Arsenal: Raya; Partey, Timber, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Rice, Merino, Ødegaard; Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard
Subs: Neto, Tierney, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji, Kabia, Kacurri
Arsenal have lost ground on Liverpool, throwing away a two goal lead to draw 2-2 at the Emirates against Aston Villa. Arsenal were ahead through Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz, but conceded two goals in 8 minutes.
Mikel Arteta was forced to re-shape his defence as William Saliba missed out with a muscle issue. Jurrien Timber moved to centre back and Thomas Partey moved to right back, with Mikel Merino coming into midfield. Arteta’s other change to Wednesday night’s team saw Gabriel Martinelli replace Raheem Sterling.
Emi Martinez was forced into action after three minutes. Raya played a long pass to Rice following a corner. Rice took the ball down and from the left played an excellent cross. Martinelli stuck out a leg and made contact, but Martinez saved at full stretch.
Arsenal, though, were on the front foot, and Rice won a corner after combining with Ødegaard on the right side.
Thomas Partey should’ve put Arsenal in front from a corner on 9 minutes. Rice’s corner went to the back post, Gabriel headed across goal, and Partey shot over from close range as Martinez hit the deck, which perhaps would’ve ended up prompting a disallowed goal.
Aston Villa put together their first spell of pressure after Partey’s effort, and Maatsen inadvertently played a one-two off Rice to set him into the penalty box, but Raya beat away his shot.
On 17 minutes Trossard prompted a Martinez save as he shot from the edge of the penalty box after good play from Havertz. At the other end, Watkins received Rogers’ flicked pass and was one on one against Gabriel, who got a foot in.
Havertz then shot wide from 25 yards after neat one touch football between Lewis-Skelly and Merino as Arsenal regained some control after Villa’s period of pressure.
Chris Kavanaugh then made the game about him, booking Mikel Arteta for reasons that were not clear.
Thomas Partey, continuing the tradition of terrible Arsenal full back throw-ins, threw the ball straight to Watkins in Arsenal’s own third, and with Raya off his line Watkins shot. Luckily, the shot went slightly over the crossbar.
Martinelli had been getting behind Maatsen throughtout the game, and he did so again to put Arsenal ahead on 35 minutes. Merino slipped Trossard behind Kamara, who crossed to the center, and Martinelli, getting ahead of Maatsen, stuck a leg out. Martinez tried to repel the shot, but did so from behind the goal line. 1-0.
Trossard then shot just over the bar after Martinelli won the ball back. Partey then cleverly slipped Merino in, and from an inside right position he looked to curl his shot, but it went wide.
Arsenal finished the half on top, but still in search of a second goal.
With Maatsen on a booking, Unai Emery swapped his left backs at half time, as Digne came on. Arsenal were unchanged.
Arsenal started the half on the front foot. Ødegaard played an excellent free kick, but Havertz, who made good contact, couldn’t redirect his header.
Lewis-Skelly, slipped in by Trossard, played a superb ball across the box, but no Arsenal player was there for the tap-in, and Digne cleared behind for a corner.
Arsenal were dominant, and their dominance was rewarded on the 55 minutes. Trossard teased Cash, separated from him and crossed with his left foot. Havertz got in front of Mings and met the cross, hitting his left footed shot hard enough that it had too much power for Martinez. 2-0.
Aston Villa cut the deficit in half on the hour mark. Digne, unchallenged crossed, and Tielemans, charging from midfield, got ahead of Merino, stooping low to head past Raya. 2-1.
Tielemans almost leveled the score a minute later. Watkins carried the ball down the left, and looked for Rodgers. Arsenal scrambled the ball away, but Tielemans ran onto the ball and skimmed a shot that hit the post and went out.
Arsenal looked to reassert some control, and after a corner, Gabriel scooped the ball over the top for Martinelli, who acrobatically volleyed wide of Martinez’s near post.
Trossard was booked after he chopped Watkins down, who had carried the ball into the Arsenal half after a corner.
From the free kick, Aston Villa equalised. Arsenal cleared the first ball, but not the second. Cash, with his left foot crossed deep into the box. Watkins just ran off Partey, found wanting again, and volleyed past Raya. 2-2.
Rice fired a shot just wide from 25 yards, as Arsenal sought to regain a foothold in the game.
Emery brought Duran for Watkins on 79 minutes.
Rice played a wonderful ball to set Partey in from the right, but rather than shoot from a narrow angle, Partey cut the ball back for Ødegaard, who was surrounded by two Villa defenders and had his shot blocked.
Raheem Sterling replaced Gabriel Martinelli on 82 minutes.
Villa countered, and Bailey set the ball back for Bogarde. His shot was straight at Raya, but through a sea of legs, and Raya nearly fumbled the shot.
