City Stroll To Emirates Win

This was an absolute walk in the park for Manchester City. It was only 1-0, but the gulf in class was evident - from start to finish. City scored ridiculously early, and held Arsenal at arm's length with consummate ease for the rest of the game.

Arsenal were caught cold early on (I'm sick of these slow starts!), in a quite majestic opening 7-8 minutes when City scored once and could have had a further two or three, and that was the end of the game as a contest. Throughout the rest of the game, I never felt that Arsenal were going to score, and feel that even if they had then City would have simply broken out of second gear to score again.

It is clear that Arsenal are miles behind this quite outstanding City team/squad - 11 on the pitch but they have another dozen or more players who could seamlessly drop into the side. It goes to show what a difference it makes to have unlimited cash to spend, but irrespective of that this City side are probably the greatest club team I have ever seen - and I include the 2007-12 Barcelona team with Xavi, Iniesta and Messi (and others!), and also the great Arsenal sides of 1998-2006 in that.

Of the 11 who started Dias, Cancelo and De Bruyne are absolutely world class, and Sterling and Mahrez (a vastly under-rated player in my opinion) are not far behind. And Pep has got them purring, no matter who plays; just look at the players not selected for this game!

Liverpool, who won the Premier League last season, are suffering in this one because of their great centre-back misfortunes. But that amount of injuries would not affect this City squad, as they have so much talent in reserve, and Guardiola's biggest problem would appear to be keeping them all happy - perhaps that's why he rotates the side so much.

For me, Arsenal had a single player on show yesterday who could make his way even into the City squad, and that's Bukayo Saka. Of the rest of the squad, Tierney may come close - but he was caught far enough out of position to allow Mahrez his sumptuous assist - and I'd expect that Partey would do well there too. And that's it.

And so to the game, and on seeing the Arsenal side I couldn't help but wonder if Arteta was prioritising the Europa League over a game he felt he could never win. Pablo Mari came back into central defence, and Elneny was preferred to Ceballos in the continued absence of the aforementioned Partey. Odegaard was preferred to ESR, and Pepe came back into the side on the right with Auba up top. We'll certainly see changes for Thursday!

The game started, and it was clear that Pep had a plan. The Arsenal full backs' starting positions are often quite high up the pitch, and Sterling and Mahrez were soon exploiting this. Mahrez almost played in Sterling after just 45 seconds, and just a few seconds later the Algerian's brilliant trap and close control mesmerised Tierney, and his exquisite cross was headed in by the giant (5'7") Sterling at the back post. Holding should have done much better with the cross, but it was brilliant from Mahrez. And Sterling even had the time and presence of mind to angle his header away from Leno and into the side netting.

After that, City played like they were in a mere training session. Arsenal spent long periods chasing shadows, and for much of the first half it felt like they were being occasionally allowed the ball on sufferance. Things got a little better in the second half, but in truth City were cruising. They had a total of 611 passes, but a mere 15 shots - merely indicating how they felt able to treat the match like a kickabout in the park. Whether playing around or through Arsenal, they did pretty much what they wanted. The use of the diagonal ball also did a lot to confuse Arsenal.

They also have this clever knack of snuffing out possible danger with tactical fouls. They don't get into too much trouble because they're so high up the pitch most of the time, but it's something we are all aware of. And Cancelo was unnecessarily harsh on and late on Tierney at one point, and also inadvertently kicked Holding in the head late on - cue the 'concussion substitute' appearance of David Luiz.

This is supposed to be an Arsenal blog, but I can't help but major on City, who are a delight to watch. However, getting back to matters in hand, I'd say this: I have no idea what game Arteta was watching! I know that he would want to big his side up, but they really got the run-around, and to suggest anything else is being somewhat 'economical' with the truth. How he could say that 'We were on top of the game' with a straight face, I do not know.

Nonetheless, Arsenal kept at it, and that should be admired - I suppose. But too many players were ineffective. Odegaard had a quiet game. Pepe and Aubameyang did almost nothing (I remain to be convinced by Pepe, for all I'd love him to succeed), and I feel that Arsenal are more effective with Auba playing off the left. It's unfortunate, with Thursday in mind, that Saka didn't get even a bit of a rest. 

