50 not out

So the Arsenal juggernaut, having rolled through Tottenham last weekend, flattened Manchester United into the Emirates Stadium turf this week. And as Jon Bon Jovi has been heard to proclaim: 'We're halfway there!' But are we living on a prayer, or are we gaining in confidence with each passing match? 50 points from 19 games; meaning just 7 dropped so far. Remarkable. But as any cricketer knows, it's no good to rest on one's laurels. You need to move on to the century.

The stats were, on paper, pretty damning on the opposition by the end of the game. 25 shots to 6. 2.68Xg to 0.39. 63 touches in the opponent's box - the highest registered by any side in the Premier League this season. Against supposed title contenders!?!

The thing is, though, that it never actually felt that way. Granted, the last 20 minutes or so were very much one way traffic following the removal from the fray of the over-priced and over-rated Antony (one of The Weasel Brothers - for those who remember 101 Dalmatians - alongside his sour-faced and equally obnoxious team-mate Bruno Fernandes)... but I digress... 

One way traffic towards the end, but that's something to do with the way Arteta and Ten Haag approach their football. Arsenal manage to be methodical and exciting at the same time, but United are a 'team of moments' - like Tottenham, but with more threat. They'll sit and look to soak up pressure, and then try to hit you hard. Whereas Arteta, like his mentor Guardiola, looks to suffocate the opposition. It feels more structured with Arsenal. But exciting at the same time.

Yet United ARE dangerous. Marcus Rashford is in the form of his life, and scored a superb goal. Bruno Fernandes may look (and indeed behave) like a rodent, but is a fine attacking footballer. And Cristian Eriksen has always been a very cultured player. 

But let's face it; McTominay is not an adequate replacement for the suspended (lol) Casemiro. On the other hand, the reverse fixture - Arsenal's only loss of the season, as we are well aware - came with Lokonga playing in the absence of the injured Partey. So hey-ho; swings and roundabouts. And for Arsenal, with new signing Leandro Trossard on the bench (still no Elneny), that meant a shortage of double-barrelled under 21s behind the coaching staff. 

The pressure was on a little more, I guess, following City's earlier demolition of Wolves. But despite having closed to just two points, Arsenal had two games in hand. The incentive to win this one - thereby also knocking one of the more difficult remaining fixtures out of the way - was very clear. And the other game in hand is against Everton, so...

I'm going to cover this game like I did the Tottenham one - in a little more timeline detail - because it was so important. I think I'll be reverting to a different style for Everton, for example, but there's a lot to cover in here. So here goes:

A fast start from Arsenal led to an early corner and a couple of half chances, but the first real excitement of the game came with the first piece of gamesmanship. All the work of Weasel #1, who threw himself over Ramsdale in order to try to 'win' a penalty. No ref - not even some of the terrible ones we've had to put up with this season - is going to give that. And Anthony Taylor did pretty well at the World Cup; so he's definitely not going to fall for pantomime nonsense, you Weasel!

Rashford then proceeded to score a goal befitting of his current form, picking up the ball following a loose pass from Partey (to be fair, there is a camera angle that shows that had he managed to thread the eye of the needle Thomas would have sent Ben White clear into the United half in acres of space - see this screen grab)...

...chopping the ball past Partey, advancing on goal and larruping the ball right into the corner of the net from fully 25 yards. A terrific piece of play from United's standout player.

There was a momentary silence from the Arsenal fans, and then that now all-too-familiar roar of support. “Arsenal! Arsenal! Arsenal!” Saka remarked afterwards how it spurs them on. We, the fans, are as one with the team; feeding off of each other. And as previously this season Arsenal took up the gauntlet - and were behind for just 6 minutes. 

The intensity went up a notch, United were pegged back by a full court press, and following the subsequent corner Nketiah's bullet header from Xhaka's pinpoint cross was far too much for De Gea. Easy to blame the sleeping Wan-Bissaka for losing his man, but the move that led to it split United apart - the impressive Zinchenko playing a key pass - and it was the least that Arsenal deserved.

