Arsenal: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal, Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Ramsey, Iwobi, Ozil, Lacazette
Subs: Cech, Elneny, Suarez, Jenkinson, Mkhitaryan, Nketiah, Aubameyang
—
Arsenal boosted their Champions League hopes, and moved into third place after a 2-0 win over Newcastle at the Emirates this evening.
The visitors five man defence meant they were always going to sit deep, and early on the Gunners dominated possession without creating much. A corner looked to have given us the lead when Ramsey finished at the back post, but the referee harshly disallowed it for what he saw as a foul by Sokratis on Lejeune. Replays later showed Taylor couldn’t have seen the incident clearly, so ruled out a goal on a guess.
The Welshman had to be alert at the other end, tracking back well to defend near our box when Newcastle beat the offside trap, and generally it was scrappy, untidy stuff which suited Rafa Benitez’s side.
And on a night when few were shining, the captain for the night made a telling contribution on the half hour to put Arsenal ahead. Guendouzi played it to Ramsey with his back to goal, he flicked it on to Lacazette who gave it back to him inside the box and his first-time shot went in off the far post. 1-0.
The game was played primarily in the Newcastle half, a low Kolasinac cross almost found Ozil at the near post, and a superb flowing move in first half injury time almost doubled the lead but Lacazette’s effort was brilliantly cleared off the line by Ritchie.
There were no changes by either manager at the break, but was a scare when Maitland-Niles went down with an injury early in the second period but after some treatment he carried on. Crosses from Ozil and Kolasinac caused problems for the visitors, Monreal picked up a yellow card for winning the ball, and on 60 minutes Emery made his first change when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came on for Iwobi.
Sokratis headed over from an Ozil corner, before Ramsey picked up an injury and was replaced by Mohamed Elneny in the 67th minute. Aubameyang forced the keeper into a save after being played in by Ozil, Kolasinac picked up a yellow card, and nerves were tingling a bit with just a one goal lead.
Benitez brought on Kenedy and Muto to try and find a way back into the game, Ki shot wide, and it looked like some pressure might have been on. But then Lacazette flicked the ball forward, Aubameyang headed it back over the defence, and the French international had continued his run to lob it over the keeper and make it 2-0.
It should have been 3-0 when the goalkeeper flapped the ball into his own net, but somehow Taylor gave a handball against Lacazette. The useless bald gimp-trumpet.
There were four minutes of added time, not a lot else happened, and the win puts us ahead of Sp*rs who had a 10 point lead over us just a few weeks ago. It is happening again? It might very well be.
Ramsey will be missed
Legend
Agreed but probably too injury prone to offer the big bucks. I think the stats guys at Arsenal we’re using a bit of Moneyball in the decision.
I wish he was staying, I think it’s a mistake to let him go. His Wembley taunt at Spuds this year might be my favourite memory!
I will miss Ramsey’s goals. But if we sign Antony Taylor from Newcastle, he will reduce the number of goals we concede.
No way we can afford his wages, do you know how much he is paid for his off-the-pitch duties…
To be disappointingly told you won’t get a new contract despite your willingness to stay, yet you still give your 100 % for the shirt every time you get to play, shows how much of a committed professional Ramsey is and why in My eyes, he deserves to be called an Arsenal great. Fuck off Stan Kroenke for not financing the deal to keep such an important player and loyal servant to the club.
Don’t be silly. We could not afford his wage demands. Don’t want all funds wasted on one injury prone player. Good business by Arsenal.
A player who anyway wanted to leave.
Not good business when you let a good player go on a free.
It was Arsenal who revoked the contract. Ramsey would have signed
So we made an offer – he didnt sign.
We could have afforded his wages had we sold micky and welbz. They both might well leave the club at the end of this season. Wonder if the wages saved + ramsey’s will allow us to bring in a good enough replacement for Aaron.
To think he’s going for free in his absolute prime too, it’s madness. Aside from that thought. Great result tonight. Sets us up nicely for some tough away fixtures.
Sad to be seeing him go. With Ramsey going and Jenko maybe not being renewed, it will be the Arsenal equivalent of Brexit, and the end of all those young, promising British players we once had.
