Arsenal: Cech, Chambers, Mustafi, Holding, Bellerin, Xhaka, Wilshere, Maitland-Niles, Alexis, Ozil, Lacazette
Subs: Ospina, Mertesacker, Coquelin, Elneny, Iwobi, Walcott, Welbeck
—
An amazing second half with four goals saw Arsenal play out an exciting 2-2 draw with Chelsea at the Emirates this evening.
Arsenal were without Laurent Koscielny who was replaced by Rob Holding, while there was a pre-kick off boost with the inclusion of Mesut Ozil who had been doubtful with a knee injury.
It was the Gunners who had the first attempt on goal via a 6th minute Alexis Sanchez free kick which deflected wide as the keeper went the other way. The Chilean almost found Ozil for a close range header from a swift counter, while at the other end Calum Chambers blocked a Hazard shot from inside our box.
However, the young defender showed some inexperience moments later and it could have been costly. He got caught ball watching, Morata was clean through one on one, and he put it well wide when he should have scored. A low cross from our left almost found the Spanish striker but he missed it, allowing Cech to save.
That prompted an extraordinary 60 seconds up the otbher end. After Anthony Taylor waved away claims for a penalty on Maitland-Niles, Alexis cracked a shot which the keeper touched onto the post, before the ball rolled agonisingly across the line to hit the other post without going over. It was so close to the opening goal.
Lacazette’s lovely turn saw him test Courtois but his low shot didn’t quite have the power to trouble the keeper too greatly. Cech had to save from Bakayoko, and when Xhaka committed a foul on the edge of the box, Alonso had the chance to trouble the Arsenal keeper but put it over the bar.
Wilshere and Fabregas traded yellow cards for fouls on each other, and a late chance in the first half created by Hazard could have been more dangerous, but the former Arsenal man skied his shot, to many cheers from the home crowd.
There were no changes from either side at the break, and a wonderful Fabregas pass provided Hazard with a real chance to open the scoring but Cech saved with his feet, and then got back up immediately to push an Alonso header around the post.
Maitland-Niles crossed for Alexis at the back post but it was just too high, before a superb turn from Lacazette put him on one with Courtois, he delayed his shot just a touch, but like his colleague at the other end, Courtois made a great save with his feet.
Arsenal did have the ball in the net but it was ruled out for a foul in the build up, but moments later we went ahead. Ozil played it into the middle, Holding played it back across, the ball deflected into the path of Wilshere who smashed it into the net from a tight angle. 1-0.
Lacazette almost doubled the lead a minute later, but his shot deflected wide of the near post. It was a miss made more frustrating when moments later Bellerin was adjudged to have fouled Hazard in the box, and of course Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot. The Belgian stepped up and made it 1-1.
Kante had a shot deflected wide, and Morata once again had a glorious opportunity for Chelsea but once again fluffed his lines, shooting over when he should have put the visitors ahead.
Danny Welbeck replaced Lacazette in the 80th minute, playing from the left with Alexis moving up top, but hopes he might get a winner were squashed when Chelsea went ahead in the 84th minute. Zappacosta beat Maitland-Niles down the left, Alonso made run across the box, he got ahead of Mustafi and sidefooted home from close range. 1-2.
Arsene Wenger sent on Theo Walcott for Chambers with three minutes of normal time remaining, and it looked as if we’d lose again. Arsenal kept probing though, Mustafi crossed from the right, Alonso headed it out but Bellerin came onto it and half-volleyed home beautifully to make it 2-2.
Straight from kick off, Morata got clean through again, and for the third time he missed a great chance, Cech made a save, and from the rebound Zappacosta smashed a shot off the crossbar.
It was a pulsating game of football, one from which we deserved something and in the circumstances a point seems a fair result.
Good match, half decent result. Though we could be looking at finishing 6th at best, especially if Sp*rs win tomorrow and go 4 points above us. Lovely finish from Jack, very happy for him. The penalty was a shame, meaning Cech wouldn’t get his 200th clean sheet v Chelsea. I like Hector a lot; he is great for one so young, he done over by an overblown dive by Hazard. Not a penalty, again, in my opinion. I love that he came back with a great finish for the equalising goal. AMN did pretty well, growing all the time and… Read more »
I have already lost count of the amount of times a ridiculous penalty has cost us this season.