The pressure on the United defence continued, with the pattern well-established; Arsenal on top and United living off of 'moments' - like Weasel #2's run and a pass to McTominay that led to a decent effort on goal. Palmed away by Ramsdale.

It's just worth noting a couple of disciplinary issues at this point, Firstly Ben White, almost impeccable all season, was really struggling with Rashford and was booked for one particularly late challenge. It made sense, with Tomiyasu on the bench, to take Ben out of the firing line at half time. He'll be back. 

And secondly a booking for Arteta for doing what many managers do - appealing for a card for an opposition player. In this case a microcosm of one aspect of Arsenal's season; Saka caught badly by Shaw - who had trouble with him throughout - foul given but no card (I thought it deserved one, but as on many previous occasions this season the punishment did not befit the crime of touching our Starboy), and Arteta's protests leading to him receiving the card that should have gone to Shaw.

I should mention at this point that we had some serious rodent-based discussion around where I sit during the course of the second half. It was decided that ferrets are OK (almost cute, in fact), but weasels are not. BF and A are definitely weasels. 

I've also made a list of PL footballers with punchable faces (seeing as Fernandes definitely qualifies) - see if you can add any more to this dirty dozen: Emi Martinez, Cucurella, Jamie Vardy, Mo Salah, Bruno Fernandes, Antony, Almiron, Lingard, Dier, Son, Richarlison (captain!) and of course Diego Costa.

Arsenal had almost all of the outstanding players on show, and one of them - the ever-brilliant Saka - gave Arsenal the lead with a sensational left-footed effort; bent into the far corner from fully 25 yards out. United were ceding too much space to him and Martinelli, allowing them both to cut inside onto their stronger foot, and paid the price here as Saka squared up the opposing Eriksen (something of a mismatch) before using McTominay as a shield to unsight De Gea and crack the ball home.

Almost immediately following that, Rashford - now essentially United's lone threat (whatever the question is, and despite his sensational goal at the World Cup, Weghorst is clearly not the answer) - went close to equalising following a mazy run and a deflected shot that Ramsdale did well to keep out. Yet a few minutes later a mistake from the keeper at a corner - he was slightly impeded by his own man (Tomiyasu) as he tried to catch the ball when a big punch would have been far more effective, and it fell close to Lisandro Martinez. The little guy bent even lower, scooped a clever header back over the Arsenal defence and it looped into the top of the net despite Gabriel's best efforts to clear. Against the run of play? Yes... but as I say... 'moments'.

On 70 minutes Saka hit the post with a carbon-copy effort to that of his goal. Around us, we didn't realise how close he'd got. And immediately thereafter Ten Haag declared - or surrendered perhaps - by withdrawing Antony and bringing on Fred (you can't have more than one single-named Brazilian on the pitch at the same time is the PL rule, I understand...). 

And from here on in it was pretty much all Arsenal. Wave after wave, penning United back, and interspersed with numerous acts of time-wasting from the away side. Most notably by the consistently annoying Fernandes and - comi-tragically - from De Gea). 

During the interruption for Weasel's 'head injury', Trossard replaced Martinelli for his debut. And the little Belgian had a hand in the winning goal, driving forward with the ball before finding Zinchenko. His cross was flicked on to Nketiah by Odegaard, and Eddie did the rest with a clever, improvised back-heeled flick. Cue bedlam in the stands. But wait - a VAR check for offside. But it was OK - and so we got to celebrate twice!

And that was that. 5 point gap restored. We move on. But there are a few things to cover still.

Firstly, this result makes it firmly a two-horse race for the title. It's either Arsenal or Manchester City now. And City have finally woken up. And look; I have to take some responsibility for this. At half-time in the City vs Spurs game, I questioned on a WhatsApp group quite when City were going to finally wake up this season. And a combination of my big mouth and the embarrassment of being two goals down at home to Tottenham finally did the trick. From Pep's interview afterwards it was clear - he was fed up with the complacency of both the players and supporters. And the beast has now stirred. They've still got to play Arsenal twice, which may help them, but the question is: have they given themselves too much to do? Time will tell, but the bookies have Arsenal at odds on now.