But he’s played very well for us this season. Can’t blame him for leaving, and very glad he’s not going to a PL competitor.
But bit by 4 divs, apparently.
Two great goals, three vital points, we move above sp*rs and we’re into the Champions League places.
But Aubameyang’s grin after Mustafi’s “cross” is still the best thing that happened tonight.
It seems like Chambers might be the one staying out of those two. Mustafi is a ticking time bomb.
To be fair, he [mustafi] had a splendid game! Defence was dominant in this one apart from Sokratis’ fall.
https://www.whoscored.com/PlayerComparison
Compare the two. It is interesting. Without considering the relative differences between the teams they play in, and the fact Calum has played matches as a defensive midfielder, Mustafi just about edges him on raw numbers this season. It is close, though I would choose the faster guy, which is Mustafi. Suffice it to say, I do not view CC as an upgrade over SM at centerback.
Yeah that was funny, the crowd’s reaction as well was highly amusing.
He’s bad isn’t he
But he’s so keen. Which almost makes it more tragic.
You could say that again! Can’t seem to stay on his feet.
And both goals came from Guendouzi’s forward thinking play.
We’ve got a gem in our hands.
Ramsey was immense once again. It’s like he’s on a personal mission to get us top 4 – to compensate for his free transfer I guess.
So he can do us in the CL next season, maybe? #narrative
Here’s to sp*ds new toilet bowl being the only stadium in London not showing the champions league next season.
craven cottage and selhurst opening for our games then?
That cross should go into the Guinness Book of records. Hahahaha
If you love football, you love Mesut Ozil.
I missed the line-ups at the very start. Who was our keeper for the day again?
Leno was selected but I think he took a nap
What game were you watching? We rested all keepers seeing Newcastle had no forward on the pitch ?
Had a camp bed by the goal.
I was in the North Bank Upper and I swear he came and sat in front of me for the 2nd half, pie and pint in hand.
Newcastle deserved absolutely nothing, and that’s what they got.
Let’s all laugh at Tottenham.
Indeed. “Mind The Gap” keeps running through my mind.
Very good performance from our lads. Some free flowing football bits. Laca, Ramsey, Özil all excellent. Also, we haven’t really given them a sniff. I’d like to point out that I’m really looking towards the day Mustafi leaves the club – yet not for the obvious reason. I logged in onto Twitter at HT to check out what other people think about the game so far, yet from what I’ve seen it seemed like there’s some absolute Mustafi disasterclass going on. People are literally sitting on GIFs waiting to tweet them the second he plays a bad ball or does… Read more »
I thought Mustafi was good tonight, other than a giveaway in the first half after a pointless pass to him from Leno.
His interceptions and driving forward was excellent tonight.
A clean sheet and good win glosses over mustafina little today. He made some decent tackles and clearances but too often got caught in possession or put sokratis and maitland miles under too much pressure
This
Mustafi did nothing wrong today. Stop with these blind narratives. He does have a high error potential tbf but tonight he was a rock in defense
Finally someone talking some sense. Completely agree about the mustafi-bashing. Embarrasing and stupid.
Nevertheless, a vital three points and a convincing performance. Everton is a bigger test, let’s do this!
Ref doing his best to screw us over, but we prevail. 3 points in the bag, 3rd place in the table. Bring it on!
