Author: bradybergkampandbeyond

Welcome back dear reader(s). Welcome back Arsenal. Welcome back clean-sheets. And, most importantly, welcome back goals from open play. And, thank you Palace. That was very sweet and generous of you. A wholey pathetic performance from you was just what the doctor ordered. You were truly insipid. Just what we needed.

This mid-winter break was perfectly timed. The prior few weeks had been draining and dispiriting. Fortunately, I was able to retire to a warm weather environment and recuperate. I practiced. I trained. And I kept warm. All care of blankets, gloves and an excessive heating bill. Fortunately, the team was able to improve their sun tans and also practice their corner drills.

All the attention has been focused on our inability to score and the demand for another striker. This is clearly not going to happen. And should not. We have the players. They just have to remind themselves how to score. There is no-one out there (unless Messi gets bored in Miami) worth the money being demanded. This is the same team that was freely scoring last year. The tactics have since changed, the approach of the opposition has changed and so has our luck (for the worse).

So how about them corners? If I thought Raya was vulnerable from crosses I should instead have watched Henderson.  We were clearly prepared. Not a single short corner routine. When was the last time that happened? Instead with first Rice and then Saka, we slung into the box for Gabriel to score. How that second one is an own goal is a travesty. That first one helped settle us down and took the nerves out. We’d clearly come back energized. The style of play was unaltered. Complete possession but few chances being created and none being taken. Without those corners it could have been very frustrating.

It felt very much like the prior games – they were West Ham without a defense. Though that’s a little unfair to WHU. We dominated and controlled the entire game. We played our progressive game. Zinny and Odegaard were pulling the strings. In fact it was surprising to see Zinny out there. After his usual calf injury he’s usually sidelined for 6 weeks. And today, without any requirement to defend or mark anyone, he had a free hand to invert and push us forward. Alongside him Rice was in complete control. Let’s hope he want off as a precautionary move.

Saka was again quiet. But that was true when we played at their place. Mitchell seems to know how to play Saka. He’s still not found his form of last year but there’s time for him. I’d prefer him to rediscover his form in the latter half of the season when we’ll need him. Though there was a chance today to give Nelson more minutes.

Jesus continues to work hard and link up our play but his inability to actually score will encourage further debate about a new striker. It ain’t happening this year. But today he seemed poor. His passing was off, and I lost count of how many times he drifted off-side. We should have brought Eddie on earlier but at least we saw ESR for 20 minutes. But this was only possible due to our third goal – finally a goal from open play. As much as it hurts to say, this one was care of Raya and his distribution. 13 seconds from one end to the other. And thankfully it was Jesus passing to Trossard and not the other way round. This was a classic Trossard finish.

And then once Martinelli appeared we were able to finish them off in style as Palace brought on players without any position awareness. They clearly thought playing with a right-back was to challenging for Arsenal. This is just what Martinelli needed to reenergize him. Two identical finishes. He’s now scored 3 in our last two league games. We just have to find others to contribute.

Today was just so easy because of the ineptitude of Palace. It’s not clear how much we can extract from what we saw. It all felt a little like deja-vu. I mean, we were never going to change our style and approach. The defense remained as solid as ever helped by their complete lack of attacking intent. Eze is completely wasted on this team. He is their new Zaha. Our midfield had a ton of time on the ball but, in the first half, we created few open chances. Aside from our corners we had one clearly cut chance with Trossard. There were still instances where Jesus and Odegaard needed an extra touch before shooting.

I know I should be more excited and enthusiastic after a 5-0 drubbing at home. Every game counts of course, but this seemed so easy. Especially after that first goal. Palace did nothing to really change their approach. So, I spent the time looking for little signs of change or adaptation post winter-break. And, in truth, it seemed pretty much the same as prior games. Except this time, we found ways to score. Sometimes we moved the ball faster, more one-touch and a few more vertical passes. But nothing dramatic. I hate to say it but it just reenforces the old adage that goals change games. Once we fully unlock our scoring potential – assuming we do – all will be right with us.

Have-that had another quiet but effective and industrious game. Not out loud impressive but if you monitor his work-rate and the breath of the field he covers you’ll appreciate his contribution. And maybe that’s some of the problem. This description could be applied to both Jesus and Have-that. We just need them to also be able to score. And for Saka to. That’s all we need. Is that too much to ask?