No point blaming the refs. The defence is utterly useless. Wenger GTFO and take that joke of a defence you have put up with you.
Honestly mate, I don’t know what Wenger did to you but the amount of negativity is almost unbelievable. Does our defense have issues? Yes. Does the fact that we will probably lose both Sanchez and Ozil annoy many Arsenal fans? Yes. Does the staleness coming from the upper level of the club infuriate almost everyone involved at all in supporting the Arsenal? Yes. But at least we can acknowledge this was cracking game of football that was entertaining albeit frustrating, an attacking style of football that is beautiful and fun to support (with the occasional cardiac arrest). If you can’t… Read more »
The most important thing is the result not the entertainment. Entertain when you are 3-0 up.
I support Arsenal to the end. But it is getting a bit infuriating seeing the same inconsistencies over and over again. Sublime going forward. Slick one two passes, but what a nightmare at the back. No mental fortitude.
You can say that about all the clubs 2-6
Ah the classic – I criticise Wenger so I am not a fan – strawman. If Wenger’s one foot was out of the door already that would be great.
I have 1 and a half feet out the door. 20 years of defending like clowns has sucked the enthusiasm clean out of me
Wenger out!
Great game for the neutrals to watch but frightening as a supporter but we deserved the point. Thank goodness Morata is pants.
We can moan about the penalty but if it was the other way round we would expect a penalty.Bellerin should not have put his foot up and give Hazard the chance to go down.
AMN looks good. Hope AW plays him in his correct position soon.
Little cameo at the end by Walcott Offside.
Yup.
Naive at best from Hector to make such a rash challenge.
Nice to get a pointrain bit it doesn’t help us regarding pushing for top four.
Our defence has been woeful. We need to stop allowing goals first. Chelsea bottled some simple chances today which is why the game was alive till it was. A defensive signing this Jan will really really help get to top 4
Chelsea were taken apart by us too.
Alexis hit the post and Lacazette had a couple of chances too he should have buried (never mind Morata)
This is a team that hit five last game and has kept clean sheets so we have to take the positives which is going forward we are brilliant.
But feet of clay.
We are not brilliant going forward. We are as the league shows about top 6. To slow to transition from attack to defence. Not enough movement. Not clinical in front of goal. Lots of lazy misplaced passing. Don’t play to our strengths.
We did do some good stuff tonight but overall we continue to be underwhelming. Biggest shame is leaving the emirates every league game accepting this is the status quo now and not being frustrated to hell by our performances and results.
If we could play against Morata every week, we wouldn’t need to sign another defender.
He had a very good game for us with a hat trick of clearances and a couple of blocks.
This is the problem with Arsenal fans. Okay I tell Wenger to get lost and it rubs ppl the wrong way. Makes 0% sense that fans want the guy slowly destroying the club and running it into the ground to continue. Just Wait at the end of the season for the ever popular 4th place … eerrrrr, I mean 6th place is a trophy. I see a guy not fit for the job, doesn’t know what is required at this level and so he needs to GTFO. I could be more polite about it, but that was 5 years ago,… Read more »
You know; one may reasonably and logically criticize Wenger – since nobody’s perfect and the way Arsenal is leaking goals this campaign is preposterous (and could, arguably, get him canned at some clubs especially considering that the league is beyond us and so, perhaps, is a top 4 finish). But when folks get on here and rant, insult, throw blame, speculate wildly while really just talking out their arse, and act like they have been supporting the club for like 4 years (not saying that’s you, mind, just saying …), then ya get voted down. Maybe take a look at… Read more »
Of course its not the end of the world. However unlike you, I am not a big fan of the oh its not the end of the world kind of thinking. What should we do. We should just fold our hands and wait that Wenger will eventually get it right before eternity runs out. Wenger once used to finish top and regularly challenge for the league. then he started finishing top 4. Now he cant even make top 4. Don’t you see the trajectory of the club under Wenger. Honor the guy, sing songs, make statutes and what not, but… Read more »
One question kind sir: What have YOU done for The Arsenal?