It is clear that Thursday's game is the most important of the next two. We need to get through in the Europa League, and Leicester away on Sunday is considerably more difficult. After that, it does get a little easier - what isn't after a game against City? - but it's crucial to stay in touch. Any decent run could see us back on the coat tails of the European spots, but perhaps I'm being too optimistic.

The truth is that we're not very good, but neither are we very bad. We can't judge our merit against a side like City - they are THAT good - but there are points to be picked up in the next few weeks and if we can tuck a Europa League Last 16 spot in there, then that should bring some confidence. Expect plenty of changes for Thursday, and Benfica are certainly beatable. I am as confident - as confident as this Arsenal side can make anyone feel - that we can qualify.

Stay safe. Back in a week's time.

Black and White, and shades of Grey

I've always been amused by how football fans view the fortunes of their team. Form tends to be temporary, but it's the path your team is on that is most important.

Take Arsenal. All through November and for most of December things looked bad. Arteta was relying on a group of experienced players who simply weren't delivering for him. Things looked so poor, and the trajectory looked so bad, that the 'R' word even started to get bandied about. And then, with Arteta almost forced to play Smith Rowe at home to Chelsea, the tide turned and they suddenly looked far more like what we'd been hoping to see all season. 

A series of decent performances and results, and Arsenal were apparently flying. All of a sudden, even the Top 4 didn't look out of the question. And then, on the back of an extremely unfortunate result at Wolves, and an admittedly somewhat tepid display at Villa Park, Arsenal were cr*p again.

Were they really? Of course they weren't! But we all get sucked into narratives, don't we? We all know where Arteta needs to improve his squad, and the decisions and trades he is going to need to make in the summer. The team is by no means the finished article, but I think that we can now see that there is a nucleus of players around which we can expect the team to revolve over the next three or four years. And for the moment results and performances are going to be somewhat up and down.

Other fans suffer just like we do. Are Liverpool suddenly rubbish? - no, but missing van Dijk, and at the same time all of his most likely replacements, and the whole team looks out of kilter. Did people really think a couple of months ago that Tottenham were ever contenders to win the Premier League? - no, of course not; not even their fans seriously thought so. Were Chelsea, with that wealth of talent in their squad, really going to underperform so badly for too long? - again, no. Sure, it needed a change to a more experienced Manager, but the change has been instantaneous and they're now back on the sort of trajectory one might expect. That's just three examples, but I could go on.

And so we come to Arsenal 4 Leeds United 2. And who bought into the narrative, as Leeds huffed and puffed their way back into the game from 4-0 down, that Arsenal's huge lead was really under threat? I certainly didn't. But the Sky commentators - including Alan Smith, who I wish would occasionally channel his inner Ian Wright and be more bullish about his former club instead of trying to be a little too impartial - tried to make it interesting by reminding us of the Joey Barton (and Phil Dowd) -inspired 4-4 draw at Newcastle all of 10 years ago. But I was never concerned, even when it became 4-2 with a quarter of the game to go. Honestly!

And so a quick recap of the game itself, with Arteta choosing to rest Rob Holding, and to give Martin Odegaard a starting debut in place of Pepe. Ceballos was the inevitable choice to replace the sidelined Thomas Partey, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned in place of Alexandre Lacazette. Bielsa-inspired Leeds, a side known to never stop running and therefore always likely to pose a threat - their game against Everton a couple of weeks ago was the most entertaining match I've seen this season - were missing the key figure of Kalvin Phillips.

The game started with Arsenal noticeably pressing in similar style to Leeds, but always with the threat of getting exposed by their opponents hard-running. Bamford had a tame early header, before in the 13th minutes Xhaka's clever pass found Auba coming in from the left - where he had been alternating with Smith Rowe - and he did Ayling with a step-over before sliding the ball inside Meslier's over-exposed near post for 1-0.

In the 28th minute a marauding Luiz run right into the penalty are nearly led to a second for Auba - well blocked in last-ditch style by Ayling. And 5 minutes later controversy as, following a neat interchange with Odegaard, Saka was brought down in the area by Cooper. I thought it was a penalty, if not for the tangle of legs but for a push on Saka's shoulder, but referee Atwell was summoned to the screen by the VAR and ruled it out. Unusual to see a VAR decision fail to go our way, eh...

But almost immediately Meslier dwelt on the ball, lost control momentarily as Saka closed him down, and fouled our young star. This one was a clear penalty, and Auba crashed it inside the side netting with aplomb for 2-0.

