Arsenal started the 24/25 campaign with a deserved 2-0 win over Wolves thanks to fine goals by Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka.
The Germany international climbed highest in a crowded box to convert the England winger’s teasing cross in the first half and later turned provider with a pass that freed Saka to run at a backtracking defence that couldn’t do anything to stop his fierce left-foot effort.
Here’s what the managers, players and stattos made of the action…
Mikel Arteta on his side’s win…
In the Premier League, you have to fight and dig in, and every game is a nightmare, and you have to be very clear with that. Today, we played a really good opponent – look at the players that they brought on in the second half. So, you really have to earn it, and we have earned it. We won, we take a lot of positives, we move.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Gary O’Neil’s take on the game…
I thought we were good. I thought we were in the game at all times, carried a threat and needed a little bit more quality. Raya makes an unbelievable save from the header at 1-0. Obviously, Mateus misses a good chance, again at 1-0. I thought at that spell in the second half, we were one nil down, and we were pushing, and could feel we were right in the game. Then a disappointing second goal, obviously.
Source: Wolves.co.uk
Arsenal 2-0 Wolves
A routine win to start the season for the Gunners, with Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka scoring the goals.
Arsenal have won 17 of their 19 Premier League games in 2024 (D1 L1).#ARSWOL pic.twitter.com/Q3NQpauIK2
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) August 17, 2024
Kai Havertz on starting the campaign with a goal…
When [Bukayo] gets those balls in those positions, then you know he’s a big threat. He can put the ball wherever you want it, and I think the timing of the ball and the run was perfect, so it was a good goal. It’s always nice to score as a striker. You always want to score, contribute with goals and assists and so I’m very pleased.
Source: Arsenal.com
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Arteta on Raya’s brilliant first half save to deny Strand Larsen…
Those are the moments when we don’t defend the box well and then somebody else has to come out to save the team. David was unbelievable.
Source: Viaplay Fotball
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Oleksandr Zinchenko on starting with a win…
It’s always an amazing feeling, especially to get a clean sheet and three points. So that’s what we’re always looking for. You know you can’t lose points at home, at least. We had this experience in the past where we were dropping a lot of points when it was not necessary to do. And obviously, we are not talking about the league yet but of course, we’ve become much, much hungrier, but there is still a lot of games to play and anything can happen in this league because the Premier League is probably the best league in the world. We just need to go step by step each day and then let’s see.
Source: Viaplay Fotball
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Arteta on the left-back position
We go game by game. Jurrien has been struggling in the last few weeks and hadn’t played any minutes in the last two or three weeks. Riccardo has just landed and is getting used to a lot of things. They are both progressing really well and we have a lot of competition there, which is great for the team. You could see that Alex, especially in the first half, was really good. In the second half, we needed [something] else and we had the ability to change there.
Source: Post-game press conference
William Saliba is the fastest Arsenal player to reach 50 Premier League wins (66 games) 💪
He kept 30 clean sheets on the way ✅ pic.twitter.com/o0pqoOsSYM
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 17, 2024
Arteta on what today’s win means…
It’s about starting the journey. This is a new story this season. Today was the first chapter and it was a good one, a positive one.
Source: Viaplay Fotball
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Arteta on Declan Rice needing to be substituted late on…
He was cramping a bit. He hasn’t had the longest pre-season ever, but he’s really trying and he put in an unbelievable performance again today.
Source: Post-game press conference
Arsenal (52) have won more points than any other Premier League side in 2024 💪 pic.twitter.com/UFQEEy5MVP
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 17, 2024
Mikel Arteta on Saka’s goal drawing him level with Kevin Campbell in the Arsenal scoring charts on the day the club paid tribute to its former striker…
A very special day. When you see what the crowd did, all the players, everybody involved at the club, the respect and love we show for Kevin, his family, all the loved ones. Bukayo to score with that number, things happen for a reason and I think it’s a beautiful thing that happened today.
Source: bein SPORTS
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Kai Havertz on Saka’s quality…
Saka is unbelievable. There are not a lot of players like him on the planet and he is still so young. He can get better. It is very rare to see a young player like this perform every week at the highest level.
Source: Sky Sports
Kai Havertz has both scored and assisted in five different Premier League games in 2024, the most by an #Arsenal player in a single calendar year since Robin van Persie in 2011 (6 times).
— Harvey Downes (@HarveyDownes92) August 17, 2024
Real Sociedad boss Imanol Alguacil on his decision to leave Mikel Merino out of his squad this weekend…
I’ve left Merino out of the squad as there are talks with other clubs… and this is the best solution now.
Source: Get Football
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Mikel Arteta on the transfer market…
You know that I’m not going to say anything.
Source: bein SPORTS
Love all our team, bench is great, hope they can avoid injuries, will then have a very decent chance to win the PL.
