After a turbulent month which was initially crammed with fixtures, giving Premier League clubs competing in Europe their first taste of the fixture pile up which will be commonplace this season, Arsenal are back. The month was later severely interrupted due to the period of mourning observed by the Premier League after Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, and closely followed by a further two week hiatus due to the international break, but the Gunners are ready to undertake October, which will see Mikel Arteta’s side play twice a week, every week.
Photo: AP via Marca
The Gunners remain top of the table going into Saturday’s North London Derby at the Emirates, with a strong record of six wins and one loss from the opening seven Premier League games, as well as a victory away to Zurich on match day one of the Europa League. With plenty of football having been played since my last post, previewing the Bournemouth game, I thought I’d share some thoughts on Arsenal since then – on and off the pitch.
Following Arsenal’s dominant display on the South Coast at Bournemouth, which, despite the goals, most notably for me saw the inception of the Saliba / Tequila chant, Arsenal faced two varied challenges at the Emirates in late August.
Photo: Getty Images
These came in the form of a Premier League surprise package so far, in Andre Silva’s Fulham, and a struggling Aston Villa side already desperate for points, with manager Steven Gerrard under major pressure.
Prior to Fulham, Arsenal had to bear the news that midfielder Thomas Partey was not fit and unable to partake in the fixture, giving Mohamed Elneny his first start of the season, and changing the lineup which had picked up nine points from nine, for the first time. At this point I felt the game could prove a challenge, due to Fulham’s strong belief and resolve, highlighted in their clashes against Liverpool and Brentford, as well as the strong form of Serbian CF Aleksandar Mitrović.
Adding to this was of course the fact that changes were needed to the first XI, which started to build pressure pre match to act in the transfer window, which was coming to a rapid close, on a defensive midfielder or winger.
Arsenal went 1-0 down in the game due to a mistake from Gabriel Magalhães, with the in-form Mitrović pouncing to punish.
However, this is where I was incredibly impressed with not just the players on the pitch, but the Emirates faithful. For the first time in over a decade of going to the Emirates regularly, I saw a reaction of support and encouragement from the whole ground, towards Gabriel – and the rest of the team. This was similar to the support shown to William Saliba after his unfortunate own goal against Leicester, but for me it felt more special. Arsenal were losing now, and there was only 30 minutes left on the clock. But the reaction and belief from everyone inside the ground of the red persuasion was so overwhelmingly positive that not one part of me felt as though we would go on to lose the game.
My feeling was right, as Arsenal continued to build pressure, picking up where they left off before the mistake, to punish Fulham with two late goals, the winner being scored by Gabriel himself, meaning his redemption arc was complete, providing a really special feeling within this team for me, one I haven’t had for at least half a decade. This team is not weak. This team does not give in.
Photo: @Arsenal via Twitter
My feelings were further validated just four days later, with Arsenal piling on the pressure and assaulting Emi Martinez’s goal for 45 minutes straight, yet with only one goal to show for it, before conceding directly from a corner at the hands of Douglas Luiz to level the game, providing the heart wrenching, sink in your seat feeling you get when watching your team completely dominate a game, believing it was all for nothing.
But not this team.
Because, just three minutes after the equaliser, with the away fans still picking themselves back up from the floor, the imperious Gabriel Martinelli demonstrated how far his game has come in the past year, taking the initiative to aggressively attack the Villa backline, crossing the ball to the back post, before seeing it returned to him to stab home viciously beyond a helpless Martinez.
Photo: @Arsenal via Twitter
The transfer window… an opportunity missed?
The morning after the night before from the ecstasy of the Emirates following the Villa triumph, with five wins from five at the start of the Premier League season, was swiftly followed by some strong anxiety… in other words, the hangover was kicking in. Reality was returning to the club, and that reality was that Arsenal had under 24 hours to make any final additions to the squad, before the transfer window slammed shut.