And now a few thoughts about performances. I'd have to lead by saying that an element of jeopardy led to Ben White's half-time substitution. And equally neither Thomas Partey nor Gabriel Martinelli were at their best. But others made up for it. In particular Zinchenko was magnificent - a performance almost without blemish - Xhaka and Odegaard oiled the wheels, Bukayo Saka was his normal excellent self, and Eddie's crucial brace made the difference. If you weren't worried when Gabriel Jesus got injured, I'd have questioned your sanity. But Eddie has stepped into the breach and more than compensated for his absence to the extent - if I may be so bold - that I may suggest that with a cloud hanging over Ivan Toney at the moment Eddie has a good chance of making the next England squad!

And finally a question about squad management etc. The signings of Trossard and Kivior are going to help, and ESR is on his way back. I continue to have concerns about the lack of numbers up top - I guess Arteta feels he has enough solutions. But central midfield continues to worry me. 

On top of that, there's an FA Cup game against no less than Manchester City at the weekend. How does Mikel play it? I feel that he has to go strong and hope to put down a marker; but that's risky. Some rotation, but not too much I reckon. Remember, City can rotate and you'll hardly notice. After that it's Everton and a possible 'new manager bounce'. But the flip side of that is that Everton are an absolute shower!

So I think we'll be OK for that one. Let's continue Living On A Prayer. COYG!!!

A Tale Of Two Keepers

Well, hello there. And what a fine day it is today! Tottenham battered in their own back yard, and thanks to other results an 8-point gap back to Manchester City in second place. What is there not to be happy about?

Anyway, apart from the game itself there's been quite a lot going on over the past few days, and I'll endeavour to cover that other stuff later. But let's first look at what transpired down at the 'best stadium in the country' (not a trophy, by the way) on Sunday.

It was a tale of two halves; of two goalkeepers, of two managers and ultimately of two teams going in opposite directions. In the corresponding fixture last year, a makeshift and injury-stricken Arsenal side were blown away by Spurs - and then a few days later by Newcastle - and surrendered a much-coveted Champions League spot in the process. But this Arsenal side is completely transformed from that one; they handled the opposition, the pressure and the hostile crowd with aplomb, and blew Tottenham away in a scintillating first half performance that reeked of confidence and class.

Spurs, surprisingly, started on the front foot and looked to press Arsenal high up the field, but Arsenal were quickly able to work their way through that and put them on the back foot. And frankly from the moment that Lloris made a hash of a clearance with his feet early on the writing looked on the wall. Spurs looked rattled, afraid, inferior as Arsenal played all around them in midfield and put intolerable pressure on their back line.

It was fascinating and beautiful in equal measure. I wondered if Conte may have considered going with a flat back 4 in order to put an extra man into midfield, but not only did he fail to do that but the inverted presence of ostensible left-back Zinchenko alongside Partey and Xhaka meant that they were completely over-run.

Partey had a wonderful first half and he, along with the ever-excellent Odegaard and the now undeniably world class Saka dictated matters. There was a five-minute spell in the middle of the half when had it been a boxing match the referee would surely have stopped it, as Arsenal sliced through the home team at will, with Odegaard forcing a decent save out of Lloris and Partey hitting the post with a 25-yard volley that, had it gone in, would surely have wrapped up Goal of the Season.

But this was after Arsenal had taken the lead, Partey drew Sarr in, found Saka in far too much space on the right, and with Sessegnon backing off him drove into the penalty area and, almost on the bye line, hammered a cross into the 6-yard box. Cue disbelief as Lloris could only divert the ball into his own net. But, as I've said before, he's got that in him, has old Hugo. 

Midway through the half it was two as, within 10 seconds of having kicked long from hand, Lloris was picking the ball out of his net for a second time. Via the head of Saliba, then Partey's pass to Saka and, with our skipper given the freedom of the midfield, he fired a shot home from fully 25 yards.