Without the distraction of the FA Cup we have another ten days off. Maybe they can go off again to the desert. And Forest have a match – albeit it against Bristol City. So we’ll have plenty of time to prepare for that one. And then we have Liverpool visiting. Let’s hope Salah is till at the ANC and the AA is injured. We won’t have any new additions so this is the squad we’ll have. With, possibly, Timber back in April.

Its noticeable how quiet this transfer window is. This time last year we were in a bidding war with LAChelsea for Mudryk. Thankfully we lost that one. And got Trossard instead. But very team teams have made any moves yet. Maybe it all happens in the last week. But with the FA randomly enforce financial fair play rules against everyone bar Man City, everyone seems more cautious. And even they can’t offload Philips yet. And the wankers have brought back Timo. That’s always good for a laugh.

And speaking of wankers, I can’t believe that we won with Tierney as the referee. And no penalties or yellow cards. And very little VAR either. Of course part of this was due to not needing to make any tackles against the toothless Palace.

So now I can resume my recuperation from the trauma of December (and the FA Cup exit) for the next ten days. I’ll put out the deck chair, don my speedos and put my feet up knowing I won’t be screaming, for the next ten days, at Jesus when he misses yet another chance and then roams off-side. It’s a shame we can’t play Palace each week.

-LB7

I thought it could not get worse after West Ham. Boy was I wrong. This one needed going into the next year to recover from. What a way to end the year leaving the worst to last.

This was pretty self-evident to everyone. Here is just short list of applicable adjectives – abject, lifeless, soul destroying, ineffective, lackluster, aimless, predictable. It really defies explanation how a team could implode so quickly. Except that we’ve seen this before. Last time was in April/May but then we could blame injuries to Saliba, Partey and Tomi. Here we saw the inevitably injured Zinny replaced by Kiwor. Maybe Zinny has been carrying this for a while – which might explain his performances.

Within 4 minutes we’d scored a slightly lucky goal; it’s not like Saka got a clean touch on the ball. And then we had to wait for VAR to try and rule it out. This one started with the quick distribution of Raya and then a classic Martinelli break up field.

From then on it progressively got worse. It was like watching the life drain out of our team. So many mistakes and simple giveaways. Kiwor was exposed on the left. He’s decent player but lacking the pace to be a full-back. And, of course, he was caught out for their equalizer. But then so was White. He found it tough to mark their full-back all game long.

Saka was again off his game (again). He wasn’t able to beat Robinson with any one-on-one. Aside from missing that (difficult) chance in the second half Saka seemed lost. As did most of the team. Our triangles on the right were slow and ponderous. Odegaard seemed the only one willing to put in the work. But there was no creativity. There was no movement up front. This might have been Eddies most ineffectual game – and that’s a pretty low bar.

Eddie barely touched the ball. For someone who finally got his chance to start a game it was a utterly wasted opportunity. He did himself no favours. Of course he suffered because there was zero fluency, rhythm or pace about our game. It was a classic possession without any intent performance. We moved the ball around with no intent. Yet, when Fulham (easily) recovered the ball, they moved it quickly forward and took on our full backs. They looked the better team.

This performance was that of a team that looked at the end of an era not the start. This looked like a performance of a team in disarray; with no identity. As poor as we were against West Ham this was far worse. Against West Ham it seemed our only problem was being able to score. Against Fulham, it was much more basic. We were incapable of playing basic, fundamental football.

How does this happen and what does this say about us? How can you put in a performance like this when you have a chance to go top of the league? It’s inconceivable that we could win this league now. Forget that we’re still in contention – right in the mix. This speaks – as it did last April/May – to our mental fortitude. For every turnaround we experienced at Luton, we then have games like this. And this lack of inconsistency precludes us from competing with City (or Liverpool).

Forget that we have too many underperforming players. Have-that was anonymous. Martinelli was worse than anonymous; he has completely lost his ability to effect a game. Jesus was isolated and uninvolved (except for working back to help out in defense). We were so poor that even Rice looked uncomfortable. It’s rare you see him out of position chasing back. Or see him making sloppy passes. The spirit seemed drained from this team. The only player that looked decent was Saliba.

There was just no urgency or passion. There was no movement off the ball. Fulham – like West Ham – sat back knowing we could not pass our way through. There were no one-twos, no runs behind and no passing through the lines. We were just devoid of ideas. We really looked like a bang average mid-table team just lacking the passion of those types of teams.

