bruno wasn’t even in the same postcode as the ball when he made that tackle. Absolutely disgraceful that neither Pawson gave him a red or VAR recommended one
He deliberately stretches out to catch Tava.
Absolutely a red.
Not the first time Bruno’s got away with a stamp in N5 in recent seasons either. He must’ve been in the same tackling class as McTominay
Seeing super-Tom back on the pitch was awesome. Highlight of the game for me (apart from the goals). Even though he was only on a short time he looked fit and sharp.
I don’t even care who made what mistakes. All I care about is that we won.. How good is Xhaka now? Finally the Midfielder we signed 6 years ago..
If Xhaka could play as well as he has in the last two games for a full season no one would really be talking. I don’t think he’s ever put in back to back man of the match level performances in an Arsenal shirt before. Huge week from him.
Xhaka has been absolutely fantastic since he came back from injury.
Phew. Crazy stuff. Could’ve gone either way. Happy with the three points and the three goals. Elneny MOTM.
Elneny is always solid. However I was frustrated in the first half that he didn’t make some clear forward passes that were on, but instead opted to turn and play a backwards ball. Second half he seemed more keen to pass forwards.
What a nerve-wracking match. Great game overall but we never do things the easy way. I’m very grateful for Xhaka’s thunderbolt. That and Bruno’s miss took the sting out of the United attack.
Bruno’s miss was hilarious. Massive celebration and jumping round when that hit the post.
Job done – there were some hairy moments and we’ll struggle with that back 4. A great moment for Granit Xhaka who plays so much better when he’s a bit further forward. A game to remember as long as we don’t talk about Nuno…
I just don’t see significant improvement there – the costs of playing him outweigh the benefits although at the moment he’s probably the only option.
‘We don’t talk about Nuno’ is a chant waiting to happen
A big thumb up for that sneaky Encanto reference 🙂
He’s our second choice left-back and still only 22 years old, I would still like to see if he can improve defensively with time. We’re still a long way from Man City and Liverpool who have 22 world class players.
I don’t want to watch Tavares “improve” while we lose points. He’s far too error prone. I think there’s a bias because he’s an energetic, lively player but his temperament and decision-making are off for me. By all means loan him out but I don’t think he’s someone we should be relying on if we want to move forward.
We don’t have many options, that’s the problem. Agree that his decision making and current level of football is not close to what we need.
He has two major flaws.
His defending commitment and his passing when building from the back.
These are fundamental for MA style
Over 90 minutes, we about deserved the victory; but that first 25 minutes of the second was horrible to watch.
Tavares’ capacity to create panic is out of this world.
That Penalty was simply stupid. He scored a goal, I know, but we may have to get another LFB and move him further forward.
That apart, a huge 3 points to the team.
I hope Saka’s injury is not bad.
Welcome back Tomiyasu.
Today we received all the good luck we haven’t at the last decade or so
Haha so true!! Jammiest game I can remember.
Great win for Arsenal, Tavares was lucky to have played the whole 90 minutes, asides the goal he was poor throughout the match..
Crazy, rollercoaster game, summed up by the mad performance of Taveres . I can see we Arteta has his doubts about him. But he did score a vital goal. He might benefit from a loan move somewhere.
We’re scoring again but our defending just isn’t good enough.
We’ve dragged ourselves back into this but we’ll need to
Improve if we want to snatch 4th.
Ramsdale MOTM
Nog call on Ramsdale fats. Unless you’re perhaps being sarcastic?
Defending absolutely has to improve… and for that matter the ‘keeper, who’s had some shaky moments for the last few games.
Öde or Elneny man of the match for me.
*big call. Bloody autocorrect because my dictionary is on Dutch
Aecht kut autocorrect
The King was massive. I was so happy that he had many calm touchs in the last half of second half.
Ramsdale seemed to have infected himself with the same Gervinhoitis that Tavares has caught. Some very hairy moments.
Until the 3rd goal my arse hole and my belly button were this close 🤏
But as soon as I saw Holding, I knew there’s no way they’re getting another goal.
It was an interesting game until MA introduced Holding when winning 3-1. Since that moment it was game over.