 

Here's the thing. Arsenal had a plan. There were no surprises from Tottenham and frankly Arsenal are a better side than them. There really weren't any surprises from Arsenal either, but Conte seemed powerless to do anything about it. Granted, Spurs were insipid and barely at the races in the first half - something we've seen all season, frankly - and they did up the tempo in the second half. By which time it was too late, as Arsenal were in cruise control. 

And where Tottenham did make chances, they were faced by a goalkeeper at the peak of his powers. Aaron Ramsdale made 7 saves in total, so it's not as if Spurs didn't have chances, and three of those (one in particular from Sessegnon was quite superb) were from really excellent opportunities. But from 2-0 up it did feel that Arsenal were content to cruise through the rest of the game.

Where Ramsdale looked sharp, quick and strong, Lloris looked the polar opposite. Weak, and slow. Finished, in fact... ready for the scrap heap. Long may he stay in Tottenham's starting XI...

As for Tottenham themselves, surely this is the end for Harry Kane now? A world class footballer - in a team of inferiors. He must realise that he's wasting his career playing with that group of players, and for a dinosaur of a manager. Free Harry!

Whilst I wouldn't dream of giving any Arsenal player less than 7.5 out of 10, I'm going to single out a few individuals. 

• The sheer volume and quality of Ramsdale's saves actually made him Man of the Match
• In front of him Xinchenko's well-timed forays into Tottenham's midfield unbalanced them and put them on the back foot
• Thomas Partey was magnificent - especially in the first half. He does the work of two men, and it's imperative that he stays fit. There isn't a single midfield job that is beyond him
• And Bukayo Saka had Sessegnon on a string; coming inside, going outside, running at him at pace... the poor kid had no answer. I (almost) felt sorry for him. If Mudryk is worth £85m, how much is Starboy worth?

Just quickly, I must cover the Ramsdale incident at the end of the match. The spectator resposible for kicking out at him must surely get a police charge and a lifetime ban. Ramsdale, as he does,was just giving back what he'd been getting from the crowd (a bit of banter) - and at other grounds it's all been pretty good-humoured all season. But I don't think that we should lose sight of the role that the lunatic Richarlison played in the incident. He's a tinder box. An inciter of aggro. A trouble-maker. He's more interested in inciting non-football behaviour on and around the pitch than actually playing football. Somebody needs to have a word with him. This is the final straw with him for me.

I've spent longer than normal analysing this match, Because it means so much to all of us. Because it's important to understand quite how red North London is. And quite how beautiful the Premier League table currently looks. 

We're in the middle of a crucial series of fixtures. The draw against Newcastle wasn't terminal, this was a massive statement and result, and we've got a resurgent Manchester United next week. Win that, and the sky's the limit... And let's not forget that we've got an FA Cup tie at Manchester City the week after that, and then on February 15th the opportunity to almost put the season to bed with the PL visit of City. City themselves are really under pressure, lagging this far behind, and they've got their bogey team (Tottenham!) twice in the next three weeks. Quite frankly, whatever is the result of those two games will make me happy.

Now on to other matters. And firstly the Mudryk saga. We thought that he was done and dusted. Arsenal were clearly the front runners for his signature, he'd made all the right noises about joining, and it merely looked like a matter of time. But Shakhtar were determined to hold out for a ridiculous amount of money, and Chelsea were crazy enough to pay it. They also more than doubled the wage that the player was perfectly happy with, and have signed him to an 8.5 year contract in order to amortise against FFP. Unbelievable, frankly.

Chelsea... as if the sight of Joao Felix getting sent off on his debut and thereby missing out a whole month of his incredibly expensive 6-month loan wasn't funny enough... Now we have this - an unfathomable, off-the-cuff transfer policy meaning that a squad with gigantic holes in defence and midfield continues to add to its plethora of forwards. At ludicrous expense. Chelsea are the equivalent of the tourist who doesn't realise that he's supposed to barter in a Middle Eastern bazaar; or the guy who hits Buy It Now on e-bay. Mugs. Languishing in mid-table and trying to blast their way up. For the foreseeable future, they are cooked.

