A 'perfect storm' hit Arsenal last night as all the worst case scenarios hit in the same - critical - match. A raucous atmosphere, a good dose of bad judgment, plenty of bad luck and some questionable refereeing decisions (Paul Tierney never gives Arsenal the benefit of any doubt), alongside the underlying issues of a squad that's not quite big enough, important injuries and absences, and (Hello Captain Hindsight) poor team selection meant that they crashed to a morale-sapping defeat at The Armitage Shanks Arena (for those who aren't aware, Armitage Shanks are a famous maker of toilet bowls, and if you type Armitage Shanks Arena into Google Maps it kindly directs you to The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 😄).
It's also worth noting that the team failed to perform to anything like its optimum levels. But it's been a funny old two months. Defeat at Crystal Palace was unquestionably deserved. They didn't get the rub of the green against either Brighton or Southampton. Victory over a distracted Chelsea was meritorious. Manchester United could frankly have gone the other way. They lived on their nerves at West Ham. They made things very difficult for themselves against Leeds. And at The Toilet Bowl they finally cracked under the pressure. Some would say that they 'bottled it'; and I suppose that wouldn't be far off the mark.
Fortunately, it's all still in Arsenal's hands. Two wins and Tottenham's victory will be pyrrhic. Although it was disappointing that The Celebration Police, who are so quick to charge Arsenal, failed to make any of the 55,000 arrests that they ought to have made last night. The ringleaders, Conte, Kane, Son and Paul Tierney, should all be under lock and key today.
Much as I'd like to try to write this piece without going through several bunches of sour grapes, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to fail to do so. In fact, I'm not even going to try... I do try to be as fair as I can when I write, even if it is from an Arsenal perspective, but perceived injustices do sometimes make it very difficult to stay as calm and rational as (and I know my friends will agree...) I usually am.
Unquestionably, Tottenham come out of this game with massive credit and momentum. Despite a slow start, they soon took the initiative, and Son made life a misery for Cedric and Holding with his undoubted talent; allied to his trademark 'professional' antics.
Look, he's a very good player. But I'm frankly sick of hearing how players are 'clever' to connive their way into winning favour and decisions from referees. And Son is a master at that. He also - as I'm sure you'll agree - possesses the most punchable face in the Premier League (and that's quite something when you consider the existence of Salah, TAA, Vardy and Mahrez). I mean, just look at this...
... a sure invitation to violence.
Cedric's defensive inadequacies meant that Holding was constantly exposed to Son's pace, trickery and 'professionalism', and he responded poorly to it. He committed two fouls that could easily have been bookings before finally receiving a yellow card - although please note below the sly elbow in the aftermath of one of those from Son that VAR failed to notice or deal with https://twitter.com/i/status/1524836005722869786 - and then definitely blocked Son off and so gave Tierney the opportunity he wanted to get his red card out. Assistant Referee Kane was immediately on hand to tell him to do that, you will have noted. You can't even say that Son made the most of it - he didn't even see it coming. It's a second yellow; difficult to argue that it isn't, frankly.
By this time, of course, Arsenal were already a goal down as the result of a soft penalty decision from Tierney. A big decision to make in such an important match - and one that doesn't get given to any away side - not even LiVARpool. Cedric mistimes his attempt to block my favourite Korean off, and barely makes any contact - but the latter makes the most of his opportunity to go tumbling to the floor https://twitter.com/i/status/1525066919598075905
And whilst that's a penalty according to the strict letter of the Law, then this decision surely means that further penalties are going to be awarded at most set pieces from now on. Inevitably, Kane stepped up and sent Ramsdale the wrong way (I knew that he was going to go the side he did, by the way; but it's all a matter of bluff and double bluff; ask Bruno Fernandes).
This seems an ideal time to address team selection and match management. Captain Hindsight tells me that Arteta should probably have matched Conte up formation-wise... but White wasn't match-fit, of course. I suppose he could have got round it by going with Cedric and Tavares as wing backs, and dropping Tomiyasu alongside Holding and Gabriel. It would certainly have given added security, and would have offered a different solution to the one he gave to Kane dropping deep; which was keeping Elneny close to him and thereby meaning that Hojbjerg and Bentancur - impressive yesterday - had the advantage over Xhaka. He could have afforded to let one of the three centre backs follow him out, but still leave two behind. How he could have done that was leave Bukayo Saka - who was very quiet; and I'm sure that's down to fatigue - out of the starting XI. Certainly, Martinelli had to play, so Starboy was the sensible option for a rest (despite the magnitude of the game). Anyway, Captain Hindsight is always boasting about his 20/20 vision, but I'm not giving him any credit for it.
Additionally, was Arteta right in finding an on-field solution to his centre-back shortage? Well, if White wasn't quite ready, then 70 minutes of a North London Derby wouldn't have been ideal. I can't argue with what he did. However, I certainly can argue with Nketiah being detailed to look after Kane at set pieces. And we saw what happened...
And so, at half-time, it looked all over. Once or twice a year, I am tempted to turn the television off - I never actually do, of course - and this was one of those occasions. But when Son got his goal so early in the second half it was then purely a case of seeing the game out; and it was a combination of self-flagellation and my curiosity as to how far the Sky Tottenham love-in was going to go that kept me watching.
The icing on the cake was a late injury for Gabriel. It looked like glute or hamstring, so let's hope it's not serious as his absence would leave Arsenal with precisely zero fit centre-backs for Monday. But, amusingly, it was great to see Mr Punchable looking miserable to be substituted when he's pushing for the Golden Boot. Highlight of the second half for me:
.webp)
To hear the opposition fans ole-ing after just an hour - especially when so many of them are barely able to prevent their knuckles from scraping the ground when they walk - was quite sickening. But just as sickening was listening to Martin Tyler and especially Gary Neville (who bears a 25 year old grudge against Arsenal, lest we forget) waxing lyrical about Tottenham. I know that it's in Sky's interest for the fight for 4th to go down to the wire, but how they can be so partisan I simply cannot understand. Anyone would think that they'd won the World Cup! I find it considerably easier to be at a ground watching, than to listen to TV's agenda-riven commentary.
And at this point I must mention Theo Walcott, who was in the Sky studio (looking ridiculous, may I point out) and who declared pre-match that he'd like to see a draw. I mean... WHAT? Way to tarnish your legacy, sonny!
I must say that I did love Arteta's post-match interview with the annoying Geoff Shreeves. Defending his players, and saying what many Arsenal fans had been pointing out about the referee's performance. Siege mentality - correct response.
So what does this result mean? Well, as Paddy Power so eloquently pointed out...
And it makes Arsenal's position completely transparent. It's in their hands. They'll know precisely what they need to do on Monday, because Tottenham play on Sunday lunchtime - and we can but hope that they go all Spursy and drop points to Burnley (as they did earlier this season, straight after having beaten Manchester City!). Two wins and Arsenal are there, no matter what Tottenham do. But quite how much this defeat will have taken out of them - mentally as much as physically - remains to be seen.
Newcastle and Everton... not the worst of opposition to have to face, I guess. Newcastle haven't scored so much as a single Premier League goal against Arsenal since April 2018, which is a good omen. And Everton are simply awful. So let's remain hopeful; if no longer confident. And let's hope that Sky - as well as all those gloating Tottenham fans - have egg on their faces on May 22nd. COYG!
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