Just been a supporter for nearly 2 decades now. What have you done for Arsenal?
Ok….in that case…hiw many goals have YOU scored for us???
If you can’t finish first then why even play? On paper, money spent on transfers and wages we should finish 4th.
I don’t think anyone is happy. This is sports and its about competition. Unfortunately unless we get new owners that just spend money like Man City then whats the point? We will always complain about our club or laugh at a club like City wasting money.
I’ve said it before – I love Arseblog but I would really like to see thumbs down removed. It just breeds passive agressive childish shit.comments should just stand or fall on their merits. Keep the thumbs up to reward good comments
So tempted to thumb you down…
If this was not the norm then u might have a point but it has been going on for years!!! It is long past time that we had a new manager. And i used to love Arsene
The manager lost the plot years ago bringing in midget players to emulate Barcelona. He inherited an incredible defence which was the backbone for success 96-2004 but he has been exposed relentlessly as a manager that has no clue when it comes to building a strong defence. Remember when we used to laugh at Spurs in 6th place and getting the odd cup win? That’s what we are now and it won’t change until the manager is persuaded to move on to all those dream jobs he’s been offered over the years (yeah right).
Lol great narrative. He did inherit a great defense with no offense. Inheriting a great defense doesn’t last 8 seasons lol
What, no offensive players like Ian wright, Bergkamp were not inherited? You need to check your history. The defensive knowledge was retained, you don’t get to the Champs league final with poor defending. Wenger shipped out our greatest ever players to make money. This is the difference between Fergie and Wenger, Fergie kept his greatest players long enough so they could help educate the younger players coming through, he did this over and over that is why he is the greatest manager ever. That is why we went 9 years without winning anything, which I believe was our longest ever… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more. It’s all very well people applauding the great entertainment but we are a shambles, our attacking at times is brilliant but we seem to have no clear plan or method. I appreciate what Wenger has done for us but FFS let’s change the record and have an actual plan / vision / ambition
Exactly..kermit the frog could get some half decent goals out of these players…that is not what coaching a team is a about. It is about making the team greater than the sum of it.s parts…and clearly our team is not
We could sign Cannavaro circa 2006 and it wouldn’t make one drop of difference. The problem is the coaching staff pure and simple. Our defenders aren’t that bad they are just clueless because we have a defensively clueless manager.
Agree – good performance but worried about the result and standing in the table.
AMN put in a wonderful display. Wilshere would have felt good about the goal and a good performance by Bellarin after a while.
Hope Lacazett scores soon, as well as our team starts to play more to his strength.
AMN outstanding.
Jack too.
Lacazette needs to protect the ball better and needs to be putting them in.
Not just your opinion, objectively speaking Hazard is a diving cunt.
he should be punished for diving and for being a cunt
So, 2 charges.
Being a cunt carries a ban of 4 games, and
Diving carries a 2 game.
Happy days
Excellent game by Wilshere and Cech. True Cech is no penalty god, but hey it’s a penalty and you cannot expect goalkeepers to save them. Apart from the penalty record Cech kept us in the game with some world class saves
Ozil, Maitland Niles and Jack were superb. Alexis and Laca did alright. But Xhaka and Bellerin (despite his excellent finish) were disappointing yet again. Xhaka in particular was sloppy in his passes and offered no protection to the defence towards the end. This allowed chelsea to dominate the midfield and come back into the game. I agree with Wenger on the unfair scheduling as chelsea looked fresher as the game progressed, with an extra days rest. We were lucky to get a point but then again the penalty should not have stood as Mike Dean’s undercover agent Anthony fucking Taylor… Read more »
Top 4 is always going to be hard when there are 6 clubs that are legit for those 4 spots.
No Higher then 6th if the season ended? Thats why there is 16 games left. Chill out.
U can only play that well against 12 man match by match
Good performance, great come back, sadly though taking us further away from top 4. One genuine question though-whats the point of back 3 if 3 centre backs cannot cover one guy with a funny haircut?
Belting game again, wrong result AGAIN
Maybe we didn’t win, but at least we wiped the smirks off the faces of the filthy cheating scum, and that’s always worth something in my book.