Arsenal seemingly re-took the lead on 88 minutes. Rice did superbly well to break into the box and crossed. The ball came out to Merino who bounced his shot, which deflected in. The shot, though, deflected off Havertz’s arm, and was ruled out by VAR.
As the match entered 7 minutes of stoppage time, Trossard’s cut back for Merino saw his shot hit the post, and then Trossard’s shot was parried behind by Martinez.
Sterling lost the ball to Duran, chopped Duran down, and was booked.
On 95 minutes, Lewis-Skelly played an exceptional through ball for Trossard, who collected the pass but shot just wide with his left foot.
In the final minute of stoppage time, Sterling looked to go past Digne and was fouled on the right. Ødegaard’s delivery was overhit. Martinez easily claimed and then the full time whistle went.
has anybody considered the possibility that we might be cursed?
this is officially the season from hell – wrecked by injuries to the point that we had Ismeal Kabia and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji on the bench, but we might have lost more points to PGMOL than to our injuries. That ball hit Kai in the stomach, it was 100% clear. What. The. Fuck.
or hip… torso basically, clearly not any part of his limbs.
Giving away 2 goal lead at home is just unacceptable. I hate to say this but we definitely bottled it.
Define bottled it? You’ve been reading too much anti-Arsenal press – there’a lot of it around.
It absolutely hit him in the arm…unlucky but still clearly hits his arm.
Looks like it hit his forearm to me honestly. Who knows, we’ve been so unlucky this year and can’t blame any of the lads, they give it there all and honestly having all that’s happened to us so far and the refs CLEARLY having it in for us, being 2nd is a bit of an achievement at the moment. But we didn’t get our transfers rights this year, we absolutely needed some more power up front and on the wing. Don’t know who to blame for that but I doubt the plan was to sign Sterling last minute on loan.
It has to be clear and obvious to overturn it. If you’re saying ‘who knows’ then it wasn’t clear and obvious and all your other comments can be saved for another day. We won tonight and were denied by a corruption that runs deep in the PGMOL.
Unfortunately it was very clear and very obvious. Google it…
Lol: I literally said that the refs clearly have it in for us.
…because how did we start getting these spate of utterly devastating injuries the season City are sh#t?!
In my mind, the season is over. We need to stop buying injury-prone players, btw.
that’s a chicken and egg thing though, are they injury prone before we buy them, or do they become injury prone after we buy them?
I think only Calafiori is a clear case of the former?
The only curse here are the usual biased bent fucking refs. Replace them and I guarantee you this so called curse is magically lifted.
We are so slow in attack. I can only assume we’re trying to bore the opposition to death.
Style is the man.
This season is down to an vacancy at the sporting director position. Edu didn’t do shit all summer and we’re paying the price now.
Thats nonsense. Arteta got all the players he wanted. The Kroenkes do have a limit on spend though.
He probably spent most of it chasing Sesko Califiori Merino and a keeper called Joan. The players Arteta wanted. Arteta picks the players. Edu left because he got an promotion.
Bottom line is we got really complacent we got second goal. Cannot do that. We gave it away.
Yep, gave it away is the best way to describe this one
tp isn‘t a defender…
Mikel thinks he is, played him at right back 1st game of the season I believe and keeps coming back to it. He’s starting to look stubborn by going back to it. Weakens the defence and midfield.
Yeah why cant we switch formation? Even Pep, from time to time, will switch it midgame.
KT plays left centre back for Scotland. Arteta seems desperate to keep him out of the team when he can do a job there. The guy played for Rangers, KT is a Celtic legend. Gonna leave it there.
All due respect to Scotland, but…
Same has to be said for Ukraine and the “Zinchenko can play No. 10” pleas.
For sure we Don’t have any luck this season
I’m tired boss..
That is really the feeling now. So messed up this season. Injuries, almost all 50-50 decisions going against, some poor form, some players well off the boil and quite a shitty summer transfer window.
Despite all that, we looked great in the first half today! Best I’ve seen us play in weeks. Second half not so much, but again squad depth really killing us right now.
Yeah we were pretty decent in the first half
Thought it was more hip than hand from havertz?
Thought so too
How is all the commentary that its just so obvious – haven’t seen one of those angles that shows the contact w/ the arm. There is a lot of top spin when it goes in – so maybe where the ball is traveling up his arm sort of blocks it back down and in? But again – where is the boomerang footage of the ball hitting his arm?
Just looked again, it’s his right forearm
Are you in the var van by chance up in stokley park? Because I haven’t seen shit besides the broadcast angle and behind the goal.
