Result: FC Zurich 1-2 Arsenal
Competition: Europa League
Date: 8 September 2022
Venue: Kybunpark
Arsenal: Turner, Gabriel, Holding, Tomiyasu, Tierney, Xhaka (c), Sambi, Vieira, Marquinhos, Martinelli, Nketiah
Subs: Ramsdale, Hein, White, Saka, Odegaard, Jesus, Saliba, Zinchenko, Cirjan, Smith, Cozier-Duberry
Eddie Nketiah and debutant Marquinhos helped themselves to a goal and assist each as Arsenal started their Europa League campaign with a 2-1 win at FC Zurich.
First Half
Having made seven changes to the starting lineup that faced Manchester United, it wasn’t wholly surprising that it took Arsenal a few minutes to settle. There was even an early scare for keeper Matt Turner who, after receiving a back pass from Gabriel, hesitated under pressure, conceded possession and watched on as Tosin hit the outside of the upright.
Soon enough the Gunners found their groove with Xhaka, Lokonga and Vieira dominating the centre of the pitch as Tomiyasu and Tierney variously inverted and overlapped to provide additional options in possession. Zurich sat back in a deep block and showed little ambition to push up.
On 16 minutes, we managed to pick the lock and Fabio Vieira’s quality was key. The Portuguese, playing as our number 10, picked up the ball in the centre of midfield, played a brilliant pass down the flank for Nketiah who took one touch before crossing for Marquinhos to find the top corner first time. The teenager had tears of joy running down his face as he celebrated opening his Arsenal account. (GOAL 1-0)
The Gunners were close to doubling their lead on 20 minutes when Lokonga floated a ball over the defence for Vieira who dinked a lob over the advancing keeper. Unfortunately, the effort landed on the roof of the net. Xhaka also tested the keeper with a low drive to the near post.
While we had huge swathes of possession, we weren’t very tidy in the final third and you always sensed we might be undone by a silly mistake. Tierney made a brilliant block to keep the scores level before Zurich found an equaliser against the run of play from the penalty spot.
Nketiah was correctly adjudged to have fouled Aliti after clearing out the Zurich defender’s legs while trying to whack the ball clear. The referee had no hesitation pointing to the spot and centre-half Kryeziu stepped up and sent Matt Turner the wrong way. (GOAL 1-1)
Second Half
At half time, news broke that Queen Elizabeth II had passed away meaning both sides lined up for a minute’s silence before the game resumed.
Arsenal continued to dominate but lacked composure inside the box – a common theme all evening. Nketiah twice, Martinelli twice and Tierney all fired at goal but didn’t unduly concern the Zurich keeper.
Eventually, the pressure told. Marquinhos picked the ball up on the left flank, cut inside and played a fine ball to the back post where Nketiah squeezed a header inside the near post. (GOAL 2-1)
As the game edged towards the 70th minute, Arteta sent on Zinchenko, Saka and Odegaard for Vieira, Tierney and Marquinhos. Clearly, we wanted to see things out but the changes, which soon after included Jesus for Nketiah, definitely disrupted our attacking flow.
Arteta was visibly frustrated that his side couldn’t find the goal that would give them some breathing space. Saka had a curler blocked and Jesus was denied by a decent stop by the Zurich keeper’s feet.
There were nervous moments for the Gunners in the closing stages. The offside flag denied the home side a free-kick on the edge of the box, Turner showed clean hands to claim a header that was heading in and some other lad fired way over.
If you were rating the performance overall, you’d probably give us a B. We were by far the better side but we need to be more clinical.
In the other game, PSV Eindhoven could only draw with Bodo/Glimt so the Gunners already have a two point advantage at the top of Group A. That’s an added bonus before the Dutch side visit the Emirates next week.
A dull affair, but Marquinhos acquitted himself well, so that’s a positive. Vieira was fine, clearly still working himself back into match fitness, but his pass that led to the goal was a beautiful thing. More of that, please!
I’m actually glad we won without getting out of first gear.Our squad size means we must conserve as much Energy as possible whenever we can.
Like the look of Marquinhos he’s physically strong so should be well able for the premier league and loved the emotion in his goal celebration shows how much it means to him ( the rest of the game was as dull as dish water).