So many feelings! Why can’t Arsenal just make it easy for once??
So happy for Jack (please sign him up Wenger)
Why are we so naive at the back putting feet in when its not needed.
How did we let Chelsea take the lead with more naiveity??
Awesome way to semi-redeem yourself Hector.
How did we switch off so quickly and almost lose 3-2?
Gutted. Relieved. Disappointed. Tired.
we rely so much on Ozil creatively
when he got tired we were really slow and indecisive
i’m really worried what will happen when (if?) he goes
Yes. After conceding the first goal I thought we played much slower. We still had much of the ball but was noticeably less aggressive with it. I thought it was more of a mental thing than actual tiredness.
We have no one to replace ozil..The only player we have who can spot a run and move before some1else has to be jack and my purely unlucky santi 🙁
Hope his prematured born son is alright
Yes it really did stick out like a sore thumb when Ozil missed the weekend, and in all seriousness we really need to sign him up. We looked really going forward tonight with Jack, Alexis, Ozil and Lacazette (not far from a really good scoring run). Be really depressing to see any of them leave!!
Yep. It was obvious in the West Brom match as well, as we barely created chances at all (even though we should have won).
Great end to end stuff but
1. It’s astounding to me how badly coached we on the defensive side. How in the world does Morata get that many 1 on 1’s with Cech, especially the final one right after we scored. It’s a small miracle we drew that game
2. We desperately need to bring in a replacement for Sanchez now whether or not we keep him. With Giroud out injured I don’t have confidence that anyone on our bench can come in and score.
Should just buy Mahrez.
It would give us balance from the right side.
And should Alexis leave, we have a ready made and younger replacement.
Will also help with Bellerin not being over committed on the right flank.
Not sure what Wenger is waiting for. If you’d say to me we can throw in Mahrez with Ozil, Alexis AND Lacazette, its so much more a significant difference than having to lump on a Walcott or Welbeck.
I personally think Mahrez was pretty much a one season wonder who is unlikely to repeat that form of a few years ago. I would prefer a Lemar, Draxler or even someone our new scouting team finds that is up and coming similar to how he repeatedly did at Dortmund.
Disagree. Mahrez has been very good this season. We should buy him
Providing we can get Lemar or Draxler. If we can then hell yes! If not, then who else?
Mahrez would make more sense than say a Lemar. Especially if we can keep Ozil.
While Arsenal need Sanchez’s creativity, the team desperately needs a creative player who is also more willing to be on the receiving end of crosses and make the runs for them. We either have people like Iwobi (who always want the ball played to feet) or Walcott and Welbeck (who have poor control and no creativity).
A faster more direct creative player, maybe one who is almost a forward, like a Mahrez or Draxler is what the team desperately needs.
Mahrez on the receiving end of crosses?????!!!
We showed commitment, character and togetherness to come back… the bollocks that will surely follow..
Great game of football. Well played Ainsley Maitland-Niles
What an exciting game! I thought Aintland Miles looked confident, got a bit unlucky with Chelsea’s second. Bellerin played his best game this season. Looked really sharp and took players on. Fair result in the end.
Fuck me
Post ur nudes here
Arsenal has already done it numerous times this season
A draw is a really good result considering Morata’s misses
“happstrated….”
both happy & frustrated….
We fought, we were brillant…
1 point :-/
I can’t wait for Wenger to say something about how “we showed great character to come back to 2-2 after giving away a lead in less than two minutes”. For fuck’s sake
Great game. Shit ref. Hopeless defending when we needed it. Predicable that we would throw away a lead.
PS: Morata makes Bentner look like Pele.
Bentner would say “who’s Pele?”
He’s a disgrace to his federation.
Morata cannot finish his dinner
He was Cavani-esque tonight. A wonderful performance.
Haha thumbs up to this comment but “poor” Edinson Cavani.
Right now he’s top scorer across Europe’s main five leagues, executing some incredible finishes along the way, but his showreel of incredible misses from last season is seared into our collective memory. Hilarious player.
He isn’t Drogba or Costa.
I’ve got love for Alex, but if we had a killer up front (Wrighty) we win regardless of our injury hit defence and refereeing intervention.