Hey, I don’t like it either but look it up
It hits his arm Alex Jones.
people have blinkers on, they wish to believe we were done another injustice, rather than admit that we’re not good enough
Watched it many times and just can’t see the contact with the arm from the tv footage. I’m fine with it hitting the hand but just can’t see it
I’ve got it on the dvr and watched the broadcast footage back and forth several times- that’s why I asked if he’s up in the var van
Ok watched it again for the hundreth time, clearly hits his right arm. Don’t understand why I didn’t see it before
I think the first footage in real time from Merino’s angle is pretty obvious. When they slow it down on the later footage it’s impossible to see the change of direction from the arm
Please provide this?
How has this team become so slow in transition? In both directions!
Has always been
I think the team is fatigued right now. Small squad, injury-hit, squad further depleted, hardly options to rotate etc. It has been a strange season fr.
Shouldn’t be a surprise though l. Two gruelling title challenges in a row, no success, plus the intensity that arteta demands every game. That will take a physical and psychological toll on anyone. Makes the lack of summer signings really odd.
Also… isn’t this window open yet? Why has nothing been done?
Where is the ambition?
I really hope the club isn’t taking the goodwill they’ve built up for granted because things will get messy again if fans don’t see their ambition matched.
They apparently practice quite a lot!! Guess we practice 3 things these: win corners, score from corners and then be absolute shit in transition.
The lads are fucking nackered.
Thin squad will do that.
Did that definitely hit Havertz’s hand? That’s seemed like a really quick VAR decision and I thought it had hit his hip???!
It absolutely did not.
They usually take at least 3 minutes of review to find any way possible to overturn an Arsenal goal. This time they decided it would be worse for Arsenal if they only took one or two quick looks and overturned.
I wonder if they were swayed somehow by the TV commentary? The commentator immediately decided it hit his hand just as everyone at home was clearly seeing it didn’t, and I can’t imagine two people coming to that conclusion completely separately.
Do you think they’re watching with sky sports commentary on???
Wouldn’t put anything past them.
probably not the VAR himself, but maybe someone who is has a communication line to the VAR and can tell them “hey they said on TV it his his hand, so you can/should rule it out” ?
Sounds a bit crazy, but it’s just too weird for me that the VAR decision on something that was at the very least extremely hard to tell, if not clearly not a hand ball, was made that quickly.
Yeah, I just find that hard to believe to be honest. PGMOL have a lot to answer for but I’d have to draw the line at being swayed by TV commentators, especially where it’s clearly biased at times.
It’s not as much being swayed by them but essentially doing what they always do which is to cater to public opinion, to care more about whether they look good to the majority of the public than about getting the decision right. And the TV commentary influences public opinion about incidents in the game more than anything else probably, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they cared about aligning themselves with it.
I think it brushed his hand
However, if that happened in our box, that would not have been a penalty. His hand was in a fairly natural position close to his body and he was trying to move his hand out of the way. The core deflection was off his hip and that’s what caused it to go in
The quickness with which that was decided makes me wonder. I am not usually high on conspiracy theories, and usually put a lot down to obviously shitty refereeing and just plain simply 50-50s not going in favor, but that there, a decision that could be important in the title race and we barely get a few replays. What was the hurry?
Am I insane? I am not seeing how it hit Havertz arm.
At the very least, is it not close enough for the ref to go check himself?
More gaslighting from people who don’t want Arsenal to win the league. Namely, PGMOL.
It’s clearly up for debate, the fact they did not at the very least call the ref to the screen to go have a look for himself and decide is baffling.
interesting Declan Rice’s comments last week (were they addressed in Arseblog? I don’t think they were on the podcast) about how people don’t recognise him as much anymore because he plays for Arsenal and people don’t like Arsenal. That made me feel so bad for him that he feels like that. What a shitty country this is in footballing terms.
*that his quality as a player doesn’t get recognised as much anymore that is
I’m American – but in the 25 years I’ve been watching Arsenal I’ve gotten the feeling that “football men” only consider northern England to be ‘proper English’. Arsenal in particular are ‘that foreign team’, so makes sense we are hated so much. Despite several PMs and the Royal family mostly supporting us!
interesting and probably to some extent true, but that wouldn’t explain why Chelsea aren’t hated nearly as much as we are despite not being northern, nor more English than we are – literally everything they’ve achieved has been under the ownership of a Russian oligarch and foreign managers.
Sorry to say, but Arteta hasn’t done himself any favours on the PR front. I”m very glad he’s our manager, but I can understand why so many people find him unlikeable during his post-match interviews. I’ve said this a few times before, and it is an unpopular opinion here. In the real world, being likeable is important for success in lots of professions. We all read how Coote had a personal animosity against Liverpool. I doubt he’s the only one to have it in for a team. It sucks, of course, and refs should never have these kinds of bias.
His recent interviews have been very embarrassing. How many times is he going to say ‘we had an unbelievable result’, or it was a ‘1000 to 1 match’, when we have not won a game.