Arsenal had a good summer by all accounts, identifying the profiles and players they wanted early, and acting on this. The issue came in two areas for me, firstly that Arsenal did not sign any players for ‘depth’ or to bolster the squad, and whilst William Saliba’s return from loan acted in this way, as well as Eddie Nketiah’s contract extension and the signing of Oleksandr Zinchenko, we never really added experienced backup in midfield – in a season with an unprecedented fixture list awaiting us.
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Secondly, Arsenal ‘missed out’ on a main transfer target in Raphinha, and in the style we have seen from this current regime of Edu Gaspar, Mikel Arteta, Tim Lewis, and Richard Garlick, the club did not panic or rush into signing someone, and instead held firm. However, whilst there are certainly plenty of positives in the way Arsenal now handle transfers, the inaction after the aforementioned main winger target Raphinha snubbed The Gunners and fellow London side Chelsea for a move to Barcelona, meant that going into the final day of the window, fans were still slightly worried about the depth of the team, with a gruelling Thursday – Sunday schedule beckoning.
Wolves’ Pedro Neto was a name that was linked heavily with a move to North London, with reports suggesting that the deal was actually quite advanced, believable and in line with the way Arsenal have been operating in the past year. Adding to that the involvement of notorious Portugese agent Jorge Mendes, and fans were confident up until deadline that a move was possible, but this optimism was snuffled out after many reliable outlets revealed the £50M price tag was just not as high as Arsenal were willing to go to secure the Portugese.
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Even more anxiety-inducing for the Arsenal faithful was the fact that in Partey’s absence via injury (something we have come to expect), Elneny, who had been covering was also now injured, prompting the lesser experienced Albert Sambi Lokonga to be thrown in to the Villa clash, and eventually firing Arteta’s side to make an out of character late dash in the market, for Aston Villa and Brazil’s Douglas Luiz, who had briefly sunk Arsenal hearts not even twelve hours earlier! However, this proved to be too big of a deal to complete so late on, and with Leicester’s Youri Tielemans also a target throughout the summer, it would not be unreasonable to speculate that Arsenal missed out on one or possibly two more positions worth of new players during the summer.
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Even as I write this article, Arsenal are continually linked to the two midfielders currently plying their trade at the Midlands outfits, and a move for one of the pair in January seems highly likely. However, this obviously does not help to cope with the strain that will be faced by the Arsenal squad until the World Cup in November, and as the window closed with no fresh faces since the completion of Zinchenko’s move from Manchester City on the 23rd July, fans were growing concerned.
Old Trafford Blues
The following weekend saw these feelings arguably validated by Arsenal, as a polarising game with plenty of positives ultimately handed bitter rivals Manchester United all three points in Manchester.
The Gunners arrived with the same lineup that started against Villa, with the only difference coming at LB, as Zinchenko returned to keep Kieran Tierney sidelined. Arsenal began the game fairly slowly, and United were able to use the crowd to control the attacking side of the game, despite this Arsenal never looked flustered, with the key being the composure and technical prowess of the new look back four. The turning point for the whole game soon arrived, giving an early lead to the Gunners, as captain Martin Ødegaard dispossessed Christian Eriksen in the middle of the park, freeing Saka to play a gorgeous defence splitting pass to Martinelli, who finished with aplomb. Unfortunately though, this eventually handed United a bigger boost, as after a long VAR review, the goal was disallowed, with Ødegaard deemed to have fouled Eriksen in the build up.
Despite some further domination, United took the lead via new £86M recruit Antony, with Arsenal providing him the perfect way to start his Manchester United career – a specialism of this club over the years. Despite this blow Arsenal heads did not drop, possibly due to the culmination of superb support they have received when faced with challenges so far this season. Arsenal sustained pressure well, with adaptations in their attacking play to hurt United. These included long balls to Jesus, who was wonderful on the day with his hold up play, acting as an archetypal #9 to pluck balls from the sky effortlessly before building an attacking move. Ødegaard and Saka combined intricately, giving opposing fullback Tyrell Malacia a hard time, whilst Martinelli ensured Diogo Dalot was unable to effect the game in an attacking sense, consistently running beyond his man.
Photo: Dave Thompson / AP
The varied attacking bombardment eventually paid off for Arteta’s side, who notably started the second half magnificently, with Saka slotting into an open net after Jesus poked the ball to him following a brilliant pass from Ødegaard.