Weird to see Martinelli, Xhaka and Gabriel playing full 90 while Nketiah, Marquinhos and Vieira were subbed out
I think it’s pretty telling that Martinelli and Xhaka lack cover in their respective positions at this very moment
Imagine bringing on Mudryk for Martinelli……🚀
or Smith-Rowe…
still Nketiah was subbed for Jesus, Martinelli could sure use that rest and Nketiah would love 90 min under his belt
Looked tired at the end though.
Marquinhos can play both sides.
Motm performance from Marquinhos on his debut
Tierney sadly going to find it hard to get Zinchenko’s place in the PL. Looked a bit out of it today
I think Tierney was fine today, adapting to his new role, passing well from midfield. Olek is more a Trent, great on the ball, not so great in defence, so easy to go past. We have 2 top 6 first team level leftbacks.
Kieran is a good defender but needs to add more to his game to cement his place, bringing the ball forward we need a bit more from our LB other than racing down the flank to smash in a hit and hope ball or his turn back pass that annuls our break, this is where Zichenko shows his class moving inside to continue our breaks with intelligent passes to our more offensive players, Kieran has had a lot of set backs injury wise and needs a lot of games for his confidence to return
Looks like we have repeated the gem finding magic . Marquinhos looks solid. Very composed and matured performance. And Vieira, he gets away from like its nothing. Great signs.!
gets away from press*
Yes, it was Cazorlesque.
COYG!!!
Marqinhos played with real maturity. Played the right passes and looked technically secure.
Great deliveries and a great goal as well. I like this lad!
Exciting from Marquinhos! A few got their needed rest and others got some important minutes, three points – mission accomplished. Shame Martinelli, Gabriel, Sambi (looked fantastic!) and Xhaka had to do 90, but that’s where we are at the moment.
Marquinhos looks like he could be the real deal. Pace, physicality, end product, and a sound understanding of the game. Looks like a perfect alternative to Saka on the right.
Good win…awful game.
Wasn’t that awful if you consider this was the first outing of a few players in same 11.
Not entirely sure I’d grade this as a ‘B’. For me, I want more. This is a ‘C’ for me. Enough to pass, but not enough to impress.
Depends how far you wish to distil it…
At a binary level it was “good” rather than “bad”. As a percentage you could argue it was 67.1%
Either way, it’s 3 points…
Marquinhos looks great. Brazillians doing it for us up front.
Can’t believe the match only finished 2-1. They looked really poor to be honest. Anyway, onwards to the next match this weekend (if it doesn’t get cancelled)
Because of the Queen?! En serio?
Show some respect, FFS.
We don’t stop our lives when thousands of other people die every day, is that disrespectful?
No, but neither do we take the piss out of them. Not if we’re half way to becoming a decent human being at least.
All I asked for was respect.
And before you start trying to tell me that respect needs to be earned – which it does – then no one deserves respect more than Her Majesty for her selfless dedication to her job – and no mean job either – for 70 years.
Don’t give me the Royalist/Republican argument – I’m not interested in the politics.
Just respect for a dead woman.
Touchy much? Cry your crocodile Tears all you like mate. I’ve got nothing against her and hope she passed well as all reports suggest, but this is a pantomime for a monarchy responsible for institutionalised settler colonialism, murder, rape and even genocide (see Tasmanian First Nations). #HIStory
Much respect to the dead but a cancellation would add on top of an already piled up schedule (due to the world cup).
There’s no doubt about it, the Everton match will be postponed.
Whilst never officially disclosed, Her Majesty’s favourite team was the Arsenal, apparently due to a fondness for Dennis Compton.
God bless Ma’am.
Too Nervy for comfort. But welcome 3 points.
Sambi was great as well
No he was awful. Back pass, sideways, back to goal, no urgency. Only one good through ball
Vieira woaahhhh Vieira woahhhh!
Some positives in an otherwise meh game: 3 points; bounce back from that loss; no injuries; Marquinhos’ excellent debut; Nketiah finally passed the ball to Martinelli (maybe he confused him with Xhaka?)
Apart from the assist Eddie really doesn’t like passing it does he?
Eddie’s learning, he’s keen to do it all himself but he’s learning that sometimes there are better options. Balogun is another one, it’s a stage that all young strikers go through and that was a peach of an assist for Marquinhos.