We haven’t had a great team for a long time. The Arsenal should be challenging for the title. However, well played for digging out a draw with a relatively average crop of players.
I’m happy to have the point and all, but the fact that yet another garbage penalty was awarded against us is dampening my spirits. That’s now at least 6 points lost this season to crap penalty calls (today, last week vs. West Brom, and the Richarlison dive early on). I know there was a 4th penalty against us in the league, but I don’t remember the circumstances and if it cost us points.
If only Cech could save one.
Today was the perfect opportunity for him to stand his ground in the middle of the goal, with his hands on his hips and c/unt that ball all the way back to the Chelsea goal.
One of these days…
Just stay on your feet Cech! The penalties usually go straight down the middle.
And not getting obvious penalties, like Welbeck against United
We should have just fucking won this.
We were so fun to watch going forward, having to be actually creative to create chances against an opposition who hasn’t been conceding shots, let alone goals over last couple of weeks; and then we just create the chances for them as well.
Our concentration is a joke. One second we’re celebrating a goal, next we’re giving away a naive penalty. Another second we make the same mistake that cost us the first one we conceded against Palace.
Oh my god, how much did I want us to beat those cunts.
So true.
Concentration levels are laughable.
I don’t know what Bould does but clearly we need to drum in some level of concentration into these dimwits.
You can just guarantee they will let one in after doing the hard work and scoring.
Ridiculous.
Has ever been thus. I remember feeling bad for Fabregas after he.d dragged us into a lead only to see all the hard work undone 2 mins later
By the way, Jack’s goal might have been my moment of the season so far. The emotions gave me away: can’t remember myself being so thrilled about an Arsenal goal for a while. There was this sudden thought I had at that moment that brought me all the way back to the days when we played fascinating football week in week out (or at least I remember it that way): “So this is how it felt like.” Part of it probably died in me over last couple of seasons since I believe it’s fair to say we haven’t been playing… Read more »
Yup. Felt like a special goal!
What a game…. gotta be the most intense and exciting game I have seen this season…. ref robbed us again, to the point where it’s not funny anymore….
Hazard is a cheating window licker….
Jack was top quality…. Ozil was immense
Come on you gunners
Quite simply you cannot defend like that and expect to win games, teams will just pick you off. Our squad is massively unbalanced. If you are going to play three at the back then why haven’t we invested in a proper right back as competition for Bellerin. We sold Gibbs and we are short at LB, why haven’t we bidded for Fulham’s Sessegnon? I can’t believe that Wenge doesn’t see our deficiencies yet nothing is done. No coching, no tactics, no defensive training, no balanced squad. We can be amazing at times but we always look like an unfinished masterpiece,… Read more »
Bidded
Absolutely ridiculous penalty call, not having any of it. If anything, Hazard should’ve been booked for simulation.
If that’s a penalty, then the trip on AMN was a penalty too
Should have gone to a back 4 after they equalised. Negative, scared tactics is a factor in why we are playing shit again this season. When we’re 2-1 down, Wenger just goes for broke, better to lose 3-1 and go for it. Great game for the neutral and I enjoyed us play some good stuff, but it’s always desperate, last ditch stuff.
I really hope no one else had to put up with the sonic shit that Danny Mills was spewing out on 5live. If you did. I’m sorry
Yep what a twunt he was.
No way that was a penalty.
I thought Bellerin was very good and so was Niles. Central defence doesn’t fill me with any sort of confidence. It always feels like we can concede anytime and we can be glad Morata was very poor. With Drogba or Costa we’d have been thumped. By all means look to replace Alexis and/or Ozil and recruit more attacking players but the defensive side of our game also needs serious attention. Top four still possible if you ask me. COYG
I’m not sold on Bellerin having a very good game. He still has huge concentration lapses: 1) Clearing the ball away with his head to the centre of the pitch which lead to Xhaka making a foul just outside the box (followed by Alonso’s FK) 2) Was completely unaware of Fabregas’ run behind his back during Chelsea’s throw in just outside of our box which led to their corner 3) The kick on Hazard that led to penalty was just naive. Hazard certainly made the most out of it, but there was no need for him to stick his leg… Read more »
Agreed Bellerin has concentration lapses.