“Totally dominated” sounds great But in spite of recent results, and our tendency to play a slow game in transition to an almost boring-if safeer-approach, I’d prefer to give up a bit of the control for some spicy chaos, who knows, add some deserving bodies in the window if possible and fix it when its broke. Domestically, nothing to lose now, and if we were to fail with this new ‘extreme’ approach, with this calibre of players for minimum fourth, then we may as well pack up tools and go work at McDonalds. But lets try the chaos that worked… Read more »
Kavanaugh is the Mr bean of refs.
Corruption is easily hidden as incompetence.
I just mean he’s a nearsighted dope.
VAR stitched us up again, couldn’t be bothered/didn’t want to look and ref didn’t want to see. Two points to the fucking corrupt bastards at PGMOL.
Completely agree. Tonight was corruption. Twice their number 44, on a yellow, kicks the ball away delaying the restart. Mr corruption refuses to punish him both times. The second time was very late and would have made no difference, but it’s no less a yellow.
lol you’ve gotta be blind. in real time, i thought it definitely hit havertz’s torso, but it quite clearly hits his forearm on replay.
How can so many people agree with this bs, the ball clearly hit his arm. This is why Arsenal fans get ridiculed. Blame the team for throwing away a 2 goal lead, instead of blaming refs and VAR, everytime we drop points.
We’re useless; I’ll watch the matches but tired of watching a toothless team that makes schoolboys mistakes in defence
What? Given our injuries and our standing second in the league despite those and various shit ref decisions, you think we’re useless?…
I presume you’re 12…..time for bed
i never insulted anyone, and will not turn down to your level.
yes, we are, the team that we have is useless, we know how hard it’s to win the premier and how squad depth is/was and has always been totally inadequate.
What level? You’re calling our team useless because of this loss. Looking at the disallowed goal we should have won it anyway, despite having our key players missing.
But ok, you vent and stay on your genius level 👍
*draw 😂
Merino’s shot deflected off Kai’s forearm. There’s an angle that clearly shows this. We drew because the team stopped fighting at 2-0, and our coach deployed our best DMF at RB.
I said “we I put myself into the useless bunch;
You never insulted anyone, other than the entire Arsenal team. And did it again in this reply.
I said “we I put myself into the useless bunch;
Oh, I didn’t realise you played for us? Apologies 🙏
This team got 89 points last year and are currently 2nd in the league. Moron
Your clear hatred of our team is insult enough. But your nativity is what’s fundamentally hurtful. A team can only improve from where they are transitioning from and to do that with FFP and limited cash to try and compete with Liverpool and city sides who a few years ago were miles ahead of us is very hard. Keeping optimistic, slaying things that should be slated like the ref and VAR tonight, and backing your own team and fan base should be fundamentals. Fundamentals you sadly lack.
Saka is the only regular player that’s injured. Don’t forget, we weren’t playing great football before his injury. Jesus, Nwaneri, Sterling are rotational players. Saliba was the only regular other than Saka that was missing today. We sold 4 attacking players (Nketiah, Viera, Smith Rowe and Nelson) and brought 1 player to take on that responsibility.
What about Saliba?
Oh yeah, you remembered him further down….
So, our best players?
Saliba, Ben White, Nwaneri, Jesus, Califiori, etc. etc.
In addition to Saka, our best and most indispensable player, along with Saliba.
Exactly. I just think we’re a bit cursed this season, but somehow we’re still second. That is not ‘useless’.
I am gutted though. This feels like the end of any chance we had in the league unless Liverpool get some injuries….
Saliba, white, saka, and a starting left back all out today. That’s 4 of 11.
Think you’re forgetting one Benjamin White there. If he’s available Partey is not playing right back and I doubt that second goal happens.
Oh right, so just our most important attacker and our most important defender. Nothing.
We weren’t having a great season, even when they were both in the team. My point is, we are light at the attacking half of the squad. We needed reinforcements, surely our very well paid management team that run the club should have planned better. Arteta said it at the beginning and also during the season that our aim is to win every competition, surely you need to be equipped better to achieve those objectives. It’s poor management from people who clearly should know and do better.
I think Ben White is a regular and he’s injured!
Mate, no. As others have said, missing regular RBs is huge because we suffer a double whammy: missing a good RB, AND Partey is not playing in his best position.
That’s clearly not right. As it stands we have the best deference in the prem
We have the best defence because the team is playing an expanded version of Hansen passing the ball back to Grobbelaar.
Last few minutes and I just don’t believe we’re gonna score. We might score, we might not, but the magic of the last two years isn’t there.
Remember Jorginho v Villa away? Remember Nelson. Just not the same, something’s changed, don’t know what.
