Firstly, let's dwell on the good parts of the game. The excellent move that led to the goal, and the myriad of chances created in a first half that ended 1-0 but could/should have ended 3-0 or even 4-0. Another solid performance - punctuated by one or two more than decent saves - from the commanding Martinez in goal. The continued all-round excellence of Kieran Tierney, and a much better showing from Hector Bellerin. The high class passing of Dani Ceballos, the continual improvement in the all-round game of Bukayo Saka, and the excellent movement of Lacazette and Aubameyang up top. All this shows the incremental improvements that Arteta and his coaching team are making to the team, both in performance and general mentality.
The goal was a thing of beauty. A clever touch to dumbfound Ndidi and exquisite through ball from Ceballos, picking out Saka's intelligent run. The look up, and the little shimmy that put Jonny Evans on his knees, and the inch-perfect cross (with his wrong foot) that was duly despatched by the predatory Aubameyang. Gorgeous. And, if I can just mention, if that had been David Luiz who'd ended up on the floor and not Evans we wouldn't have heard the last of it. But Evans was apparently merely 'unfortunate' to have lost his footing.
I'm building up to what made me angry, so in this section I'll cover the disappointments. Firstly, the missed chances at a time when Arsenal were dominating; two for Lacazette, including one in particular from an inch-perfect Bellerin cross from which he should have done much better than head the ball directly at Schmeichel. The short corner - an almost carbon copy of the one from which Brighton scored a couple of weeks ago - that led to the Ndidi chance and from which they should have learned. Arteta not reacting quickly enough to Rodgers' formation change, which piled pressure on a midfield duo who are far more comfortable with the ball than without it and which led to continual concerns about how the group of shaky central defenders behind them would cope with the pressure.
And now on to what made me angry. Firstly, whilst Nketiah's challenge on Justin was reckless and deserved a red card - although 'he's not that sort of player' - there was quite a bit of Leicester tackling that could have been fairly described as 'robust' at the very least. The commentators even alluded to it: 'This is the sort of night when players can claim that it was the conditions that caused them to slide in so hard on their opponent; whatever was the actual intent.' Somewhat dismissive, and there were some real crunching tackles around for which Leicester went totally unpunished. Lest we especially forget the absolute zinger of a challenge by Evans from behind on Lacazette in the first half that went completely unpunished and which was minimum a yellow card. Nketiah was unfortunate, but the Law is the Law and his studs were raised; despite no lasting damage whatsoever to Justin. That's it.
And then there was this:
Now Jamie Vardy is someone who I've always regarded as a 'snide' player (credits to Alan Davies's The Tuesday Club for the theme). Of those currently in the Premier League, you can put him alongside his team-mate Maddison, Jorginho, Matic, Fernandinho, Salah (Captain), Heung-Min Son (especially - with his innocent 'Who? Me?' face ), Alli, Lamela, Moura and Dier (so many of them!) at Spurs, Shane Long, Troy Deeney, Richarlison, and now of course Neal Maupay. From the Arsenal squad, I'd put Guendouzi in there tbh. With Mourinho as manager, it goes without saying. The sort of player who you just know is itching to try something right on the limits of the Law at every opportunity he gets. If you can think of any more, do let me know.
And so Vardy goes down in a tangle with Mustafi, has a quick, sly look at where Mustafi is - watch the video - and lets his studs swing into the German's face. And not a word from the commentators, nor any sign that the VAR is taking a look. But yes, he did that on purpose. That's what he does.
I know I'm going to be accused of sour grapes, but a player's character needs to be taken into consideration. So he shouldn't have been on the pitch to score the equaliser; a goal that took VAR almost three minutes to award - with spurious use of lines on the pitch etc. so it may actually have been offside - yes, I'm angry about that.
But most of all the anger is born out of frustration at the bad luck; the little things that didn't go Arsenal's way. But nonetheless this was a difficult opponent so I still regard the performance, if not the result, as a further move in the right direction.
So now on to Tottenham on Sunday. They, of course, scraped a 1-0 win with a fortunate own goal the previous evening, over a dreadful Everton side, in what was possibly the worst Premier League game I have ever seen. They appear to be lacking both form and confidence at the moment - the second attribute unlikely, let's face it, to be drummed back into them by their manager - so now's not a bad time to face them. The good news about Dier's suspension is that there is now more chance of Davinson Sanchez playing in central defence. Davinson Sanchez is the nearest thing an opponent can get to a one-goal start in a game, so I think that he should definitely be on the team sheet.
Anyway, fingers crossed for Sunday and I'll be back with my thoughts (on Arsenal's comprehensive victory) on Monday.
Thanks for reading.
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