Rob Holding’s on-pitch demeanour is the single most reassuring aspect of this Arsenal team. A tense game at the business end of the season, Tavares all over the place, Saka off injured, but then there’s Rob Holding with his big grin, sharing a cheeky handshake with Ben White like he’s just seen him down the pub, and then in a couple of headers and a couple of hoofs it’s full time. He should do audiobooks.
“Holding You Safely: Bedtime Stories from Uncle Rob”
Hahaha, I’ve never loved a player as much as him. My heart rate goes back to normal when I see him getting ready to come on with that grin of his. Saved me of a few heart attacks in what is such a crazy rollercoaster season. Our FA cup hero, an Arsene Wenger signing from Bolton, he is an Arsenal man.
I wish he knew how much I… We love him!
Opposition manager: “we’ve still got a few mins to get back into this. Oh wait, no, they’ve brought bloody Holding on. Get the bus started”
Now we know why Xhaka has started at left back. Credit to Tavares for the first goal though. Let’s hope we face a tired West Ham. I hope Saka is ok. Happy Tomi is back. Well done Xhaka, he deserved that goal.
I would get Laca back into the team though for the next game along with Lokonga. We haven’t created a lot and have rode our luck a bit.
You must be joking, particularly about Lokonga, Elneny is so much more secure, and Nketia is also much more of a goal threat than Laca, his hold up play was decent too today. I hope both players stay despite the lack of love they get.
Nketiah didn’t score but played really well. I would stick with Eddie for West Ham next week.
I think everyone was ready to upvote you until the Laca/Lokonga comment lmao
Lol I know it’s controversial and I don’t mind elneny in midfield or even Eddie up top. Maybe Eddie will be the better option against West Ham because they sit back and he’s a better finisher. But laca is still the better link up player. We did not play as well today and we got away with it. The result masks our performance I think. The stats will be interesting and I’m happy to be wrong. There are games el Neny especially will be needed and that is for the role that Bissouma played when Brighton beat Spurs: keep him… Read more »
No, Lokonga can stay on bench for now.
Lokonga and Tavares need a loan to develop their game and confidence.
A Wilock type of loan not a Nelson one
Hooray!
Great win against the auld enemy
Absolute scenes here at the Emirates!
Any team sheet with Tavares in it should come with suitable warnings for little children, pregnent ladies and people heart conditions.
I’m so glad Tomi is back, hopefully Cedric can do a job left back… Xhaka saved us. And seeing that mug jorginho/penandes/azpi miss a penalty made me as happy to see saka score penis two games in a row! Man I’m a wreck after these games. Don’t bring on the North London Derby just yet please. I need a rest.
Saka score penis?
These Swedes – a one track mind.
Rock hard penalties to erect us into 4th.
Yes, it was and a hard one
It took a lot of balls that’s for sure
Trust the process
Trust the Progress
Progress the thrust
But lucky today, very shaky at the back, and flattering score line , but really who the fuck cares! COYG!
We had moments of luck but we still played much better than United and we fully deserved the win.
I think our ‘luckiest’ moment was the fact Ronaldo didn’t take their penalty.
Can probably file that one under “great for the neutral”!
We rode our luck today. The 20mins preceding Xhaka’s goal, I thought, at best, we were gonna end up drawing this game.
Phew!
How the fuck can this team beat Chelsea & United, scoring 7 but score 1 against Palace, Brighton & Southampton? Football is mental but I fucking love my football team!
Note to Granit: SHOOT MORE! Good things happen when you do! 🙂
The X man is one of the purest strikers of the ball in the today.
* In the game today.
He had another solid game today. We can excuse the silly yellow because I feel like that was out of frustration as to how much United were getting away with. His got 10 Arsenal league goals in his career & Im sure about 4 of those have been against United & they’ve all been proper thunder bastards
Amazing win! But looking at the performances of Cedric and Tavares, I wonder if Maitland-Niles regrets forcing the loan move now…
Great result and a lot of endeavour and effort from our lads. This now puts the pressure on the scum bags and hopefully an in-form Brentford can do is a favour later. You have to say, however, that we rode our fucking luck in the second half into the ground. The next few weeks are going to be played out in a nervy cauldron and we have to learn to be able to calm the fuck down and play the simple ball. I lost count of the number of times we needlessly gave away possession. The main culprits in this… Read more »
Thought Elneny was immense today. He shows for the ball so well. Sambi could learn a lot from him about how to position himself and open passing lanes.