However, after this goal Arsenal seemed to ease off slightly, for want of a better term. The intense approach which had suffocated United until now was suddenly abandoned, and in came a slightly more passive passage of play, which gave initiative back to United. It is hard to say exactly why this happened, it did not appear to be a tactical instruction, to me it seemed as though the inexperience of Lokonga holding the base of the midfield down, partnered with the intelligence of Eriksen exposed the core of the Arsenal team.
Photo: @Arsenal via Twitter
Arsenal’s midfield has seen Granit Xhaka attacking far more, ditching some of the defensive reliability of a double pivot for added attacking thrust, and combined with an Ødegaard performance reminiscent of some of those we saw towards the back end of last season away from home when out of possession, the inexperienced Lokonga, and inevitably Arsenal, suffered.
Bruno’s ball for the second goal was far too easy to play to Marcus Rashford, making his run to stretch the incredibly high line of Arsenal, with a vacant midfield in front of them, providing so much time on the ball to United’s creators. The goal was a shocker simply put, and had thrown away such a large period of domination via pure naïvety.
Worse still, is that the United third which buried the game was almost identical, and I would argue even more shocking than the second, the Arsenal defensive line and structure looking like it had been formed in a school playground. A strange feeling, after the defensive unit had looked stronger than ever, yet capitulated entirely, surrendering three points. Gary Neville was admittedly impressed by Arsenal on the day, yet pointed to Arteta’s gung-ho triple substitution, arguing the game would be entirely unbalanced in one teams favour after the changes – and in this case United prospered.
Yet, I am not too sure I blame the substitutions, possibly the third goal was scored when the players were still organising their shape, and giving Fábio Vieira his first Premier League minutes here could have been something of a baptism of fire, but principally Arteta did not simply abandon his structure, or panic as some would suggest. On the flip side of that though, it has been almost a month since the game, and I am still a little confused at what went on – but I do feel the confidence of the high line partnered with the absent midfield made it easy for United, a lesson that if you do not always squeeze the opposition in the Premier League, they will hurt you.
Arsenal’s following game was the group opener of the Europa League, away at Zurich, where a 2-1 win was collected, kicking the group off nicely. Eddie Nketiah and Marquinhos were the scorers and providers for each other’s goals, which were well crafted – yet the evening was marked by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which was announced by Buckingham Palace during the game.
An important response on the horizon?
Arsenal had bounced back from the United defeat via the Europa League, but the real test was to see if the Premier League momentum had been halted, yet on the following day it was announced Arteta’s side would have to wait a while to see if they could get back on track – with the weekends Premier League fixtures being postponed as a mark of respect.
Extra time on the training ground maybe, but if the best way to rectify a bad result is by playing again, an unwelcome gap that was now forming between fixtures, with added uncertainty for games in Europe and the Premier League in the week after due to concerns around public safety and policing numbers. This all seemed to come at the worst possible time for Arsenal, their first blip in momentum would now be followed up by a two-week gap in Premier League football – with the next fixture a trip to the GTech Community Stadium to face Brentford, a ground and team I likened to former Premier League nuisances (I mean that with full respect and praise) Stoke City.
Photo: @BrentfordFC via Twitter
Brentford (much like Stoke), play a game you do not want to play, particularly as a possession based side. The football is physical, a back three of physically imposing, intelligent defenders is employed, the signing of former Burnley captain Ben Mee this summer proving my point. This is combined with quality on the ball, particularly from goalkeeper David Raya, who has been an Arsenal target at many points over the last few years. A relentless midfield and tireless wingbacks with quality in their deliveries to forward duo Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo (who work their socks off all game) combine to make a stubborn opponent. All of this is dictated by manager Thomas Frank, who will act as anything from cheerleader to the crowd, or tactician in the dressing room to ensure a result.
Arsenal of all teams know this better than anyone, due to the season opening disappointment of last season, where Brentford really announced their style and intentions in the league in the way they defeated Arteta’s team – which was decimated by COVID in fairness (a detail often left out, despite this games continual reference).