Once we went 2-1 down I was as close as I can ever remember from walking out on this game. It was so frustrating and unenjoyable to watch. If we had put in the effort and created any chances (aside from the Saka one) and threw everything at them and still lost then I could accept that. But not this performance. This was reminiscent of past Arsenal teams. Ones with Mustafi or Aubameyang or Ozil. teams that were floundering for an identity.

The manner of our performance undermines all the good will that this team has built up. It undermines the entire program. Sure, it’s just one game and we’re still in the top four (just). But coming after the draw at Liverpool and then the home defeat against West Ham, it’s inexplicable for this team (especially, once it had the lead after 4 minutes), to not have the backbone, spirit or football intelligence to navigate their way to even a draw. There was an emptiness, a void, in this team that brings into question the viability of this team and it’s management.

The first question, the obvious question, is has Arteta started to lose this team? If you can’t get yourself up to win a game that would enable you to go TOTL, have the players started to tune him out? I hope that’s not the case. So maybe, it’s the fact we’ve not rotated the team. We’ve played Rice in every game. As with Saka and most other players. Is this a consequence of exhaustion over the Christmas period. I hope that’s the case.

Previously I’d argued that the winter transfer window could help us if we sold Eddie and Ramsdale to reinvest in another forward. After this game I’ve now reversed course. I’m firmly of the view that this team is not ready. That we should not burn the future for the present. Sure I’d like an improvement upfront. But rather than waste more money I’d insist that this team – as it currently is – takes responsibility and fixes themselves. Bringing in another player does not solve the problem with this team. This team needs to own their problem and fight their way out of it.

This game was so draining and frustrating it makes writing this blog even more dour and depressing. Having to relive the futility of our performance and the waste of an opportunity – against a team that everyone, recently, has used as a doormat – crushes any love for this team. It makes thinking about Arsenal, Arteta and the future too aggravating.

Even if there’s some sort of reaction or bounce in the next couple of games, it won’t remove the stain of this result. We will always carry the knowledge that – like last season – we can implode at any time. That, on any given Saturday (or Sunday or Monday….), we can quickly revert to a directionless, aimless, identityless, soulless team.

Not the best way to end a year. If only I had confidence we could draw line under this and move forward. On the basis though that this was due to exhaustion, then it comes back to our lack of rotation. Our over-dependancy on Rice, Saka. And the lack of growth in Have-that, Martinelli, Jesus and our full-backs. We have to give more time to Nelson, ESR and Jorginho. We have to share the load around the squad. This is what we failed to do last year. And here we go repeating the same mistake again. As Karl Marx said “History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce”. For you youngsters out there, if. you’ve not heard of Karl Marx, he was, back in the 50’s a famous right-back for Crystal Palace.

So where does this leave us? Restore Ramsdale and get some heart back in this team. This will never happen. I’d start by resting Rice and Saka for the upcoming F. A. Cup match. Watch how Liverpool rotate their squad. Give minutes to some other players. Or phrased another way, drop some players. Let’s have some accountability. That’s two back-to-back crappy performances against mid-table teams. So hold the players accountable and give others some minutes. We’re at the half-way point now. Something has to change. Otherwise we’ll be desperately fighting for a top four spot. And if we fail then Arteta will be under immense pressure, particularly if those wankers (once they get back some of their players) finish higher than us. We’ve spent a kings ransom on this team and Arteta needs to show progress. It can’t revert to last years season ending fiasco.

So good-bye 2023. Good-bye any chance to winning the league this season. And hello 2024 and the chance to reset, learn from our history and reignite this team.

-LB7

No longer TOTL. I took my own advice and waited 24 after the debacle of yesterday before committing my incoherent thoughts to this post. A post containing the full range of my swear words would not have made for an interesting read. Though it would have been helpful therapy. The only silver lining yesterday was the scoreline down at Brighton. That, at least, was able to bring a small to my face. I mean, if that can’t make you happy then there is no point to life.

Instead, I’m left with the miserable realization that we are, in fact, not quite ready for prime-time. No team that aspires to win the league can wither away in front of goal as we did against WHU. And no team can afford to drop this many points over the Christmas period. OK, maybe that last part is not quite true.

We dominated that opening 10 minutes. It looked like one-way traffic. We played with a high tempo and moved the ball around rapidly. We started to create chances and all seemed right with the world even if all our activity was down our right hand side.