BUT this was a better game from him and he dug in to salvage something for us.
That redeemed goal was a wonderful finish though.
He did nothing wrong for the penalty. Ball was there to be won and it was foot to foot.
Unfortunately, he never touched the ball though. Here it is from all angles:
http://arsenalist.com/f/2017-18/arsenal-vs-chelsea/another-very-soft-penalty-call-against-arsenal.html
He also just let Alonso run off of him for their second goal.
That’s true as well. It’s even more disappointing if you go through that situation for couple more times. There’s Holding marking Bakayoko, Mustafi has Morata covered and then there’s lone Chambers who’s got no one to take care of as there weren’t even that many Chelsea players making a run.
What’s the right solution in this one? Bellerin shouldn’t have switched off, right?
http://arsenalist.com/f/2017-18/arsenal-vs-chelsea/chelsea-goal-1-2-alonso.html
Jamie Carragher has just said Arsenal’s front three are better than City’s.
Wenger gets less than the sum of our parts.
Funnily enough I thought we actually played quite well against city, bar another dubious penalty and a blatant offside we’d have got some thing from.
Would’ve loved to see Lacazette finish the game and grab the winner.
I think sending Welbeck on was the right thing to do.
We needed to go more direct.
Lacazette was frankly wasteful. He had a couple of good chances but did not do enough for us.
Are you not tired of how terrible Welbeck is? I would start him in games where we need defending from the front, and then take him off if the situation demands it, for a real goal threat. He has no timing, and frankly little sense of what to do. See the pass he missed to Sanchez and Ozil in the middle.
Most of the times when he has the ball I’m simply muttering, “please pass it to a red shirt before you do something useless.”
I like his personality, but he is an awful attacking player.
he didn’t miss the pass the defender did a good job of blocking it.
and for the second time in 4 days a referee made a shady decision that completely altered the course of the game. I think video technology is our only saviour in such situations. Well done to the lads for getting stuck in after the unfortunate decision. We surely deserved a good result after such a magnificent display of awesome football! Once again AMN was immense! The dungeon did well too, but could have done better for their second. Nice to see Jack on the score sheet. It’ll surely do wonders for his confidence and morale going into the run-in and… Read more »
Nobody can fault that performance. The lads were up for it. Great end to end stuff really! AMN I hope has cemented a place in the first Eleven, although with Arsene one never knows. When Xhaka performs, there’s always a bit of cohesiveness in the midfield because wilshere’s performance is never in doubt. The wing backs and the front end were really on point too. Too bad we didn’t take all three points, but with all the sitters morata missed, I’d take a point. We can only look forward to the next game but I’m proud of the lads tonight.… Read more »
It seemed like we outplayed Chelsea most of that match but they had more big chances , we play decent football but most of the time its just slow build up play and we have too many people in front of the ball without producing too many chances.
This team seems like a clinical counter attacking team, that plays possession based football, that can not defend ….
Well done to AMN who was amazing but will he ever play in his natural position …
We’re due some nice decisions now until end of next season so that it evens itself out as people keep saying it does… I know it won’t happen. Fair decisions would be enough for me for now. This is becoming a farce.
I love those kind of goals, especially when they’re against Chelsea. We take our pleasures this season where we find them.
Not sure if I love your avie or find it ridiculous.
A big thumbs for it either way!
Good comment, too.
Decent draw. Surprises how often we have managed to step it up against the bigger sides this season. Top 4 out of reach. Europa League has got to become our priority now.
Shouldn’t have sold Paulista!
Attacking = Superb tonight. Attacked as a team very well. Lacazette played very well again and deserves a goal
Defending = Oh boy. Arsene if you want to play 3 CB then please go buy someone in Jan. Go buy an experienced CB. Doesn’t matter if he is 30 years old. He will be fine for a year or 2. Someone who won’t make STUPID decisions. Chambers and Mustafi both looked completely out of their depth.
For goodness sake stop subbing Lacazette for Welbeck. Why can’t Lacazette finish a game for once!
