It wasn’t a game Arsenal fans would like to remember but we are not going to forget these important 3 points against West Ham at their home. A nervous game, where first 30 minute was basically two teams trying to give it away in a boring display.
Tomiyasu was back in playing XI, White picked up an injury against United last week and Holding had to start. Rob Holding had a decent game where he blocked a shot from Lanzini around half an hour mark and then scored at the other end from a Saka’s corner. He is solid defensively and does provide some protection against aerial threats.
However, we couldn’t keep our lead for long when Bowen scored of a slight deflection off Gabriel. There has been a pattern where we are giving away our lead within minutes of scoring. Surely, this is something Arteta has to take notice of, and teach those lads to soak up pressure and calm things down.
Ten minutes into the second half and a clearance of Saka’s corner goes to Martinelli’s feet who lifts it to far post and Gabriel didn’t miss it. I was nervous for the rest of the game but we managed to steal it. Nketiah got few changes because of his brilliant runs and it’s a shame he wasn’t on scoreline. I’m sure he is going to get better in coming days.
I have been a Xhaka’s critique from the famous ‘fuck off’ incident but he has been having some good games recently. It wasn’t a prime Partey’s display but he was solid enough in the game. Nketiah was brilliant, Holding provides much more to defending than White and I wouldn’t mind him having some rotation. In IT, most of the MNCs have a grading system with ‘met expectation’ right in the middle. These are the guys who do not care about appreciations and fat bonuses, only believe in finishing the work assigned and do not complain. Elneny qualifies for it!
Overall, it was a poor game with good result, which took us back to 4th place with 2 points lead over Spu*s. Should we give credit to the hair transplants our defenders had? Fucking YES – both the goals came from our Centre Backs with new hairlines. In fact, it was Holding’s first Arsenal goal and he has been with us from a century. It’s too late to ask Laca to get one though, I don’t think Nketiah is allowing him any more game times in this season.
Talking about our Centre Forward position, Nketiah’s case has ‘Willian’ written all over it. Arteta stuck to Lacazette for a full season without much output and we struggled to score. I don’t understand how link up play gets more weightage than scoring goals for a striker! Eddie is showing what a striker should be capable of, considering the fact that he has gotten a whooping 9 minutes in few matches earlier and only been starting when it matters most because of sickness to Laca, has some added pressure on him.
Arteta should have ‘called him’ sooner! Eddie’s treatment is inline with Willian, Saliba and Pepe’s and this is all on the manager!
Talking about the points table, we are sitting in 4th position – 2 points above our North London rivals. Spu*s have a tough game to play against Liverpool at Anfield and bin dippers can do us some favour for once. We have three winnable games against Leeds, Everton and New Castle and a North London Derby at Shite Hart Lane. If we win those 3 and Pool do us a favour, we will finish as the fourth best team in Premiership irrespective of what happens on Derby Day. This does not mean losing to Spu*s is acceptable in any way, only shows we have a better chance than them.
We are playing Leeds on Sunday 08th, in the afternoon. We will have the home advantage and we will be favourites. A draw/loss can completely ruin this top 4 fight for us, lets hope we remain hungry for the win and players show up as they are doing in last few matches.
Would love to hear your thoughts in comments!
Towards the end Emery totally lost it to the toxic atmosphere. Didn’t help his communication was poor because the Club didn’t do the proper thing of providing him a translator.
But the worst cut was the rotten apple Raul. That was a Connundrum of sorts since it was Rayl who gave Emery the job.