I’ll say this early and without any sense of irony. We missed Have-that yesterday. Trossard was not as comfortable or available in that positions where he often drifted infield. It’s a shame ESR was not fit enough to start but I have no doubt that was the right decision. ESR has to be reintegrated slowly and carefully given his Wilshire-like injury record.

Their first goal was entirely against the run of play. As was their second. But for that first goal it just looked like a comedy of errors. I believe it started up field with White being out of position. But even then, there seems no obvious reason for concern. Emerson’s cross seemed relatively harmless. But then Zinny proceeded – as he did at Anfield – to effectively collide with one of our own – Gabriel this time to cause chaos in our box. Raya stayed on his line and then drifted out to the side where the ball was passed back for the to score into an open goal.

Then we had to wait 3 minutes for VAR to see of it could see what we could all see – which was, as was the case against Newcastle – that the ball had gone out before Bowen crossed the ball back. The commenters claimed there was not sufficient evidence. Yet, as they played it frame by frame it was clear and obvious that this ball went out. What is the point of VAR if they can’t get the objective decisions right. This is not a subjective matter of judgement; it’s binary. But yet again, as with Newcastle, we were penalized again.

Of the many vageries of VAR, I don’t understand why there cannot be a chip in the ball to unequivocally determine whether the ball is in our out. It’s nearly inevitable that, around the by-line, neither the linesman not the cameras will have a clean line of sight. There will always be too many players around (though not in the case of Willock)

Having seen the way we started though I figured there was ample time for us to score multiple times to retrieve the points. We continued to dominate but a degree of repetition set in. The activity down our right, with tight triangles, was very cute but only generated a few direct chances. After another glorious Odegaard pass Saka hit the post. And then Martinelli, as he has been doing for the last few games, squandered another chance; missing the target yet again.

Someone has removed the mojo from Martinelli. As feeble as he was against Brighton and then again Liverpool, he was even worse against West Ham. He needs to be rested as he’s lost his way. This was, hands down, his worst performance in an Arsenal shirt. He was incapable of arriving in the penalty box at the right time, was unable to beat his man on the wing and incapable of putting in any decent crosses.

With this abject performance from him combined with Trossard floating infield and Zinny being Zinny, out left hand side was completely ineffective. And even on the other side Saka was not at his best. The only players who seemed to turn up yesterday were Odegaard, Rice and Saliba. Odegaard buzzed around and tried to create. But there was little movement.

We had chances mind you. I admire Jesus and his work rate. He keeps the pressure on their defense and provides so many options for us. But, and this seems reasonably obvious, one would expect him to be able to score important goals for us. And that header he missed in the second half was important. I could not imagine Halland, Kane or even Watkins missing the target let alone not scoring that.

And that’s the core of our problem. Where do our goals come from? Against Liverpool it was Gabriel and there were none at Villa. And you can’t win the league if you can’t score goals. That seems pretty obvious. That does not mean we’re not a good team. We clearly are. We were unlucky against West Ham. I believe they had two shots on goal yesterday whereas our count was in the twenties. We dominated possession. But we lacked some creativity and movement. As the game wore on we ran out of ideas. It seemed inevitable that we would not score.

Our team has some world class players. Rice and Saliba. And there’s an argument for Saka to be in this group. But that’s not enough to win the league, sorry. Even 24 hours later that realization is sinking in. And I know, I never imagined we would win the league this year. it was just that game against Luton that opened my mind to the idea.

We have a decent right back in White but our left-back, again, was key to our defeat. Maybe that’s a little unfair. But you just can’t defend like that. Though clearly he can. Even if Rice did give away a penalty right at the death and, amazingly, misplaced some passes as well, he’s still the lynch-pin of this team. And Saliba, who was imperious as ever. But, to win the league we need more than these two or three.

Thankfully we removed Martinelli after 65 minutes along with Zinny. But even then as we huffed and puffed it was not clear how we’d ever score. Nelson was an improvement whereas Eddie was, well, Eddie. You have to give some credit to WHU for the way they defended. Not only did Mavropanos score against us but we made him look like a world class defender. But that came about because we were incapable of scoring.

Raya had very little to do whereas Areola only had a few meaningful saves to make. It’s not like he made a string of world-class saves to deny us. We just did not test him enough. There were so many half chances we just failed to take. I suppose we should at least acknowledge that Raya saved us from further embarrassment by saving that penalty. It retained a slice of respectability I suppose.