We brought on Sterling
Says it all
Yep, definitely part of it. Nelson out for this guy. Saw ESR scored today for Fulham too. But I’m supposed to believe Merino is an upgrade.
Merino is a different type of player. Sterling is taking the place of esr if anything, and I’d rather have inanimate carbon rod or Barnaby stingwing in there instead of donuts.
merino aspires to be iwobi !
Exactly. We threw away our academy talents (think Nelson could be better than Martinelli as well if he’d be given half the support) and brought a workhorse in Merino.
Spot on, a shambolic transfer window! Would prefer a Nelson over 30 plus Sterling. Sterling signing is more like supporting a neighbour in trouble.
Can’t argue with that. We were playing way better football the last two seasons. With due respect to Nelson and ESR, I don’t think they’re absence accounts for our drop in form, even pre-Saka/White. Odegaard was out for a few weeks, but he wasn’t as slick as last season either before or after his injury. The early red cards fucked us, but I don’t see this kind of thing hanging over Rice for *that* long, right? He’s been OK, but not like last season when we were crowdfunding to give West Ham more for him! Was it the Euros and… Read more »
In the last 4 home games we are out of three competitions. Lokm at the bench in those games. Dereliction by the club and is totally unacceptable.
Arsenal dug deep and came up with a goal only to be done over by refs/VAR again. Foregone conclusion. This bent fucking officiating makes me nauseous. Is there even any point watching the PL anymore?
Dude, it clearly hit his arm. No question. It sucks but that’s how it goes.
Even if it hit his arm, which it didn’t, he has both of them firmly pulled into his body. I know that’s how it goes because those are the bent incompetents we have to officiate. But it fucking well is not right.
Google “ball touches the arm of goal scorer”. There is no wiggle room for the arm being tucked in or for the contact being unintentional. It’s clearly different from the pen rules which are forgiving towards the defender. The ball touched Kai’s arm. I saw it, commentators saw it, the ref saw it. End of fucking of. (Yes)
Totally inconsistent rule and didn’t touch his arm.
How can a rule be “totally inconsistent”? It’s a rule. Did you mean inconsistently applied? Probably. Did it touch his arm? I say yes, you say no. We can both live with that, I’m sure.
Hey but we have our financial health, that’s the important thing. See you next year. Unless City have actually bamboozled a tribunal into buying their bull. In which case, see you.
I think they have, else Haaland wouldn’t have just signed for 10 years. I expect them to have a 10 point deduction at the end of this season which doesn’t affect their past or future.
Kroenkes would be thrilled with 3 back to back EPL runner ups. They may even refer to it as a three-peat.
Can we please stop playing Partey at RB every other game now
Concentrate on the top 4. Anything else is a bonus. The team is cripped by the injury of one key player to whom we rely on too heavily every game. Do better in the transfer window, because the summer one was borderline abysmal.
I don’t think we should concentrate on anything other than just going game by game and focusing on winning.
Forget the title, forget top 4, just win the next one and repeat.
2/2 extinct reptiles concur
3/3
Thank you my brothers in (tiny) arms
If only Havertz had dino arms 🙅♂️
It was proper shambles. Wonder what was Califiori injury history prior to signing for this club
Wasn’t Ian Wright saying that “ by brining in Sterling on loan was a master stroke signing?”
sorry weighty you got that massively wrong. I hope we send him back to Chelsea real soon
Wrighty has admitted his error. I was excited to, tbh.
I’ve taken a lot of anatomy classes in my education, and never once did they teach us that the torso is a part of the arm.
look at Kai’s reaction, he’s telling his teammates that it hit his hand,
Good at lip reading? Also a body language expert by chance?
“Clearly comes off Havertz’s forearm.” More gaslighting.
The NBC commentary in the states couldn’t wait to get that out into the world, too. Cunts.
Just what is the point of Raheem Sterling?
He gives the ball away. He falls over for no earthly reason. His only contribution is in frustrating fans.
Would he do any better against an under-9 team on a Sunday morning? I’m not entirely sure.
He’s a waste of a space on the bench and a passenger when he’s on the pitch. One of the youngsters would at least run.
When he committed the foul after losing the ball I literally screamed, you could tell he was going to do it too
He’s so out of shape it’s not even funny- how is that not a breach of artetas famous rules? I’d rather have auba back. Or even a 50 year old paddy
Bring on a youngster or bring on zinchenko, but no more Sterling
He has two functional legs – more or less.
Fast becoming our worst signing of all time.
And that’s saying something.
Considering the need for Proper backup for Saka, considering that that could have been a defining factor in winning the title in 20 years, this Sterling loan is, for me, the most baffling signing for the past 10-12 years.