On the stroke of half-time, it was three. Saka's mesmerising waltz across the penalty area caused havoc in the Leeds defence, and soon Ceballos' clever nutmeg of Klich let in Bellerin, who completed Meslier's dreadful half by beating him at his near post. 3-0, and surprisingly comfortable against a seemingly outclassed Leeds.

And Arsenal didn't ease up at 3-0, with Saka driving at the Leeds defence, and a combination of pressure on the ball from himself and Cedric leading to the ball breaking for Smith Rowe on the left. His clever dinked cross found Auba alone in the six-yard box for a simple header and his hat-trick - his first in the Premier League, incredibly.

At which point, Arsenal went into cruise control, and soon regretted it. Because Leeds do not stop working, no matter what the score is. 10 minutes later a towering Struijk header - another goal conceded from a corner; I'm not convinced by the choice of man-markers at set-pieces - made it 4-1. on 68, Costa cut it to 4-2 with a neat finish, beating Xhaka to a cut-back. 

In between those goals, Arteta had chosen to replace Smith Rowe with Willian. Now, I have no idea how that change would have been greeted by a full stadium... well actually I do; there would have been boos. And whilst Arteta is doing everything in his power to kick-start the Brazilian's Arsenal career it is looking increasingly less likely that he is going to succeed. Once more, Willian was really poor, and I'd almost feel sorry for him - it it wasn't for the massive salary he is drawing. Certainly, I'd be happy to earn in two years what he tucks away every week!

And fortunately that was pretty much the end of the game as a contest, with Leeds failing to create much else, and Aubameyang just inches away from a fourth goal as his rasping shot crashed against the bar. Elneny came on for Odegaard - who'd had a tidy enough game for his first start for three months - to help shore things up. Saka continued to show his brilliance to the end - hitting the post at one point - and the only other moment of note was an injury-time collision between Ayling and Auba which resulted in a nasty knock to our skipper's ankle. Thankfully, he looked OK by the end as he strolled off with a match ball.

And so what did this match show? Well, either Arsenal are a bad team who occasionally play well. Or they're a good side who had been unlucky over the previous couple of games. Or probably something in between. From what I've been watching recently in the Premier League, Manchester City are head and shoulders above the rest, Leicester are possibly next best at the moment, and as for the rest... well, it's a pity that Arsenal have so much ground to make up to get into the Top 4, because I don't see too much else to worry about. 

Saying that, the fixture list does look tricky over the next few weeks, and I suspect that whatever blueprint Arteta discovered for this game may have to be torn up for the next, which is against City. I suspect we may see Laca back in the side and Auba on the left, as it'll be important to press from the front. 

Before and after City, it's away (in Rome) and home (in Athens) Europa League ties against Benfica. The world has truly gone mad!

Stay safe. And don't forget what my father always used to say: Leeds are Weeds!

Conspiracy Theories Rool - OK

And so, another defeat. Opinions range from: 'We're cr*p; Arteta out!' through 'We didn't get the rub of the green - again', to 'We deserved to win the game and it's a conspiracy!'. And all of these views have some merit.

So to the bare facts of the game. And firstly, to our relief, Mat Ryan was passed fit to start in the enforced absence of Bernd Leno. Elsewhere, the only other change was Gabriel for the equally suspended Luiz. I'd sort of expected a rest for ESR, perhaps, and a start for Martin Odegaard, but Arteta chose not to tinker. Aubameyang remained on the bench.

Regrettably, the first thing that Ryan had to do was pick the ball out of the net. A poor pass from Cedric on the left corner of the penalty area caught Gabriel a little on his heels, Traore nipped in and crossed, and Watkins swept home via a deflection off of Holding (who might have been a little closer to him, I suppose - but 87.265% of the blame goes to Cedric for this one). An appalling start, in just the second minute.

I immediately noted, by the way, that from that very moment Villa started to waste time. They took just a little too long for my liking over every single restart, but referee Kavanagh didn't seem to notice. Perhaps it was my imagination, and I suppose that every second counts when you're losing. I also noted that Ryan didn't touch the ball again until the 21st minute.

It also occurred to me that most other sides in the Premier League are simply more 'professional' than Arsenal - by that I mean pragmatic, or cynical if you like. I see it in almost every Premier League game I watch. Maybe Arsenal are clinging a little too much to the old Corinthian spirit; more general fair play than many other sides. Alternatively, I may just be rambling...