Like the Cardiff–Chelsea match, just pathetic officiating. We won, so that’s that, but wow, the interpretation of the rules by these guys is really something to behold. From one game to the next, you just never know what you’re going to get or how the rules will be applied. How that does not embarrass the overseers of the Premier League is beyond me. Had VAR been available and used efficiently and appropriately tonight, we’d have a 4-nil win at least instead of a 2-nil win — let’s pray goal-difference doesn’t deny us a Champions League spot at the end of… Read more »
Taylor is a joke and VAR can’t come soon enough. However, it is still up to the refs interpretation of what he sees on the replay. Please remember the ref gave Manure that goal against PSG as deliberate handball when he could not possibly get his hand out of the way. Still job done and for me and Lacca my MOTM. Scored one, made one and played his bollocks off. We are going to miss Rambo when he’s on form and in the right position. I just don’t think he can cope for 90 minutes in the premiership anymore. He… Read more »
Hopefully refs will be marked down for incorrect decisions afffected by VAR. I suggest Taylor looks for a new job now
Maybe VAR will improve the game, but I doubt it. Replay has damaged every sport ithat uses it in the US. NFL is unwatchable. Baseball needs something else to slow the game down like a bull needs teets. Basketball is a disaster. IMO soccer may suffer less damage because so few calls matter. Who cares about throw ins. Corners usually not. But I fear that just like the NFL once review is used there is always “something else” to look at. Next year the NFL will review PI. Great. Now I agree with goal line technology and baseball is finally… Read more »
The NFL should review PI. We might not have had to suffer the smug look on Tom Brady’s face for yet another time if the Saints had rightfully got to the Superbowl instead of the Rams because of that no-call in the Conference Final.
Highlight of the match report for me is “Monreal picked up a yellow card for winning the ball”. How shit is Antony Taylor, by the way? It felt like he was intentionally trying to block our passing lanes in the first half (move away from the action, you pillock!), whilst also disallowing two goals for nothing and the aforementioned yellow for Monreal.
The commentators were shit on that too “sometimes it doesn’t matter if you make the tackle so much as how. He had his studs up”
He didn’t have his studs up. It was risky but well timed
LOL! Did anyone else thought that the ball Özil played to Aubameyang in the 2nd half was the wrong decision at first? #OneEyeBlinkAhead
Magic… Only he saw it that way.
Professional and patient. Very happy with that
I thought Gendouzi would be the death of us at the start but he really pulled it together for the rest of the match. He’s handling the jump to premier league well, Mo Diame and Isaac Hayden would be tough to play against for an inexperienced mid
We couldn’t have expected better than this, at this stage of the season after all that has happened could we?? Well done Arsenal and Unai!
Anthony Taylor: I might not be able to fuck up your win, but I can fuck up your Goal difference. F U Anthony
Wow having Laca and Auba playing for us almost brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. A clean sheet without Kos is very welcome (though come back soon please Laurent!)
Anthony Taylor. What a nimrod. At least the first one is debatable. The second one made no sense! If he genuinely thought Laca poked the ball in with his hand (which is mad) why didn’t he card him?? Clueless.
The cunt taylor and the media desperately trying to salvage the spuds season
Can’ts
It wasn’t disallowed for a handball, it was disallowed for Lacazette blocking off the goalkeeper. There’s actually a slight argument to be made for that case as Laca had his arm across Dubravka, but I still think it’s a harsh decision. Dubravka kind of fell over all on his own.
What a striker’s goal, the second one !
Yep that was class
Useless bald gimp-trumpet indeed!
Keep this up and we’ll be playing with the grown ups next season. We must push Sp*rs down so they can take their new shiny toilet bowl to the Europa league.
A good night’s work.
A mediocre game but we got the job done. The best thing about tonight was that we defended really well and didn’t give them a decent chance. Even Mustafi avoided his usual brain fart. The ref was useless but fortunately he didn’t affect the result.
My man of the match was Guenduzi: he was everywhere and used the ball well. Ozil excellent too.
Spurs have got a brand new stadium but still a shit team! Mind the gap!
The under excitement of your post gets on my tits and I don’t even have any! 🙂
The time to get excited is when we actually achieve something.
Only in your world Fatgooner.
Mediocre game ?
Our performance was very far from mediocre.
You boys haven’t been here long, have you? I’ve never seen him so positive as he has been the last few months.
So true, big up fats haha
We had an outstanding 7 shots on goal all game.
Mustafi is a liability and costs us points or players (who get injuries bailing him out) blogs described mustafi as giving his “heart diarrhea” – an apt way to describe the liability that is mustafi!!! Aside from that, what drugs was the ref on or was a brown paper bag sitting in his locker? He was total trash and could have cost us the game – roll on VAR!!! Nice to get the three points though so big thumbs up to the manager and players ? oh ps spud fans ?