Knowing this, Arsenal really did need to bounce back from not just the United result, but the performance, defensive frailties just would not do. However, in yet another demonstration of character Arsenal did this perfectly. I feel this was our best overall performance of the whole season, a masterclass in how to dominate a team which are seldom on the receiving end of such a one sided game.
From the first minute where the outstanding ever-present of Xhaka worked with Martinelli to create a strong opening, Arsenal won every duel, showing the sturdy nature of this side, before opening the scoring, when Saliba rose the highest to head a corner home magnificently, beating Brentford at their own game, physically dominating on a set piece – a moment which really summed up the transformation of just over a year at Arsenal.
After the lead was established, it was not threatened at all, thanks to the quality of the performance and the control demonstrated. Xhaka’s inch perfect chipped ball which was headed home by the lively Jesus was a combination of Arsenal’s technical and physical prowess, and superiority on the day. The result was finalised with Vieira’s real introduction to the Premier League, as he beautifully curled an effort from outside of the box, bending the ball beyond Raya on his near side, off the post and in.
Photo: @Arsenal via Twitter.
A big response was required, and this was the perfect response.
Rhythm would be a fine thing…
Once again, Arsenal were met with a momentum killer, this time in the form of the international break, providing yet another anxious wait to fans, as well as killing the good feeling after such a strong result.
With the North London Derby edging ever closer, it may feel strange jumping straight back into that game. An early Saturday kick-off slot does not help this situation, with these games notoriously a lot slower and less intense, from a playing and fan perspective. However, if there is one game that can throw this trend out of the window, it is the North London Derby.
Arsenal may have actually benefitted from the break, as Tottenham stars Hugo Lloris and Dejan Kulusevski are set to miss the game via injury, Kulusevski’s injury being sustained with his native Sweden. Arsenal have not suffered the same fate, and are not currently nursing any new injury situations as a result of the international break, although it was confirmed yesterday that Emile Smith Rowe will miss multiple months of football following surgery to help a recurring groin problem, which is a huge upset for the youngster who has had to play a bit part role for various reasons over the past year.
As for the North London Derby, this particular fixture coming off the back of a two week hiatus to club football, and a month of disruption almost requires no words. The players, the managers, the pundits, and of course the fans all know what this means, and the game should provide the perfect reintroduction to the Premier League, as one thing these two North London foes will agree on, is that this derby is fuelled with pure hatred and passion, and this never fails to reveal itself on the pitch.
I expect a strong performance from Arsenal, anything else and I would be lacking faith, as this squad have really shown us they are serious, that they care, and that most importantly, they are an exceptional football team. The main aspects that must be avoided are indulging in any over-emotional moments of the game, as Antonio Conte and therefore his players will be looking to antagonise what is admittedly a squad that wear their hearts on their sleeve, possibly sometimes to their detriment.
Photo: Getty Images
As well as this, the midfield battle will be key, although it is a worry that due to Kulusevski’s absence and Conte’s want for a result at a ground where Spurs only ever seem to suffer, it has been rumoured by reputable and reliable Spurs outlets that he could pack his midfield into a congested three, and a five man line with the wing-backs included. This allows Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son to cause problems solely focussing on stretching the defence, as well as a possible muting of our bright midfield. This battle will be crucial and will certainly decide the game in my eyes, barring Arsenal showing any sorts of naïvety as previously discussed.
My last irrational fear is one where Arsenal are able to dominate the game, but will come away bruised and frustrated, reminiscent of the top four deciding game back in May… I am not one to say we dominated proceedings on that night, but it felt very “this is a results business” V “the better football should win” in the philosophies adopted by the managers, and that typically only ends in one way in my experience. In other words if Spurs have two shots on target, two goals and I leave the ground ranting angrily, I may not be that surprised or even angry at the performance, simply the result.
We need Spurs to hire a poet type manager sooner or later, this Jose Mourinho, Conte, Kane and Son era has given me far too much overthinking to do regarding possible xG cheating.
Roll on Saturday!
Joe Writes Football 