Well, let's start this post by saying that Sheffield United are terrible. I mean; nowhere near Premier League level. They came up last season, and promptly sold two of their best players. They are going down - of that I can assure you.
Therefore anything you may see or hear regarding this game can be taken with a pinch of salt. However, Arsenal despatched them ruthlessly, and in a way that we've seen Citeh do to such opposition for years now. No fuss. Just a ruthless tearing apart, Death by 500,000 passes, as Arteta has called this sort of performance in the past.
Let's start with team news, and I'm sure that bearing in mind the task at hand we were all pleased to see some rotation. And especially pleased to see ESR in the starting line-up. There's a long season stretching in front of Arsenal as they battle on 4 fronts, and it would perhaps appear that Arteta has heeded the lessons of seasons past.
Certainly, the style of football hasn't been as swashbuckling as it was last season, with the Manager choosing to grind the opposition down as opposed to going hell for leather from the first whistle. As a result of this, we're seeing fewer early goals, but plenty of late ones; zero in the first 15 minutes of Premier League games so far, but 8 from the 75th minute onwards. An interesting trend, and if it can be extrapolated to the season as a whole could mean that instead of running out of steam towards the end of the campaign - as we saw in the past two seasons - we could see this group coming on strong in the spring, and keeping up with Manchester City right through until the end of May.
A beautifully observed and fitting tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton and Bill Kenwright preceded the start; it was wonderful to behold the applause starting as soon as Sir Bobby's face appeared on the screens. Well done, everyone.
And so to the game. And the gulf in class was there to see immediately. Sheffield could barely keep up, frankly; although they did manage to hold out until nearly half an hour had passed. 67% possession for Arsenal - it felt like much more - and 'field tilt' of 84% (at times it felt that Arsenal had thrown an enormous blanket over the opposition, thus pinning them deep in their penalty area and circling them like you see Native Americans do in the old Westerns). xG of almost 3, to Sheffield's 0.03 - two shots; one debatable, to be honest, as it was taken from almost the half-way line, and none after the 21st minute. A classic battering.
William Saliba's stats - I'll get on to Eddie shortly - were incredible! 133 touches of the ball. 96% of his 127 passes found a red shirt. He also ranked first in ball recoveries - mainly retrieving aimless long balls intent on relieving the endless pressure - and ball carries - 107!!! Oh and by the way; he can defend as well!
Nonetheless, it took 28 minutes of almost suffocating pressure for Arsenal to take the lead. Declan Rice's swift ball into the area found Nketiah, who flummoxed former Arsenal reserve Trusty with a clever flick and opened the path to goal. He then duly drilled the ball past Foderingham, and it was the least that Arsenal deserved.
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Just 1-0 at half time, but there was no cause to worry. My main concern throughout the second half was where Sam, who sits next to me on my left, had disappeared to. A mystery... perhaps the hot dog he'd promised himself at half-time had disagreed with him?
But it didn't take long for Arsenal to put the game to bed. First Eddie rammed home on the half volley from Saka's corner - thus increasing Starboy's streak of at least one goal involvement per match to 7 - although we had to wait an extraordinary amount of time for VAR to award it. Goodness knows why.
And then a few minutes later a thing of beauty. Arsenal won the ball easily following a Sheffield goal kick, ESR found Eddie just outside the box, and he slammed it home from fully 25 yards. So much for the 'fox in the box' monicker... a first Premier League hat-trick for Eddie; vindication for his hard work and exponential improvement over the past three seasons.
Whereupon Arteta started ringing the changes. Trossard and Tomiyasu on first. Then Nelson and Vieira. And finally late on a cameo from Elneny. And how wonderful it is to finally see such depth in the squad, despite the absence of the injury-prone Jesus and Partey. All made contributions. Trossard spent his half hour doing party tricks; making the Sheffield defenders look like Sunday League players. Nelson had replaced Saka, and was tidy. Vieira was fouled for - and took - the penalty (bizarrely originally waved on by the referee. although from 70 yards away it looked like a trip). And Tomiyasu netted his first goal for the club in injury time (thus ruining my 4-0 prediction!) from Elneny's flick on from a corner.
A quick mention for David Raya; who retained his place and thus finally put to bed any debate over who Arteta regards as his number one number 1. He had little or nothing to do, but one long pass from hand to set Martinelli free in the first half was nothing short of sensational! That's why he's kept his spot, despite all the clamour for Ramsdale to return.
As I say; all very easy. And with rotation chucked into the mix as well, all very satisfying. There's a banana-skin like League Cup game at West Ham on Wednesday, for which Arteta can afford to go fairly strong, but being able to both rotate and also withdraw players in the second half saves the limbs for bigger tests. Like Newcastle next Saturday evening.
We're tucked nicely in behind the leaders. Just two points behind, and right alongside City. That'll do at this stage. Consistency is key at this stage. And there's more to come from this group. COYG!
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