So where does this leave us? A little bit of a wake up call for all of us I think. We’re not as bad as we were against WHU but nor as we as good as we were against Luton. We live in that in between state. We have a few issues to solve if we want to sale the heights of winning the league.

We need a goal scorer. It’s fine to get goals from our midfield players but so far, this season, Martinelli couldn’t hit the side of a barn door and even Saka’s production is down. And, as for Jesus, as important as he is for us, he’s not a natural goalscorer.

There are may elements to resolving this issue. We need a defender given both the absence of Tomi and Timber and our non-defending left-back. Also we are too vulnerable to an injury to Rice. So we need cover there as well. We have limited financial room as demonstrated by the need to take Raya (yuk) on loan. So we already have needs.

Maybe the solution lies with recognizing that you can’t have Ramsdale as a back-up goalie. He’s too good for that. He should be starting but if that’s not going to happen let’s raise some money by sending him off for an exorbitant fee. He needs to play for England and go to the Euros. But first he needs to play for someone.

Then, maybe, we need to cash in on Eddie. As much as I like him we have to face the reality that we need more than Jesus and Eddie as our primary goal-scorers. Combined this could raise an additional £50m. And that might be enough to get us a Toney or someone equivalent.

My suspicion is that Arteta will take this defeat on the chin. Rationalize, that if we played that game ten times, that we’d score goals in 9 out 10 of them. This was that anomaly where whatever we did we’d not score. He will search out a defender and maybe some midfield player as well. But any major surgery will have to wait for the summer transfer window.

The Fulham match will be interesting as they are also in a funk. Either them or us will find a way to rebound. Let’s hope it’s us. We just aren’t as bad a team as we looked against WHU (I repeat this because i’m trying to convince myself). Arteta has to work his magic and help us rebound against Fulham – which will not be so easy.

Lets pray that one of our attackers can find their scoring boots. And we’ll have Have-that back in the line-up. As depressing – and it was *really* depressing – to sit through that defeat, losing to Fulham or, even, drawing, would cause alarms bells to go off.

Having said that, maybe, we’re just ahead of schedule. We normally have our poor patch in April. Maybe we’re just getting it out of the way early. I doubt it but hope strings eternal. This squad needs a little more depth and quality. A world-class forward would do the trick. But they ain’t that easy to find. Evidently, you can’t just pop round to the local Tescos and bring one back.

We might not be good enough to win the league but we have to be good enough to stay in the top four. That has to be the minimum objective for this year. And with Villa, Newcastle and those wankers down the road all dropping points, that definitely helps.

For sure my Christmas has been trashed by these results – and by VAR. Let’s hope we go into the New Year with a minor recovery at Fulham. That we can rediscover some believe and that we can score goals. To be precise, I’m referring to goals in the oppositions net. I’m not looking for any own goals (Zinny, i’m thinking of you here).

-LB7

TOTL for Christmas. I’ll take that. Or Have-that.

Given our recent history at Anfield it’s hard to begrudge leaving there with a point. The team selects itself these days. But it was always going to be a tough day for Zinny. More on that later.

We started this game well. We had a chance within 30 seconds. We pressed them high and stayed on the front-foot. Within a few minutes Gabriel had the ball in the net. You just knew that VAR would rule it out but amazingly the goal stood. And it did not take a lifetime to decide either.

For most of the first half we looked like a proper team going toe-to-toe with them. We controlled a lot of the play and created openings but no clear opportunities. Not until Saka broke through and the ball landed at Martinelli’s feet. But as against Brighton, he missed the target with two defenders on the line. That was our turning point.

This was an intense game, hotly contested and high quality. It’s just a shame that Liverpool didn’t play like they did against United last week. We acquitted ourselves pretty well throughout. Our center halves were outstanding. Saliba was at his majestic best and Garbiel – aside from being our goal scorer – was dominant. On the right White was exposed once or twice but thankfully Saliba covered for him

And then there is poor old Zinny. Of course, people will laud over Alexander-Arnolds passing range, but Zinny made so many poor choices on this play. He dropped too deep and meant we could not catch Salah off-side. He misjudged the flight of the ball and then let him dance round him like we was not there. As much as i’d like to fault Raya I can’t. This was on Zinny.

We knew though this would be our achilles heel. We knew their best attacker was against our worst defender. There was a sense of inevitability about this match-up. So as annoying as it was, it was not too surprising. What was surprising is that Arteta kept him out there for the full 90 minutes. In many ways Zinny is our Alexendar-Arnold; he is our liability when defending, our weak link, but often at the core of our creativity. Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration.