Hes getting real close to Gervinho now
If we played like we played last year or the year before we would be winning the league this season. Of course, Arsenal decide to have an off season when City have one. Said it 2/3 games ago and got slated on here, i am sick of being an Arsenal fan & let down year after year after year, we can all see the problems we have, and Arsenal will not fix it. Year after year the same crap. It is time for Arteta to move on he has taken us as far as he can, and like Wenger, is… Read more »
Partey Right Back, Merino left 8 and Rice 6 is not for me. Doesn’t work. Hasn’t worked.
Has it not occurred to you that Partey at Right Back might just be down to injuries, namely Tomi, Ben White and (indirectly) Saliba?
Perhaps he knows about the injury crisis but then sees three international defenders on the bench, and opines that it is better to play a Kiwior at CB and Timber at RB. Partey in midfield (our best midfielder this season). That may have turned out worse. But he has a right to his opinion.
2-0 We had a 2 on 2 but Martinelli fucked it up, moments later 2-1 then Trossard give away a needless free kick, moments later 2-2. Clearly hit Havertz arm for the disallowed goal. We are not cursed but signed one quality player in the past 2 summers – Rice but the rest are bang average at best. Arteta is too agitated on the touchline which rubs off on the players, he won’t win us the league this year or ever
I think Timber and Raya are above average, signed in the passed two summers.
I’m done. Mikel out, he can take his galaxy brain BS with him.
Thomas Partey has no clue about defending, just lets people run past him as though he’s not there, and he has no clue about attacking, passing sideways and backwards when we needed to go forward. We need our fullbacks back like yesterday. The left side fullback was the problem today. And that wasn’t a handball by Kai, PGMOL doing their best to fuck us over again, cunts.
Your love for the man has been clear from day one, when he left Diego for Mikel.
There has been a Partey in your brain ever since, but he is far from being our worst player, past or present, ‘maybe’ even on and off the field.
I prefer him in our team (with what we have ), i prefer him further up the pitch, but behind Odegaard.
Off field i prefer to talk about garden gnomes or our jersey (template) designs and our away kits going from great (black and lemon) to worse…
……bit like our performances 😵💫🙄🤨😲😢
Clutching at straws but still not convinced that Merinos shot hit Havertz on the arm & even if it did – was it in an unnatural position?
It doesn’t matter. The handball rule is totally unfair. You don’t get a penalty if the ball hits a defender’s arm in a natural position, but a goal has to be disallowed if it strikes an attacker’s arm, even accidentally, under any circumstance.
Stupid rule.
An excellent Arsenal performance that deserved the win.
For once, you couldn’t complain about our forward play: we were very good and carved out enough chances to win it. Both Martinelli and Trossard were excellent. At 2-0 we were cruising and the points seemed secure.
But the defending was woeful and it cost us two points.
The decision to disallow the goal was right so we can’t complain about the ref.
It was the defending that was to blame: shame. It’s usually our strongest point.
Title over.
I don’t think the decision to disallow the goal was correct. No one can point to any still that shows the ball in contact with Havertz’s arm. It’s anything BUT clear. To have it disallowed is yet another injustice perpetrated against the club by the officials. The PGMOL is a disgraceful organization and a stain on English football.
Would not say our forward player was without complain, far from it, but yes defensively it was really poor. Missing Saliba was probably the reason, but then you can’t expect a player to play all games.
Fats, it is rare for me to agree with you, but, on this I am in complete agreement
Ooooh no you didn’t say title over!!!
You had me until ‘Title over’
I still say it ain’t over, but – and this is a BUT – we need at least one decent signing in this window, or the title will be over.
And that will be on the board for not investing enough. Time for Stan and Josh to do their bit. They are as culpable as the manager and the players.
That we can agree. City just splashed 60 mil on marmoush and we’re still dicking around hand-wringing about whether we should wait for “a better player” in the summer” rather than going all in on a striker and winger right NOW! If we end up with no one that will be unacceptable from the owners.
Do you have hope that the club will make major signing this window?
Not really, Shivam. We should its crying out for all to see, but circumstances navigate and the board should know, we will be paying a premium, because it isn’t the 1970’s, and everyone who knows everyone who knows everyone else, or has some sauces from the ITK tribe will eventually figure out that we have a lay-by bench of academy super-stars, and we could use some legs to help tie us over, if anything. They may-be misses, or they may just do enough to help us tick over for a top 3 or at best an Ar (s)havin type of… Read more »
Sadly, I will be very very surprised if we do.
I see once again our name being linked to every one out there, but our track record for splashing out big in January is, well, zilch.
Would be nice, but I don’t see it.
I’m trying to remain positive about the title race and mathematically it’s still on. But with our luck, I can only see The Slowest Car Crash In The History Of Mankind between now at May – at the moment.