Meantime, it's onto Plan B (not the rapper!) for Edu and Arteta. Because Arsenal are only a couple of injuries away from finding themselves in serious trouble. We all know that the squad isn't deep enough. They think they need a wide player, but they have Vieira and LANS Smith Rowe to do that job. Depending on how long Jesus will be, maybe they can live without an alternative central striker. But something needs to be done about the paucity of talent in central midfield; the drop off from Partey and Xhaka to Elneny (not on the bench against Spurs btw) and Lokonga is huge, and whilst Zinchenko can do a job in there it would negatively impact on the back line. Two weeks to go; tick tock tick tock.

Now onto FA charges for 'failing to control their players'. Given to Arsenal only. Not to any of the PL sides that behave in exactly the same manner. There can only be one explanation for it - an unfathomable establishment dislike of our club. I'm sick of it!

And finally I cannot go without a quick word on Bruno Fernandes's goal on Saturday. I won't go into all the semantics and details of it, except to say this: Rashford is two yards offside when the ball is played in his direction. He then runs almost alongside the ball for 15-20 yards and finally gets a shout from Fernandes and leaves the ball, having shaped as if to shoot. If none of that is interfering with play, I don't know what is! The offside decision is, apparently, subjective. Nonsense! It's objective, and he is offside. 

What that meant was an equaliser for United against City, and as we know United went on to win the game. Me, I'd have preferred a draw. But City are starting to look quite fallible - they've failed to adapt to having Haaland in the side, and have gone from a team with multiple threats to having one focus. It's costing them dear. I'm sure that Guardiola will work it out eventually, but Arsenal have taken full advantage at this stage. 

Long may that continue. On to United at THOF on Sunday. Massive game. COYG!!!

New Year's Resolution - Believe!

So - victory at Brighton and a hard-fought draw against Newcastle to follow victory over West Ham. Actually, I'd say that 7 points is a perfectly reasonable return from the three games. But let's drill down a little and look at the two latest matches alongside each other.

Well, Brighton at least wanted to play! But paid the price, as early goals in each half made life extremely difficult for them. Some of Arsenal's attacking play was sublime, and it was great - yet again - to see the goals shared out across the entire forward line. Despite only 32% possession, Arsenal almost always looked in control - apart from when Brighton got their second (and disallowed third) goals and there was a little bit of panic amongst the fan base.

Saka's early goal certainly helped set the pattern of play, and whilst Brighton saw a lot of the ball after that it was almost solely in front of Arsenal's back line. By contrast, a fast start against Newcastle did not yield a goal, and that made a massive difference to the pattern of the game as Newcastle seemed purely intent on wasting time, winning free kicks, and lumping the ball up to their man mountains. A goal would have made a massive difference. And whilst the game was tense, it was certainly no spectacle.

Against Brighton, Arsenal took their opportunities when they came. There was an element of good fortune to Odegaard's Ozil-type shot (bouncing the ball into the ground so that it would pop up high) - it looked more like a mis-hit. And when Nketiah did his 'fox in the box' thing very early in the second half the game was essentially done and dusted. Unlike against Newcastle, when chances were few and far between, and players snatched at the few opportunities that did come their way.

Martinelli's goal against Brighton was a contender for goal of the season. And if not goal of the season, certainly pass of the season by Odegaard. And whilst there were wobbles - the second and (almost) third - there was an element of comfortably keeping Brighton at arm's length.

By contrast, the Newcastle game was attritional and intense; aided and abetted by the non-footballing aspects of Newcastle's play. They pressed hard, doubled (and occasionally trebled) up continually on Saka and Martinelli, and spent as much time as possible keeping the ball out of play and feigning injury- as Eddie Howe sides are known to do when up against superior opposition; there were some parallels to watching Howe's Bournemouth also looking to waste time at every turn - their calling card. I suppose that this illustrates great respect to Arsenal, because Newcastle have hardly done that all season, but the Gunners are of course classier opposition than most.

