On the face of it, a routine 1-0 win at Leicester. But, going deeper, there was a little more to it than that.
The key, of course, was the three points in what was on paper a tricky fixture. Which will hopefully allow the team to take full advantage of its game in hand on Wednesday evening, Indeed, with successive home fixtures against Everton and Bournemouth this week, and with City playing Newcastle on Saturday, there's a chance that the lead will be more than 5 points by next Saturday evening. The bigger the buffer that can be built up between now and the difficult run of fixtures in late April/early May, the better.
A change of plan from Arteta. Trossard for Eddie, in the 'false 9' role; intending to have him dropping off to create room for Saka and Martinelli. Partey not completely fit, but back on the bench - good news. And a nice touch - Zinchenko with the (blue and yellow) captain's armband as the Premier League acknowledged the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
And here's the thing; when the game started, this wasn't the Leicester we were expecting. Maddison-less for sure; but tactics unlike anything they'd done all season. Where they'd played an open game against Manchester United in their previous game, this time it was 'low block'. I think that Rodgers knew that if he played his normal expansive game he might get ripped apart. Due respect shown to Arsenal, but this would have thrown all plans out of the window. What does this say about what other managers think about Arsenal these days - and, as an aside, what do they think about supposed title contenders Manchester United?!? Only Arsenal and City get this sort of respect these days.
But, low block or no low block, Arsenal absolutely dominated the first half. With little to show for it as far as shots on target were concerned, but there was approximately zero threat from Leicester. I read a stat, in fact, which said that Leicester's first half xG was 0.01 of a goal. A record low, apparently.
What there was to show in the first half was the standard Arsenal VAR controversy. A goal not awarded when the VAR shouldn't have got involved, according to the guidelines. And a very, very good shout for a penalty.
Trossard's smartly-taken goal was chalked off for a supposed foul by White on keeper Ward a few seconds earlier. Now White, Barnes and the keeper had their arms entangled, for sure, but was it really a foul? And was it a clear and obvious error by the referee; enough for the VAR to get involved? Surely not. Even massive Leicester fan Gary Lineker disagreed with the decision:
Last year, a Villa goal was allowed to stand despite Ramsdale having both arms pinned. This year?...
And for the penalty shout, there really was little doubt that Souttar had bundled Saka over. Clear as day. Yet this time the VAR chose not to intervene.
Conspiracy? Nah... course not. We're literally up against 13 people every time we play...
And here's something that made me laugh...
And so, despite having complete control over the opposition, it somehow remained 0-0 at half time.
Before I go on, time for some appreciation. Firstly for Edu and Arteta, and secondly for the January signings themselves. The primary targets had been Mudryk and Caciedo, but in both incidences Plan B had had to be swung into operation. And there can be little doubt that some very shrewd work has been done. Trossard was of course ready-made for the Premier League and has slotted in pretty seamlessly. And Jorginho? Well, forget what Chelsea supporters had been telling us, and forget our own prejudices regarding raiding Chelsea's 'bins'; this signing has been inspirational. Agreed, he doesn't have the pace or physical presence of Thomas Partey. But he has the pedigree, the in-match intelligence, and the eye for a pass that makes him the absolutely perfect fit for this Arsenal side. And from what I heard through the microphones the away fans - the true barometer of any team’s support base, already love him.
Whilst he was caught out a few times late on in this game when Leicester midfielders managed to run off the back of him into the space behind, he had an essentially sublime 90 minutes. So much so that Arteta took off Odegaard, not Jorginho, when he turned to Partey to help secure the result. I hated him in a blue shirt. I love him in a red one.
And so back to the game. We saw tunnel footage of a conversation between the entire Arsenal team and referee Pawson on the way out after half-time; no doubt about the disallowing of Trossard's goal. And, whilst they may have felt hard done by, Arsenal took it out on Leicester immediately as they took the lead within a minute. Trossard collected Gabriel's chip down the line on the left wing, 'megged Souttar as he looked for a sprinting Martinelli, and the Brazilian attacked the penalty area and did a very passable imitation of Thierry Henry's trademark finish as he slotted the ball into the far corner of the net. He took an inadvertent knock from Ndidi in the process, but was OK to continue after a short panic.
And Arsenal continued to dominate. They had the ball in the net yet again, but Saka's finish was ruled out for offside. Fair enough; nobody could argue with that call. And, until Rodgers finally made some substitutions including bringing on our nemesis, Jamie Vardy (although he's 36 now), there was little sign of any change in the pattern of the game. Essentially, Arsenal always looked in control, and apart from the occasional late panic as Leicester started to pick on Jorginho a bit the 90 minutes were seen out quite comfortably.
Just one attempt on goal by Leicester the whole game, and that off target. As Brendan Rodgers said afterwards: 'Arsenal were on a different level.... Arsenal are top for a reason... Their ball possession was so good that we couldn't get there.' Acknowledgment of Arsenal's superiority and Leicester’s inability to do anything about it. Thank you very much.
No surprise that City thrashed Bournemouth in the late game. Although their defence didn't look as solid late on as I'm sure Pep would like. And they've got a fight on their hands in the Champions League too. So it's 'as you were', another game ticked off, and just 14 to go. It's getting real now.
I'll be back on Thurday. In the meantime - COYG!!!
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