Come on Arsenal – off the field, as much as on it…..
Spot on fats.
👏👏👏
except your last words…
Lack of squad depth tells. Partey is no right back. On the first goal he barely tried to close down and stop the cross on second goal he just let Watkins run off him as he was ball watching. Merino should have been stronger on that first goal also.
So frustrating as yet again Arsenal totally dominated. Also, if we had another striker we could at least throw them on so we had two strikers on the pitch
Liverpool are dominating this season as they have the deepest squad
I know our squad is down to bare bones but I do not want to see Sterling play for us. Send Setford in FFS.
No excuses. Buck stops with the management and the poor planning and transfer activity. Playing same players out of position, over relying on a handful of players to dig them out. Every season it’s the same. Perennial bottlers. As has been the case for years, when the going gets tough they fail.
Harsh. Today I thought we were superb in the first half. Best I’ve seen us play in weeks. Second half we became complacent. Villa changed tactics and it worked for them. Our makeshift defense got exposed as a result. Bad luck we lost Saliba but more annoying is again not having Califiori fit who could have come in and played cb. He wasn’t even in the squad! He’s lost more games to injury than he’s played this year. He’s another Tomi and it’s clear he’s a bad buy despite having a lot of talent. Very frustrating.
We had two left backs on the bench today; three if you count Kiwior. Two others not in the squad due to chronic injury issues. Meanwhile, our big attacking hope off the bench is…Raheem Sterling.
Our squad building really needs to come under the microscope at this point.
Agree to great extent. Yes the club is cursed injury wise this season, but Saka and Jesus are the only attacking options injured. And Jesus at this point (like Tomi is almost always injured). While with all the injuries in defence we still have 3 international defenders in the subs. Squad building has to be looked at.
So deflating. I think that’s our title run over now. Missed chances to close the gap and now it’s widened. Dropped so many points due to awful refereeing decisions… I’ve still not seen an angle where I’m convinced it came off Havertz arm…
We scored 2 good goals and played well, then decided the game is over and dropped deep with everyone behind the ball. Yet somehow we forget to mark their fullbacks and runners into the box? To have such lapses in concentration when you’re supposedly in a title race is not good enough. We’ll lose out on the PL again, but this year we can only say we were not good enough. Threadbare, mismanaged squad. Questionable summer transfers. Not enough rotation causing injuries to key players.
It’s difficult not to be gutted today after being two goals up 60mins in and having played so well first 45. Big kick in the nuts this one.
And Pool scoring 2 at 92′ and 94′ with Darwin fucking Nuñez of all people.
Partey was looking for offsides on the second goal, which given the broken play preceding it and the back four that had never played together, wasn’t a great option.
First, Sterling is useless. We should have just kept Nelson. At least he’s an Arsenal lad.
Second, the injuries have killed us. Losing Saliba and playing Partey at RB was a problem. He’s just not great there and was at fault for the second goal. I think we’d have been better keeping Timber at RB and playing Kiwior centrally.
And if it hasn’t been said enough already, we need another attacker in.
absolutly spot on!
Amen
I’m not giving up on the league until it is mathematically impossible.
Our wretched luck continues.
We just have to regroup, refocus and go again.
Four months of football still to be played; it ain’t over yet.
COYG
Damn straight it’s not over.
As fans we need to stop blaming ref decisions etc, we don’t create enough, we’re not clinical enough, so when the slightest thing doesn’t go our way we blame it!!……. But when will we start to open our eyes about the decisions that are being made etc around team selection!?!? It’s clear to see that playing Partey at right back doesn’t work & consistently costs us!!!! He closed the cross down for the first goal like a 75 year old & where the hell was going for 2nd goal when he should have been marking Watkins, I just haven’t got… Read more »
I’m not blaming Partey for being shit at RB…I blame the manager for playing him there! TP has been excellent for us in midfield this season, we shouldn’t forget that. Not his fault he’s stuck at RB to accommodate Merino etc
It is a shity rule not sure if it actually hit his arm but if it does it is because he have a arm it is tight to the body
If this rules out a goal then maybe all contact with arms should always be a faul regardless of position even if it is not a goal
It’s clear; if it hits the goalscorers’ arm the goal cannot stand. So
Can we put this comment on the top, please, to save us from having to read “tucked in” over and over again?
Guys, we have a wonderful team that is amazing to watch. Yes, the probable outcome is not what we wanted,but I love watching these young men fight and scrap.
so it isn’t the end of the world, ok?
No, not the end of the world, just the title race effectively. That said, this is a good group, but if this continues most will probably move on in a season or two.