Anyway, time-wasting aside the game settled down into end-to-end stuff, with Arsenal generally moving forward with purpose but unable to break through the Villa rearguard, and almost everything Villa did going through Grealish. The England international is, as we all know, 'the most fouled player in the Premier League', and that's hardly a surprise when you watch him go to ground at the slightest contact. Talented and skilful he may be - and in spades! - but I find it all a little bit unedifying.

Arsenal were not at their fluent best in this game. Lacazette looked to be dropping a little too deep at times, and Pepe was having one of his 'headless chicken' days - constantly in the wrong place at the right time. Laca, nonetheless, once or twice almost released Saka through on goal. Almost...

On the half hour, Xhaka's direct free kick - awarded due to a foul on Saka by 'the most fouled player' - was headed for the very top corner, but Martinez quite superbly tipped it wide of the upright.  In a statistical anomaly, which BT Sport were delighted to point out, Xhaka's effort was somehow Arsenal's only shot on target in what was in fact a very even and quite entertaining half of football.

Almost immediately, a clever turn in the area by Traore set him free on goal, but Ryan read his attempted chip. And then came the first moment of controversy. Holding's long clearance was flicked on by Lacazette, and Saka was in a foot race with Konsa. The Villa defender brought him down at the second or third attempt, thus denying Saka a clear run on goal - admittedly 30 yards out, but nobody was getting to him. A red for me, but not for Kavanagh, and VAR took a mere cursory look. But Targett wasn't getting there, was he?

Minutes later, Nkamaba became the second Villa player to be booked for an assault on Saka, who was being fouled in rotation at this point.

The free flow to the game continued into the second half, with both teams looking likely at different times. The best chances fell to Watkins at one end, and Pepe at the other. And amidst all that, from a wicked Saka corner, Lacazette was penalised for a foul. Because, apparently, it's an offence to have your shirt almost pulled off in the six yard box? Here's a close up view of Lacazette fouling Martinez...

Aubameyang replaced the angry Lacazette, and soon after Odegaard replaced... not ESR, but Cedric; thus sending Saka back to left back - as Arteta went for broke. Soon after came the worrying sight of Partey coming off with what looked like a recurrence of his thigh injury. This is as bad news as the result! 

And much to most people's chagrin he was replaced not by Martinelli, but by Willian. And whilst pretty much dominating from then on, with the exception of a chance from which Odegaard should have done much better there was little to worry Martinez.

And so to talking points, and they're fairly clear and obvious to me:

1.    Arsenal are really missing Kieran Tierney. Cedric is half the player he is; he fails to offer anything like as much as the Scot either in defence or attack, and on this day I'm pretty sure he doesn't make the mistake that Cedric made for the goal

2.    I'm veering somewhere in between 'We didn't get the rub of the green - again'' and 'We deserved to win the game and it's a conspiracy!'. On another day, Villa may have gone down to 10 men, and Martinez's tug on Laca would have yielded a penalty. I simply cannot accept that it's a conspiracy, for all that we get a lot less of the rub of the green on VAR than many other clubs I could mention. I merely put it down to the diabolically low standards of refereeing in England. After all, did we not have another example of that with the Soucek/Mitrovic incident?

What I would say is that I can think of many, many more instances where Arsenal have suffered via VAR than been helped by it - and I'm sure that there must be some figures somewhere. Instances where almost identical incidents have led to different outcomes when an Arsenal player is adjudged the offender than the other way round. If I can locate enough information, I'll do a piece on it.

The whole concept of VAR needs a hell of a lot more work, and the sooner the Technical Director of FIFA (whoever he may be) can give better guidance on many aspects of its use in conjunction with Referee supremo Collina, the better.

For me, I'd rather go back to simple human error and put the whole thing on hold. 

But I'd also like to see Law changes regarding 'initiating contact', with the threat of retrospective bans for players for duping officials by dangling a leg, or exaggerating a dive. That's going back to my point on 'professionalism' - the game is too sanitised these days, and collisions that a few years ago wouldn't have raised an eyebrow are now pored over again and again. And every time a pundit says 'Such-and-such player was clever there...', my life shortens by a month. Because its football, Jim, but not as we know it

3.    As for Arteta's claim that Arsenal 'once more dominated the game' and deserved to win', I think that there is an element of deflection here. He didn't have his finest hour on Saturday; he shuffled his pack all wrong maybe three times - moving Saka to left back, over-crowding the side with number 10s, and bringing on the totally ineffective Willian when Martinelli was surely the better option. 