And so the longer the game went on, the more tense it got. Newcastle continued to show little intent going forward, but looked to make the most of dead ball situations. By contrast, Arsenal seemed to get their knickers in a twist; a little slow moving the ball about, concentrating on the left hand side when I would have thought that trying to match Saka up to the ocean going cruise ship that is Dan Burn may have been more effective, and not getting the ball to Odegaard anything like enough.

The flow of play was not helped by some 'fussy' - and I'm being kind here - refereeing from the out-of-his-depth Andy Madley. Not every foul is a booking, Andy, and apparently innocuous shirt tugs in midfield are apparently more worthy of a free kick and yellow card than removing somebody's shirt in the penalty area. 

He had an absolute stinker, and affected the way the game was played. Thank goodness that none of the Arsenal players on 4-card jeopardy were punished, leaving them all free to take their places at White Hart Lane in a couple of weeks. Certainly, whilst the game will be remembered for being tense, there was little incident to recall throughout - and I for one believe that the referee contributed to some of the inhibition in Arsenal's play.

There were few clear cut chances. Early on, Arsenal almost cut through on three or four occasions, but the most memorable chances were a smart save by Pope from Nketiah, and a Martinelli header that flashed just wide late on. Additionally, Arsenal had two shouts for a penalty. The second - for a handball by Murphy - would have been harsh (not that I would have complained), but an earlier one for a tug by Burn on Gabriel at a free kick would - one would have hoped - have been worth more than a cursory look by the VAR.

So a goalless draw. Not a disaster by any means. But there's a little more under the surface here. Because the substitutions - or lack of them - tell a story. Arsenal have little or no attacking depth at this stage. With Jesus out, ESR not yet ready to even make the bench, and Arteta clearly passing his verdict on Fabio Vieira by not bringing him on, there is little on the bench to make an impact. Admittedly, Arsenal aren't going to come up against such obdurate opposition as Newcastle every week, but there are a lots more games to play, two more competitions to (re)start, and squad rotation must come into the mix. 

For me, I feel that alongside the impending arrival of Mudryk and an alternative at centre-forward - not casting any aspersions on Eddie here; he's doing OK - some extra midfield cover of sufficient quality would not go amiss. In fact, I'd be rather insisting on it if I were the Manager. Let's see.

And now just a quick thought or two about the opposition, and the title race (for we're certainly in one here):

Liverpool - in bits. Need open heart surgery and a brand new midfield. Forget them this season

Chelsea - nowhere near the sum of their parts. Potter has a lot to do to sort them out. Work to do for Top 4

Tottenham - imploding. Lack creativity in midfield (as I said before the season started; Conte has finally owned up to it). Surely cannot continue to rely on one or two players

Manchester United - on their way back, unfortunately. Need to keep an eye on them.

Newcastle - yet to reach the Aguero/Nasri (if comparing their development to that of Manchester City) stage, yet still up in third place. This is as much a function of other sides under-performing, in my opinion - but they aren't going away any time soon

Manchester City - now tell me; would you rather rely on one (admittedly exceptional) player scoring all your goals, or would you prefer to see the goals spread around? Who wouldn't want Haaland in their side? But there's a clear over-reliance on him and De Bruyne. They're off their peak - yet may still be good enough, of course

And what does this mean for Arsenal? Well, judging from the lack of activity from the bench last night it's clear - as I've said and as if we didn't already know - that high class reinforcements are needed. They can't afford to sit back on their lead at the top of the table. We shall see... but I'm currently 'cautiously optimistic'.

Anyway, I'll be back next week, once Arteta has made the necessary 11 changes for the trip to Oxford. Maybe Chelsea can do us a favour on Thursday (I doubt it). But in the meantime, let's stick to our New Year's Resolution and BELIEVE! COYG!!!