Unfortunately in front of him, Martinelli failed to deliver. Aside from the chance discussed above, he lost possession in dangerous places and failed to pose any threat He feels like he’s been off his game now for a while. We were more threatening as soon as Trossard replaced him. In important games such as these we need Martinelli to turn up and he did not today. And his (many) mistakes nearly cost us.

On the other side, Saka worked hard and created chances. Too often though no-one (I.e. Martinelli) was anticipating and make the runs into the box. Of course, Saka was fouled often but yet he managed to pick up a yellow card. Partly that was a result of him destroying Tsimikas followed by Klopp squashing the Greek.

Odegaard flitted around, making himself available and connecting our play together. He turned up today. He chased and worked so hard. Even if he did handle the ball in the penalty area; this was one time VAR did not harm us. Along with the majestical Rice, Odegaard combined to fuel our play. Have-that, again, slotted in alongside them. Of course with Martinelli in front and Zinny behind him, he is not in an ideal situation. But he also help keep possession and link up our play.

Rice was the dominant player. So often chasing back, making vital tackles or intercepting crosses. As brilliant as he is, he seems to get better with every game. Even if he did pick up another yellow card today.

For all the skill and intensity on display neither goalkeeper was continuously tested today. Raya barely had any saves to make. The crossbar had our most important one. After Zinny had taken out Odegaard on the edge of their areas they brought 4 on 1 and someone AA found a way to win the crossbar challenge at the expense of their second goal.

As much as Liverpool turned up the intensity and pressing in the second half, they did not deserve to win. And, in the last 15 minutes, we found our way back into the game, started to control it and seemed the more likely winners. But, overall, I think, a draw was a reasonable and fair result

This was a game we could not lose. In previous years we surely would have. We would have caved into the pressure, the intensity and ended-up losing 4-0. But with Rice in this team we genuinely have a backbone. And then we have Saliba behind him. If both of these were in their team they would win the league. Fortunately they are with us though.

Today we suffered because of Zinny and Martinelli. Everyone else turned up. But to win this league we need everyone pulling their weight. We also need a stronger bench. Have-that picked up another card so we’ll have to play Jorghino or ESR against West Ham.

So we enter Christmas top of the tree. and the window will open in just over a week. Hopefully we find a couple of players to support our midfield and defense. You know we’re short of players when Cedric is on the bench at Anfield. We just have to retain the momentum at home on Thursday and then we can get to the half way point still TOTL.

-LB7

TOTL. Still. And this was deserved. We dominated and deserved this. Even if it was painful to watch at time. This was not the Brighton of the last few years. And this was not the Arsenal of previous years. We were in control and moved the ball smartly.

Team selection is on auto-pilot. Chat-gpt could have picked this team. Apart from Raya. The bench though was a little scary. No Jorginho. No Elneny and, of course, no Partey. Luckily we have Superman to carry the entire team on his back. His presence in midfield elevates the entire team. As good as he was today I’m not talking about Have-that. Rice has become the most important player on our team. Even more so than even Saka. Today was a masterclass. Again.

Our domination started from the first minute. I’m not sure Raya had a real save to make – aside from nearly dropping the ball in the first half from a cross. And most of it came up our right-hand side. Between Odegaard, White and Saka numerous chances were created. Neither Jesus nor Have-that could convert chances. Saka was also unable to beat the goalie either. Every opportunity seemed to be spurned. By half-time it felt like this was one of those games where we’d never find a way to score.

The style and speed of play though was excellent. There was no slow build up; no hesitation. Between Rice and Odegaard we kept creating chances. We just seemed incapable of taking any. Though some of this was due to their man mountain – Dunk. Rice snapped up every tackle and shut down nearly all their advances. Meanwhile Odergaard was threading passes through for fun. One, with the outside of his foot for Saka was particularly gorgeous.

Saka was roasting poor Milner. Whoever thought that would work our well for Brighton needs their head examined, On the other side, Martinelli was unable to impose himself in the same way. He missed one glorious chance from Saka – after that Odegaard pass – and generally seemed off his game today. Combined with Zinny being pretty quiet, that meant that Have-that was the only one on the left that imposed themselves today.