As I mentioned at the top of this post, there are some calls for Arteta's head, and he doesn't help himself with such muddled thinking. Nonetheless, it'll take a lot more for him to go any time soon, as Arsenal are too invested in him at the moment - we can't behave like Chelsea because we simply don't have the funds available to do so.

However, this particular tirade was borne out of frustration. Because the fixture list over the next month is really tricky and could see the side cut well adrift from any chance of European qualification. It's Leeds (H), Benfica in the Europa League sandwiching Manchester City (H); then Leicester (A), Burnley (A), Tottenham (H), West Ham (A) and Liverpool (H). Ouch!

Anyway, until next week... 

Stay safe.

Mr Bumble Was Right!

There is an oft-quoted phrase: 'The Law is an ass'. It is often attributed to a comment made by Mr Bumble, the beadle in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, although its origin is probably older than that. Anyway, I digress... but...

But as we quite clearly witnessed last night, the Law is indeed an ass. And whilst I'm obviously going to major on the unfortunate - and unjust - dismissal of David Luiz last night, by coincidence a very similar calamity also befell Southampton's Bednarek a couple of hours later. 

But here's my take on the match-changing events of first half injury time at Molineux. Firstly, it's worth noting that the incident that completely changed the course of the match occurred in the third minute of two minutes of injury time. These things can happen - as we know, the time held up on the board is a 'minimum', but it rarely runs over unless there is an injury or time-wasting - and there wasn't last night.

Now the incident: IFAB Law 12 states: 'Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offending player is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball; in all other circumstances (e.g. holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.) the offending player must be sent off.' So, technically, referee Pawson applied the letter of the Law in sending David Luiz off. In fact, he couldn't wait to get his red card out!

The question in my mind is 'Did Luiz instigate a challenge?' Well, no, he didn't. He was merely running back and completely inadvertently made a tiny connection with Willian Jose - either his knee or his heel - it's not 100% clear to be honest. In fact, Jose's boot instigates the contact with Luiz's knee! 

Look, it's a penalty. There's no getting round that. Accidental or otherwise, a goal-scoring opportunity had been denied. But according to the letter of the Law, if Luiz had slid in from three yards back and brought him down, he would merely have been booked. But, by doing nothing more than chase the forward down, he has been sent off. Similarly, Bednarek tried to pull out of his challenge on Martial and got a red card, but if he'd have gone through with it then it would have been a yellow. As for Arteta suggesting that Arsenal may appeal; well, by the letter of the (idiotic) Law there are no grounds to do so.

In my opinion, both red cards should be rescinded and the Law changed in the same way that a Law change was rushed through after the Manchester City goal against Aston Villa - the one where Rodri dispossessed Mings from behind/an offside position to set up Bernardo Silva's goal.

The thing is this: VAR is surely there to 'rule' on matters of fact, but it has been doing so much more than that. There are countless examples of VAR interpretation being incorrect and illogical. Poor Southampton had a goal disallowed last week because the black armbands they were wearing 'extended their sleeves'. Dier's so-called handball against Newcastle, when he was looking the other way, is another example. 

There are many examples of VAR taking several minutes to decide that parts of the body with which one is not permitted to score a goal make a man offside; an outstretched hand or even an armpit! As if English refereeing standards weren't poor enough! And lest we forget that this incident from Saturday was deemed not worthy of any action - either at the time or retrospectively...

Anyway, there's nothing much we can do about it but complain about the injustice of it all. So I'll move onto less contentious matters, and go back to pre-game, where crucially Bukayo Saka was fit enough to regain his place in the side, replacing Gabriel Martinelli. Arsenal were otherwise unchanged, with Kieran Tierney still out.

And so to the game. And Arsenal were frankly almost completely dominant from the first whistle. Saka hit the post from Partey's first minute chipped ball over the top of a clearly over-match Kilman. A sweeping move a few minutes later, started by the dominant Partey, saw Saka's low shot comfortably saved by Rui Patricio. And in the 9th minute Saka swept in a majestic right foot shot from Lacazette's cut back - unfortunately the Frenchman's right foot was partially offside, and the goal was disallowed.