Give him his due. Mustafi was good tonight.
We’ll have Rob and Pav next season so Mustafi will soon be offski
Ref was shite but the boys were fantastic!
Emery masterclass. Hopefully Suarez gets a start soon, can sympathize with his situation
Thought the refs in league one were bad
Everyone played great, but Guendouzi keeps blowing me away. He just never stops. Always pressing, always trying to drive us forward. If he starts adding goals to his game, he will make Ramsey’s departure a little easier to take.
Who gave you this avatar? It’s slightly unfair
Great performance by the lads
Pathetic performance by the reg. Shocking!!
Ref* (damn auto correct)
But for the ref we won that game 4-0!
Ramseys professionalism coupled with his increasingly good performances over the season have won me over again just as he is leaving.
Also well done Elneny , hes never going to be great but hes a necessary utility player. Hes like ronseal.
Really enjoyable game that was Alot trikier than people think.
When elneny came on I thought eugh. But I’d forgotten how consistent he is at just keeping the hall moving
WHAT DYOU THINK OF TOTTENHAM??
shit
Thank you.
Mustafis cross was the best April fools day joke.
Really enjoyed tha game tonight, smart and hardworking efforts from our lads tonight,the stuff top teams grind out against lesser teams.
Regarding Mustafi – he’s a decent hardworking player with a good skill set despite what the overall opinion is. But his decision making is unfortunately not up to the standards for a cøib like Arsenal.
He would be a perfect player for a mid level club where clearances and tackles are more important.
Word on Mustafi, when he fucks up he deserves criticism. When he plays well, he deserves praise. His passing was a little off in the first half, but some of his tackles high up the pitch in the second half had me on my feet applauding. And that cross had me in stitches. Overall, not the most fluent performance but the pressing and quality of the goals were amazing. I applaud you all!
Mustafi is a better CB than squillaci or silvestre were. Still he gets criticism far worse than those two did. For me mustafi is better than chambers or Gabriel. We should buy a better CB, we should do better than chambers, Gabriel or mustafi. But as long as the latter wears the shirt, i absolutely hate the treatment he gets from our own ”fans”.
Chambers was our best central defender when he was stupidly loaned out and is now showing his versatility at Fulham playing in midfield. I’m hoping he will be back with us next season.
Cagey win that I thought could be a draw. Great running all around to break down a team playing for a point. Mustafi continues to annoy with he rancid passing and dumb fouls.
I didn’t think it was cagey – it never seemed like Newcastle were likely to score. I think lacklustre might be a better description.
Shout out for Elneny.
Let’s all laugh at Tottenham!
After LANS…. L.A.L.A.T
?
Listening to Jamie gobber saying Arsenal’s away form me be a problem in the run in. The twat hasn’t realised we have got a lot better WWWDWW…home or away who cares?? COYG!
WWDWWW to be accurate..:-)
The ref’s performance was scandalous.
Good stuff- our home form is excellent but let’s not rest on our laurels. Look at our away form, look at the number of our remaining games are away and then look at those away fixtures and tell me which are bankers?! It will be tough but fortunately I trust Emery to not allow complacency. If we do not get top four it will not be because lack of trying but because we were just not good enough.
As an aside, why no Kos tonight? We need that man!
Restoration of the world order. …not sure why some people (not too long ago) thought we would struggle to finish in top 4. Concentrate on europa they said. Utter rubbish. Never in doubt. Spurts bottling again. Mind the gap they said. They didn’t tell us it meant the space between the ears in their heads. Or the trophy cabinet at their spanky new stadium that looks like ours. 10 home wins. Clean sheet today but more to come. I said we had our best chance re-establishing top 4 status in the league. Far more control than the cup. Still have… Read more »
Ref robbed us of two goals.
Should have been another goal each for Ramsey and Lacazette as well.
Anthony Taylor another poor excuse for Premiership level ref.
The shutout means that we’ve only given up 4 goals in our last 9 games with 11 players for 90 minutes. As the games get more important, we’ve gotten better defensively. That bodes well for the rest of the year.