Speaking of avoiding injuries, the best quote of the bunch is the one where Arteta says it was just cramp that brought off Rice!
The second half today showed why Merino is a must. TP’s legs are gone and not even Rice can play every minute of every game. Plus a midfield of Merino Rice Odegaard is just nuts especially out of possession. But Merino will also improve on those transition chances. Just gonna be quicker to play those killer passes, a natural box to box. This team has more levels it can go.
Partey can still be so, so good, but he’s got to cut out the mental lapses. The guy is a brilliant passer of the ball, receives under pressure so well, and his little feints and turns can release all the pressure. Such a talented midfielder, but I don’t know if he his head in the game any more — but man, what a player.
But I am excited to see Merino for the reasons you list. There are moments out there that we play such good football that you think we have an extra player. It’s mental.
He’s cooked physically. This happens to CM at this age. Remember Fabinho? We can bring him on for 20 odd minutes here and there. That’s his role after Merino arrives.
This is true. That said, watching Timber today, he has similar ability with regards to turning out of trouble… I’ve maybe not seen enough to judge his passing.
Is it time to start the classic defender to CDM discussion?
It’s the first day of the season and we give a let off for Saliba making 3 suicidal passes but Partey gets cooked for less.
His legs aren’t the problem, it’s his casual play when receiving the ball under pressure and facing the goal- often he turns right into an opponent or stabs a very obvious pass right into the center of the park, and this creates a transition we have to defend. Perhaps the team need to communicate better when we are building from the back.
Tired muscles lead to bad passes
Believe him, he’s a doctor!
He was making the same type of error in the first half
He’s got a loose pass in him at any time for sure, but second half he fell off a cliff physically. Which is nothing new since the end of last season and on the rare occasions he’s been fit. This playe is now a situational substitute, not a starter.
His ceiling is 60 minutes. I agree with the good Dr., Partey physically is not the same player who wowed us in his first season with us. This physical decline coupled with his availability issues means he’s a squad player for us now. These are reasons why no one came in for him.
Agree, central midfield is a must to reinforce. Rice needs to be rested every now and then and Merino gives us a zero drop off in quality. The price is 20 odd mil. Absolute no brainer. Really hope we can get it done….
Agree — it’s looking like it may be into the €30s but still absolutely worthwhile.
Another midfield controller type would be nice, esp if Mikel no longer trusts Jorgi. I had high hopes for Zinchenko this season with a bit more variety and a fit Martinelli ahead of him, but didn’t show any signs of being able to dictate tempo today. I’ll rewatch and maybe talk myself into it again, but I can see why they tried so hard for Zubimendi last summer.
But Rice isn’t a midfield controller and neither seems to be Merino. So even if he arrives, I feel we’re lacking a starting #6?
Yes exactly
Partey played well and he is strong technically. But we forget we were playing a very good Wolves side and Partey is not going to have an easy day. Overall I am very happy with Partey, but we still need depth in a long season and Merino is definitely needed.
People literally just making stuff up about Partey. He played well… But agendas gonna agend, I suppose.
Gotta love Mikel
You know that I’m not going to say anything.
Who is that and what did he do to saliba????!?!?!
I think Saliba averages around one real mistake every 8 or 10 games, so he ought to be good the rest of the season. Seriously, maybe another week on holiday might have been worth it.
I mean the picture
Saliba fastest Arsenal player ever to 50 PL wins? That’s absolutely massive, obviously a testament too to the team around him, but at this point I think nobody doubts how important he is to this team and us having the bulletproof defense that virtually guarantees us a win if we can score one or two up front. Which now that we’ve got Kai “Machine Gun” Havertz shouldn’t be a problem anymore. My guess from how Arteta talks is if Timber comes back to training tomorrow in one piece then we might have seen Zinchenko starting at LB for the last… Read more »
30 clean sheets in 66 games is crazy!
This Bukayo Saka chap is pretty good eh?
10 years ago:
Wenger on the transfer market…
“At the moment, the market is quiet a little bit. But, if I find someone who could improve the team, you will be the first to know!”
So Alex is the nickname for Zinchenko
There are some obvious restrictions physically for Partey and I think we are starting to see teams understand when to jump in and take advantage of that. He is still a hyper aware player especially looking forward. We can still get the most from him, but he basically isn’t the ultra press resistant midfielder that we have anymore. That title used to be Zinchenko but now it’s Odegaard which explains why he drops deep. I’m a little concerned with overworking Odegaard and Saka. And maybe Rice after his marathon season and tournament. Merino’s arrival will certainly be welcome. The next… Read more »
Some players have the ability to play every three days, (obviously not literally over 9-10 months- some weeks there´s more rest) – others don´t
Ethan was made in a lab to be the MF profile we lack