Wolves' only threats were from the occasional corner, and Arsenal were all over them. Cedric had a shot blocked and Pepe another brilliantly palmed away by Patricio, before an excellent high press, some sleight of foot and a little bit of fortune led to the latter curling a right footed shot into the far corner to give Arsenal a very well-deserved lead. 

And Arsenal remained well on top, and could easily have been two or three goals ahead, right until what ought to have been the stroke of half-time. Whereupon... well, see above. Almost as an afterthought, I should mention that Neves buried the penalty with aplomb.

Shorn of a central defender, Arteta decided to withdraw the blameless Lacazette for Gabriel at half time. And as if Arsenal didn't have enough to recover from - losing a man in such unfortunate circumstances - just 4 minutes into the second half Moutinho let fly from almost 30 yards and found the top corner via the inside of the post. Unstoppable, but he wasn't properly pressed - that's what happens when you're a man short and having to readjust. 

From total dominance to 2-1 down, in just 4 minutes of play. Very unfortunate. And from then on Arsenal found it almost impossible to get back into the game, with Wolves using the pacy Traore as their main outlet. And then, on 72 minutes, a complete brain fade from Leno. Racing out of goal to prevent Traore from getting to Semedo's through ball, he misjudged the bounce and spin of the ball off the slick turf and only succeeded in punching the ball into touch - from miles outside his penalty area. Only he knows what he was thinking. Inevitable and totally uncontroversial red card; and then we were 9.

And now, of course, comes the next problem. Mat Ryan is injured - another recently signed player crocked before he can get anything going; how very Arsenal! - so that meant that it was Runarsson coming on for the last 20 minutes. The same keeper, you will recall, who threw a ball into his own net on his last appearance. Fortunately Wolves had 'declared' at this point, so he only had a couple of saves to make, but if Ryan doesn't recover then it'll be the Icelander who replaces Leno on Saturday. Jack Grealish and the entire Villa side will be licking their lips!

Bizarrely, Arsenal somehow managed to conjure an injury-time chance, but first Aubameyang and then Saka had their shots blocked. And that was that. Frustrating, and extremely unjust, and the conspiracy theorists will be out again. Let's just hope that this doesn't knock the players' confidence.

I'll just quickly recap the Transfer Window. We've seen Kolasinac loaned out, along with Saliba, and contracts cancelled left, right and centre. The end of the line for Ozil (sob!), Sokratis and Mustafi. We also saw Willock and AMN go out on loan to Newcastle and West Brom respectively. Good luck to them. What's going on with Reiss Nelson, however, I wish I knew.

I'll be back on Monday. Hopefully with better news. Stay safe :)

Thrust. Parry. Riposte.

It's on occasions like Saturday evening when I really miss being able to be at the stadium. Manchester United are one of the teams I dislike the most (let's face it, who doesn't?), so I particularly look forward to their visit every season. And I felt it particularly badly in the build-up to Saturday's game. Even though the rivalry is nothing like it was around the turn of the century, there's something about matches against United that brings an extra frisson...

I suspect that the players have to be missing the crowds too. Because whilst this was one of the more interesting goalless draws I've seen, I feel that the presence of a crowd, driving the team(s) on, would have made a difference to the intensity. Yes, it's the Premier League and every point counts, but it's got to be a little surreal for the players; I can't see how they can ever get used to this.

And this match was like a fencing bout, as I've alluded to in the title of this blog. Lots of body blows, but the target just missed on numerous occasions by both sides, with continual shifts in momentum. But no fatal wound was landed, despite a total of 31 shots being recorded over the course of the 90 minutes.

Pre-match, and alongside the news that Kieran Tierney hadn't quite passed his fitness test, and Aubameyang was stuck in quarantine, came the shock news of the absence of Bukayo Saka with a slight hip injury. Obviously, this was going to make a big difference to the side, as Tierney and Saka have been Arsenal's best and most consistent players this season. Cedric kept his place at left back, and it was telling that Arteta turned to Martinelli as opposed to Willian for the left-sided attacking role. La-Di-Da Gunner Solksjaer reverted to a more conservative midfield with McTominay and Fred returning to the United line-up.

