The return of Martin Odegaard has engendered, as we anticipated, an upturn in the fortunes of Arsenal. He has got quickly back to his best, and has made a massive difference to the team. Indeed, it has suddenly started raining goals in the same way as it did towards the end of last season.
I'll just run through what I took from the victories in Lisbon and Stratford, and then put a slight downer on the situation. It's simply that I feel that in order to kick on further, Arsenal need to do a few things better. And also have a decent chunk of luck as the season progresses.
Anyway, let's start at the Estadio Jose Avalarde; a stadium where Manchester City had crashed to a 4-1 defeat only a few weeks ago and what looked on paper to be a tricky fixture. But from very early on the result was never really in doubt. With Jurrien Timber very much getting in tune with Odegaard and Saka on the right in place of the injured Ben White, and with both Declan Rice and Thomas Partey helping to overload the right flank, Arsenal picked Sporting apart.
Early goals from Martinelli (from a cross from Timber), and Havertz, who was handed the ball on a plate by Saka (go back and watch Partey's lofted through ball to Starboy; a thing of beauty) put Arsenal in cruise control, followed by Gabriel's trademark header from a Rice corner - a massive exclamation mark right at the end of the first half. This, from a team who had failed to score in either of its previous two away games in this season's Champions League, felt like a warning shot to all the competition.
We expected some sort of response from Sporting after half time; and got one as they came storming out of the blocks and pulled a goal back from a corner. Arsenal weathered the storm - which lasted a quarter of an hour - and soon put the game to bed when Saka clinically converted a penalty following a foul on Odegaard. I'll come back to weathering the storm...
Late on, substitute Merino fired in a vicious shot that the keeper could only parry out into the path of fellow sub Trossard, who nodded home a chance that - like Havertz's earlier - you or I would have put away. Not that we would have had the pace or foresight to get into those positions, but you get my drift... A perfunctory celebration greeted the icing on the cake; but we/they should enjoy every goal.
I cannot leave discussion of this game - Arsenal's biggest away win in the competition since, inspired by no other than Thierry Henry, they beat Inter Milan by an identical scoreline as long ago as November 2003 - without touching on Sporting's prolific Swedish striker Gyokeres. There are those who - I've read and heard - have suggested that Saliba and Gabriel had him wrapped up and in their pockets and that therefore he's not as good as his stats suggest. But even Erling Haaland has struggled against those two, and there are plenty of defences in the Premier League who I can see really struggling against his pace and directness.
I liked what I saw, but there is the question of value. He's 26, which for me is the beginning of prime time for a striker, and whilst I wouldn't say that he's worth £100m or such ludicrous amount I'd like to try to prise him away (perhaps even in January) for say £60m. Arsenal are banging in the goals, but that's not to say that they can't improve on Havertz and Jesus; because they certainly can. I've mentioned Gyokeres in previous posts this season. And here I saw nothing to suggest that he wouldn't be a great help to Arsenal. With Arteta's coaching and system, and better players around him than currently, I really fancy him.
The game at London Stadium had similarities to the Sporting game in several ways. A Gabriel header from a well-worked corner (I got American Football vibes - blocking opponents off; inspirational stuff). A tap in at the far post for the left-winger - in this case Trossard - from a cross from Saka (and for Partey's lofted through ball against Sporting read Odegaard against The Hapless Hammers). Saka fouled for a penalty; having opened up the West Ham defence like a can of soup in the same way as Odegaard had on Tuesday. And less than a minute later it was 4 as Havertz ran on to Trossard's through ball and effortlessly slotted the ball past poor Lukas Fabianski. 0-4; and having beaten them 6-0 last season when at the same stage of the game it was only 1-0 we had fantasies about breaking all sorts of scoring records and reaching double figures. West Ham were simply awful.
And then, suddenly, a change in the direction of play. Complacent defending from Gabriel and Califiori saw a through ball split them and Wan-Bissaka - not tracked by Trossard - beat Raya at his near post. Moments later, Emerson hammered home a simply un-saveable free kick (I didn't think it was a foul, by the way) and suddenly there were 'only' two goals between the sides, and the tv commentator of course referenced Arsenal throwing away a 4-goal lead at Newcastle all those years ago... yawn.
Thankfully any sting was taken out of the day when poor Fabianski inadvertently punched Gabriel in the head when trying to clear a corner. Flappyhandski... Quite unintentional, but a foul nonetheless and therefore a penalty. The incident reminded me somewhat of a penalty that Declan Rice gave away against Tottenham last season; not realising that an attacker was closing in to nick the ball off of him, and clattering him to the floor. Bad luck... and Saka buried the penalty and further justified my decision to captain him in Fantasy Premier League. 5-2 at half-time; and an virtually incident-free (quite boring, in fact) second half meant that Arsenal took three extremely comfortable points back from East London.
So... what about my doubts - despite the great week - about this Arsenal team? Firstly, of course, there remains the fitness of Odegaard. We've seen what the loss of Rodri has done to Manchester City, and losing our skipper had almost the same debilitating effect. Any team losing its talisman is inevitably going to suffer.
But more importantly for me is the loss of concentration that almost let both opponents back in. In a similar way in both matches, in fact. You simply cannot let your guard down at any point; a big lesson to be learned in my opinion - and especially with such a yawning gap to make up to Liverpool. There is no room for switching off whatsoever.
Secondly, injuries... neither Merino nor Partey were available on Saturday, and I'd hope that the issues were minor because the games are coming thick and fast now. Arteta needs to take care of a lot of this squad, because they're not all as robust as we'd like them to be. But choosing to rotate, instead of being forced to do so, is critical.
In the meantime, the gap remains at 9 points to Liverpool as they took advantage of match scheduling and timing to meet a Manchester City team at a very low ebb. Yes, they have an extraordinary record so far this season, but they have ridden their luck; whereas most of Arsenal's luck has been bad. Arsenal need the tide of luck to start to turn soon. In the meantime, the boys are on a roll, with plenty of winnable games in December. Starting with Manchester United on Wednesday; and I want to see us crush them!
COYG!
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