I’m not sure whether the solution to our defensive woes lies in the transfer market. We could bring in peak Chiellini and I’m afraid it still wouldn’t fix the problem.
It’s more of a systemic one. It feels like the team lacks basic defensive routines.
I agree to certain extent. However, I have had long enough to decide that Mustafi’s decision making is not great.
Its not like Laca was doing great. He was wasteful with alot of his possessions. I agreed with Welbeck coming in. I felt we needed more physical play upfront.
Phew!! So glad to snatch a point at the end.
Why bother to mention defence again? Because our total lack of structure and obviously lack of defensive training makes good players look bad.
The last Chelsea double chance is unbelievable poor defending, hard to understand at this level.
Do we have a goalkeeper coach? Chech does his normal fall down like a wet sack stuff on penalties, might be an idea to prepare better? He was though very good todays with AMN og Wilshere
The defence was doing so well….. I can forgive it today as t was makeshift and they played well for the most part..You can’t say Chambers or Holding had a poor game…Thought Mustafi was excellent except for the goal where he was part of the collective failure of the entire backline. Likewise for Niles who was exceptional again and is surprisingly becoming even more confident on the ball..A run in centre surely beckons once Monreal and Kola are fit. Bellerin was much improved in this game, the pen was soft but the kick out was footballing stupidity, yet i can… Read more »
We shouldn’t be worrying about Spurs. We need to be keeping our eyes on Liverpool or for the matter Chelsea.
That’s the gap we need to close.
BUT our defense is atrocious.
Chambers and Holding out of depth today. Even Mustafi partially culpable for the Alonso goal.
Where’s our concentration?
Another 2 points dropped.
Somehow felt we may have been better with the experience of Per at the back.
Great game of football and fantastic to see Jack back to his best.
I was really hoping our young central defenders would take their chance but alas both looked out of their depth tonight. For all our good attacking play we were a bit lucky Morata had a bit of mare.
No chance of top four in my eyes but at least that was fun. Would go all in for Europa Lge now. That Wilshere goal might be my fav of the year so far.
Wait for Giroud to combine with him…. They make beautiful goals together
Maitland Niles had an outstanding game. Still feel we are a bit unbalanced. Most of our offensive power comes from our left. From the right, we need to commit Bellerin which ends up being risky should we get hit on the counter with him out of position. In the end Bellerin redeem himself although again the Ref was awful. That was a 50-50 challenge with ball going away from goal. Lacazette, had some opportunities but he needs to hold the ball better for us. The countless times he loses the ball and I’m not sure what extra monility he adds… Read more »
In the end though, hopefully Calum and Holding will learn from the experience.
They were poor (particularly Chambers) but there is plenty of potential for them. They need to sharpen up quick or we need to find solution from market. No two ways about it.
Penalties have really cost us this season, nice play for jack and AMN, and we need to bring in new players to replace Ozil and Sanchez.
I’d call out the referees post game again if I were Arsene. I very much expect He will. It’s no more funny the way refs strive to find more less inventive ways to screw us over! You’d think they’d be more critical about these penalties after last week and the debacle with wenger but nooooo…. They just don’t give two fucks!
These days it seems you try to beat the opposition team as well as the refs….. They can’t just find more than enough ways to be dishonest to their federation those twats!
Good game but what is it with our defending. Only if that last chance from morata wouldnt have been saved or went in of the bar the mood would have been totally different. Ainsley niles is a baller , calm composed hope he doesnt bite the bug of bottling by making him play much more than he should. But would really like this kid or be it elneny or coq take xhaka’s place in the team. That guy is just another denilson , he was ahead of jack today but still couldnt do anything slow , sloppy doesnt have a… Read more »
Xhaka is by far the weekest link in this Arsenal side, sell him now.
I don’t understand how Chambers is a better option as the right CB in a back three than Debuchy who has loads more experience and is much more agile. Chambers was a trainwreck ( and looked at times like he was running with weights around his ankles) and to play two such inexperienced defenders alongside Mustafi when you had Debuchy doesn’t make sense to me (unless he was injured). AMN looked great, though unfortunately did get beat on the cross for the 2nd goal. Laca is so close to putting bunches of goals away, just needs to get one then… Read more »