There was a sense of the players feeling each other out in the early stages, with the only action of note the petulant response of Bruno Fernandes to a nothing challenge from Cedric that got the defender booked, followed by a retaliation of sorts from United's prickly midfielder as he deliberately raked Xhaka's achilles - for me a yellow card at the very least, yet neither referee nor VAR chose to revisit it. United have had a number of players over the years that we've loved to hate (van Nistlerooy springs to mind immediately, obviously), and this guy has the capacity to plumb similar depths. According to the Sky commentators, however, he was merely 'expressing himself'(!).

Here's a gif - https://streamable.com/s83bdj, and below a still. I'm sorry, but this is unacceptable, and a bottle job by the officials. I think we know what would have happened had this been the other way round.

Anyway, we move on... to the 20th minute when Fred's dipping half-volley from the edge of the penalty area following a corner was brilliantly tipped away by Bernd Leno. For all the talk about Emi Martinez before the season started, I feel that Arteta made the right decision to cash in on the Argentinian at the peak of his value and stick with the German.

Soon after, only a last-ditch intervention from Martinelli prevented Rashford a clear shot at goal from a cute Pogba cross was followed by a swift Arsenal break led by the impressive Smith Rowe, who drove through the heart of the United midfield and fed Pepe, who attempted innumerable (maybe 5?) stepovers and then a low shot which went agonisingly wide of the left upright. 

Then towards the end of the half - by which time McTominay, suffering with an upset tummy, had been replaced by Martial to put extra pressure on Arsenal's back line - Fernandes first turned Luiz in the box and curled the ball just wide, and then from a free kick (prior to which Rashford spurned a decent opportunity) the Portuguese's free kick was blocked by David Luiz, who celebrated like he'd scored a goal. United had certainly had the better of the first half.

Arteta made a change at half time, with Willian replacing Martinelli. Apparently, it was tactical, and I suppose it has to be said that Martinelli hadn't affected the game too much apart from that timely challenge on Rashford. And as it happens the real Willian finally showed up. He missed the decent opportunity almost immediately - not quite up to speed and dallied on the ball - but this was one of no less than 4 excellent opportunites that Arsenal had to take the lead 

in the opening few minutes of the second half. I was out of my seat time and again! Willian then drove down the left and cut the ball back for Pepe, whose shot was blocked by the gigantic left boot of McGuire. Then, after Cavani missed a very good chance at the other end, Lacazette hit the bar with a free kick and ESR forced a smart save out of De Gea.

It settled down to cut and thrust once more after that, with decent chances for Rashford, Pepe and Cavani - of whom I was reminded how people used to say he needs too many chances to be regarded as a world-class finisher. But he does lead the line well.

The only other two incidents of note were a first appearance for Real Madid loanee Martin Odegaard, who looked neat and tidy in everything he did, and a Harry Kane-type foul - deliberately making a back for the opponent - by McGuire on Lacazette which could have led to serious injury for the Frenchman. Interestingly, Michael Oliver excelled himself again here by giving the free kick the other way.

Interesting to note, by the way, that Kane is going to have to spend several weeks on the sideline following another trademark 'making of the back' against Liverpool. Hoist by his own petard (that quote is originally from Shakespeare's Hamlet, but I recall it more fondly from when Florence also once said it to Zebedee)... 

Other matters pertaining to this game. Firstly, Thomas Partey was not at his best, and gave the ball away a little too frequently for my liking. But there was one penetrating run reminiscent of Vieira to cheer us up.  Secondly, Holding and (particularly) Luiz had excellent games at the heart of defence. Also, as I mentioned, this was Willian's best (half) game for Arsenal since Fulham on Gameday One, which hopefully bodes well for the future. And finally it strangely pleases me to note that Xhaka is playing his best ever football for the club at the moment. 

So a point - and that was probably fair - against a side looking to challenge for the title is fine in my opinion. And the games come thick and fast still, with currently toothless Wolves (see what I did there?...) next on Tuesday, followed by Villa on Saturday. Injured players get no time to recover, and I'd expect to see some further rotation this week. 

I'd also expect to see us above Tottenham in the table very soon, by the way. Which is highly amusing, seeing as they were top of the table (their fans prematurely celebrating that, of course) two months ago. I am beginning to suspect that we might be seeing the beginning of the trademark Mourinho Unravel, seeing as he's ostracised Dele Alli and Danny Rose all season, and in the space of a week fallen out with Aurier, Docherty and now Gareth Bale - and seen his talisman injured. Fingers crossed for another major public meltdown...

Stay safe, guys. Back Wednesday...