VAR makes me not celebrate us scoring as expressive as I used to, because now there are apparently 150 possible reasons to disallow, and commentators arent helping, saying stuff like “great goal, but wasnt X doing Y?” Remember Lukaku vs Slovakia? It was funny as hell but I bet he still occasionaly wakes up in the middle of the night screaming
How can it be the hand. It was not outstretched.
And I couldn’t decipher which part of the hand did the ball ultimately hit.
So Bad
Liverpool could not have been any luckier this season. In a season where one thought it was going to be a fierce, competitive battle for the trophy, one club is practically strolling to the cup while we are practically patching the team up to get to the finish line.
Sadly, At the end of this season, unlike the previous four or five, the luckiest team is going to win trophy. Not the best team.
That is a little too much simplification. While, Arsenal have indeed been quite unlucky with the injuries, Pool have been very good too. 50 points in 21 games can be down to luck only.
Every other games we lost or drew haters went after our forwards, today the game game was lost defensively but haters will still lament about squad depth . Rome was not built in a day, transfer window is still open and we are looking . We are fan of arsenal , and it is not defined by one manager or a player . We love the badge. So keep showering love and onto the next one. There’s enough hate already . I have been supporting since the 90’s and and have seen the ups and downs but i always believe… Read more »
Sure, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but if Calafiori was around at the time the city would never have been built at all, and all roads would lead to the fucking physio room.
😂
1 win in 4 home games and we were lucky to beat the (not worth writing who)Again it seems when Arsenal need to really step up it all goes pear shape, WHY? Sadly I don’t have the answer, wish I did. But win lose or draw I will support Arsenal till I die, then I will piss on the rest from above.
Comment of the day.
I never was a fan of him but really hate to see Partey as right back. Why not play Kiwior at CB and leave Timber on the right?
my thought…
The handball decision was very harsh to say the least. No replay offers a clear confirmation that the ball hit his arm. Not to mention the Newcastle goal against some amateurs when Joelinton practically controlled the ball with his hand and the goal stood. Having said that, we should never have let them come back. I hope it ultimately showed Arteta how freaking stupid is positioning Partey as a fullback. All in all, the way I feel it, this season might as well be over.
The replay I saw does…clear as day it hit his arm.
Reverse the scenario and Villa get a winner like that and everybody would be moaning about it. That was a hand ball clear as day and off course the goal should not have stood.
If we are not going to use Kiwior then sell him now whilst there is interest.
Party at RB again has cost us.
I asked chatGPT:
Who was on VAR duty tonight when Arsenal played Aston Villa?
ChatGPT:
The VAR official for the Arsenal vs. Aston Villa match on January 18, 2025, was Paul Tierney.
Follow up question:
Which club does Paul Tierney support?
ChatGPT:
Paul Tierney is a supporter of Liverpool FC. However, as a referee, he is required to remain impartial and not let his personal allegiances influence his decisions on the pitch.
🤣🤣🤣
It’s funny how so many people have moaned about Zubamendi and not enough attacking players, we win this game with him. Arteta has made comments about the lack of creative players and trying to bring them in. Arsenal simply don’t have the funds to match Sh*ty and now even Newc*stle but for 2 seasons we’ve gone toe to toe for the league. Can’t be easy when other teams seem to breach all the laws about spending but as an Arsenal supporter you should be used to it by now. We’re still in with a chance and as much as it… Read more »
You’re saying if we had zubimendi in the team today we would have won?? How so?
Go two goals up and close shop.
That’s not actually what I meant though, it’s more about how signing a player like Zubamendi shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing, which is how a lot of people have reacted. We do need attacking players but Partey will be leaving and getting a replacement early is good and shouldn’t affect what we do in summer and we can turn our attention to that… But also, conceding a 2 goal lead at home without a means to attack needs us to defend better.
It’s more about getting what we will need early so more attention can be payed to bringing in attacking players But also, yes, him and Rice sitting Infront of the back four helps. If, as everyone keeps saying, we don’t have any goalscorers right now then best we can do is hold onto a lead.
So if Zubi played RB instead of Partey we would have won?
Much improved from previous performances. We looked dangerous, pugnacious and capable. Shame about the goals but if we play with that direction, intent and energy for the rest of the season, we will push Liverpool all the way.
Sure didnt win, but this is the EPL where on its day any team can win. Villa arent a shite team, they are in the champs league. A draw would be ok most of the time. End of the day, Liverpool will drop points, so will Arsenal. Plenty of the season still to go.
we Bash sterling stating he is past it and useless.. but why has no one really mentioned the obvious … when was an extremely one footed left winger ever a right winger ….trossard weak foot is so much stronger then sterling’s weak foot … so arteta needs to bring him on in the left winger position not the right… the guy has spent his whole career playing left wing …and scoring goals with direct goal threat . .. so why handicap the team by playing him on the right ..where he will fumble crosses and run in to the area… Read more »