Course it’s not the sternest or opposition but Marquinhos was electric I thought. No reason why he can’t play every non-prem game to ease the burden on Saka
Feels churlish to say this after a win but I thought we were a bit arrogant in the box, trying some intricate passing when something more direct would have done. It wasn’t until Jesus came on that we seemed willing to take on some half chances. Would like to see us take more shots and not try to craft the perfect goal.
A good performance against an average Zurich side.
We dominated but frustratingly couldn’t made it hard for ourselves. We need to be more clinical and ruthless. But we got the job done in the end.
Marquinhos caught the eye and looks to be a very good signing. Nketia decent today too.
Big up the Zurich fans who made a great noise.
Sadly, we lost our queen today in the UK. God bless her soul and may she rest in peace.
And her cotton socks! Over to Charlie…
Not very nice Daveo.
I like the way we played today…very tidy and refused to increase the intensity of our game to avoid fatigue and injuries. Arteta would be disappointed we didn’t see the game off in the first half so we could play the academy boys. In all a good result…seeing we have a game on Sunday. My only fear is we don’t have backups for Lokonga and Xhaka…yet again why didn’t he sign and why let Niles go on loan.
Calm you fears, Sambi himself is a backup, and with Zinchenco now fit again, he can back up Xhaka
Unlikely to be any football this weekend in the UK. Partey might be back for next league game
Pretty happy with that considering their goal was generated from our gift and a win with a good few changes where I wouldn’t expect everyone to be slapping out automatisms with their eyes closed.
Onward and updward. Trust the process!
A win is a win, but that was certainly underwhelming. After all, Zurich are apparently the second bottom team in their league. Not for the first time this season, we had the possession, played the football but lacked the real cutting edge to get the goals that the overall performance justified. We really should be doing better, particularly against opposition like this. The article says, “We need to be more clinical.” Too true. At least Jesus had a shot on target, something he didn’t manage against Utd. Hopefully, he’ll be up for the Everton game and get back on the… Read more »
God bless you Our Majesty todays news broke my heart ! Well done to the Arsenal Marquinos was spot on & Viera ? Well you can see he has class. Football though just doesn’t seem right today !
Marquinhos did well.
Marquinhos is what we call a grown manchild in these parts. Built. He has some great crosses. Hope to see more progress to help rest Saka a bit.
Good start.
Nothing less than an Arsenal victory would suffice tonight.
Her Majesty was an Arsenal fan – as is the new King Charles III and his second son Henry.*
Her Majesty once invited Arsene Wenger and the Invincibles to Buckingham Palace, following their unbeaten league campaign.
*(William, for the record, is an Aston Villa fan, like his late mother Diana, who favoured Villa because they were her favourite band Duran Duran’s local team.)
Rest in peace our Queen.
God Save The King. 🇬🇧
Is this a parody account?
That I can’t quite tell means it’s a job well done!
No not a parody account.
Very, very generous giving that performance a B. Awful first half in particular and appeared a lack of desire or belief or something before the break. We were better, but mainly because they were worse.
There are quite a number of people who support arsenal who frankly don’t give a toss about the queens passing. It’s hard to forget some of the atrocities throughout history that have occurred in the name of the monarchy, such as the irish famine (which was really a genocide caused by Britain exporting food from Ireland). Of course she wasn’t to blame for this but personally you are a moron both if you are celebrating the queens death (as some are in Ireland and I’m sure more parts of the world) or grieving her death. She was just an old… Read more »
Fuck off Chippy. Arsenal is a London team and she’s our queen, if you can’t deal with that then find a fucking Irish team.
Go cry over a 96 year old woman who you didn’t know with a pedo son.
Not really the place for these discussions, but interested as to what gives your opinion on whether someone’s a moron legitimacy just because you don’t care about the monarchy?
I don’t particularly either, but I won’t be telling other people how they should feel. Get over yourself.
Hey guys
I know: Generalizations are problematic and this is off-topic, but I’m just wondering as someone from continental europe: Are you sad that the Queen died? Is the monarchy still important for you? And what do you think about halting public life because someone from an “old instituion” died?
Don’t get me wrong, I respect everybody and its sad to see people go. But for me it’s hard to grasp which influence the queen has or did have over people in the UK.
Come on Eddie BABY!!!!