Sad Bruno is the best Bruno
Agreed.
Sasha Baron Cohen is the second best Bruno.
Frank is the third best.
Bruno Mars is the worst Bruno
Even though “he’d catch a grenade for ya”
Come on You Gunners!
And Come on You Bees!
That was 90 minutes of mental torture. It seems we never make things easy for ourselves. Didn’t have a good game to be honest. My MOM is Elneny. He was very good today going forward and as always putting in a solid shift Infront of the back four. Glad Tomy is back. Cedric was rather poor today. Tavarez scored but he is very immature and needs to be loaned out to develop. Very glad for Xhaka. Hope Lady luck remains on our side for the rest of the season as it did today.
Lady Luck and Granpa VAT don’t love us so much. But we are free to dream right?
So happy we won. Elneny must stay, please Arsenal give a new contract. Saka scored again, ecstatic for him. What a fantastic goal from Xhaka. Odegaard was excellent.
Thumbs up for yes, thumbs down for now: the Chelsea and United wins make 6 points from the last 5 games. Would you have taken that (specifically with beating Chelsea and Utd) if offered 5 games ago?
p.s. COYG and Come on Brentford!!
Yes, because the media had us down quite comfortably to lose both.
And we haven’t. So fuck’em. 💪🏻
Nope, we’re short 2-3points at least.
Great result, especially in the circumstances, far from a clean performance and it really was on a knifes edge until Mr. Reliable Granit Xhaka killed the game. Solid performances from the midfield 3 and Star boy with Nketiah unlucky not to be amongst the goals again,
The rest of the team were either unconvincing, inconsistent or a bit of both far too often. This could’ve very easily gone the other way today and we can all see that. No need to pick out individuals but that level of performance probably won’t hack it against West Ham.
Granit deserves so much credit for his performances the last two games.
But still “Mr Reliable” is not the most accurate nick name
Cedric and Tavares are such a step down to our first choice full backs. Do think we need to improve on at least one of them in the summer to add GOOD depth in our squad. Cedric was really woeful today imo, got very lucky. Tavares, not sure how to describe that performance lol
luckiest arsenal match i’ve seen in 10+ years. everything went our way. can’t believe it.
Bar the Bruno sending off
We dodged a bullet or three today. Nice goal by Tavares, but he’s still unreliable on defence. If Tomy’s back, I wonder if we might see Cedric at LB (seem to recall he back-filled for Tierney a couple of times last year). I know the preference is to play out from the back, but in recent games Ramsdale & Co have been cutting it too close. No need with a 2-0 lead.
Armadale still play the same way out, but he’s forgotten that Partey is not there
Ramsdale
Elneny looked like Xavi out there for some parts of the game, has to be his best performance for us in the premiership. It does help when he has Odegaard to interlink with though. His positioning and constant ability to make himself available as an outlet to teammates is incredible. His quick close touch has really improved as well, turning into a top level AMF. The two of them had great chemistry on the pitch,and that will be huge in overcoming Partey’s absence for the rest of the season.
We should’ve been 12 points clear of that lot for f*cks sake. COYG! Let’s go.
I beg to to differ. There are no “ifs” in football. The other teams can also the same. You are placed on the table where you deserve to be
Good 3 points but just like with Chelsea game we still lack stability at the back. Hope introduction of Tomi at the end will bring much needed calmness to our back 4. Good to see Granit score and showed some love from fans. On the end happy with 6ps from Chelsea and Utd then other 3 games …..COYG!!!!
Much needed 3 points today and a welcome victory. Perhaps we may not have won the last 2 games if we did not drop the 9 points earlier. The team seems to require some pressure to perform.
Have to sympathise with Tavares. First season in the PL, he knows Tierney is first choice, has had a couple of bad performances and getting subbed is confidence sapping.Makes mistakes but has character.
A run in the starting line up (admittedly due to lack of options) will make or break him.
Hope it’s the former.
Stick that in yer pipe, we smoked them for breakfast! In Your Holes you bunch of holes… We don’t talk about Bruno, I know…, I’m not the violent type, but that face is so slapable, Ramsdale going full Keown was hilarious 🤣
Brentford unfortunately only got 0-0
Those amazing entertainers over in Middlesex had the grand total of 0 (zero) shots on target