When we’re missing chances at the rate we were today it gets pretty frustrating. You have to be able to convert these chances to not just win games but also compete for the league. And by half-time, I was well frustrated. It was not clear that our total domination could continue and I was sure we’d rue those missed chances. Fortunately the second half continued where we left off from the first. More control, most creativity and no ability to actually score. It’s time like this when you think we’ll need to sign a real striker in order for us to win the league.

But then you see Jesus chasing back into our own half to win the ball back. That is not the action of a normal striker. Jesus was excellent today, working so hard all over the pitch. And, thankfully, he found himself in the right spot from one of our numerous corners to break the deadlock. And soon thereafter, Brighton made a number of substitutions to open up their game and push us more. Our defense held strong even if I was surprised that the largely ineffective Zinny stayed on the pitch as long as he did. He did not contribute too much today and always seems liable to make a dangerous mis-placed pass. And it was clear the winger clearly had the measure of him. I can’t imagine what Salah, next week, might do to terrorize him (and us).

At 1-0 up it started to feel even more edgy; now we had something to lose and they started to impose themselves in the game. After watching City destroy Palace to only give up, needlessly, a two-goal lead, it felt like we would find a way to make a simple mistake to allow them back into the game.

The sliding doors moment happened when they pierced our defense on the left leaving White in their midst and cutback for Gross to miss the target. That was their clearest (and only chance). It was good to know that they also could miss their chances; though they only did it once whereas we must have missed, like, 125 chances.

Soon thereafter, after we’d finally removed Martinelli and Jesus, Trossard threaded the ball through, out of defense, leading to Eddie setting up Have-that to finally seal the game. It’s just a shame it took 89 minutes. But it allowed Have-that to leave the game to a deserved ovation. It’s remarkable how he has finally found he’s scoring touch. And you can see he’s still not up to full-speed yet. He still needs more time. He worked really hard today and would have benefited if both Martinelli and Zinny were more effective.

We even got to see a few more minutes of ESR and Nelson; the latter who dutifully tracked back to intercept a cross for one of their corners. I don’t think he’d have done that a few seasons ago. It’s important for both of them to get minutes; we need them so that we can rotate this team. Today the team picked itself. But we know from last year, that in time, a lack of rotation will induce fatigue and injuries.

Which us brings us back to Rice. He was at the center of everything good. The frequency with which he steps up to breakdown their moves is as good as I’ve ever seen. He reads the game so well and anticipates when he has a chance to breakup their play. It was just frustrating that we won the ball back so high up the pitch and then could not convert though chances. Too often either Martinelli or Odegaard seemed to want an extra touch or pass. But Rice was the springboard for all of that. And, of course, he provides the defensive cover for Saliba and Gabriel. As untroubled as they were, and as graceful and forceful as Saliba was, Rice does not let them get exposed.

This was as good a performance as I can remember. The style, pace and rhythm of our play was so enjoyable to watch. There was purpose and drive today. None of that sluggish passing and movement. Today there was an energy and assertiveness. A determination to dominate and control the game. We just have to find a way to take the chances that come our way.

This all leads into Anfield next week. It will be an intense and raucous atmosphere. In the past we have suffered under this pressure. But, with Rice, this team is different. We will need though to take our chances. After their 0-0 draw today, it’s unlikely that we will hold them to a clean sheet so we will need to find a way to score, at least once. But, again, with Rice we have the team to withstand their onslaught. We have the football intelligence to defuse their intensity by controlling the game. We showed that against both Newcastle and Villa. This will be more of a test but we’ll need VAR to stay out of the way and we’ll need a decent ref. Both of which are optimistic expectations. We did not suffer from either today so hoping that neither intervene for the second game running seems to good to be true.

As long as we have Rice I have faith. He really is remarkable. Seventeen games into the season and he only has one yellow card; he has less yellow cards than Arteta. And he’s yet to miss a game. I don’t mean to jinx him but it’s absurd that we can’t find at least one midfielder to cover for him now. As much as we worry about a lack of defensive cover, it’s clear than when this transfer window opens we need to bring someone in who can provide some cover. As long as it’s not a Denis Suarez or Kim Kallstrom.

Anxiety aside, this was a great performance today against a very good team. We made them look somewhat average. This speaks to how improved we are this season. We really are a pleasure to watch. Aside from the vicious intervention of referees and VAR, we should be further ahead at the top. Let’s just hope they don’t get swayed by the crowd up at Anfield. This game won’t define our season but it could go someway to influence how we fair during this intense Christmas period. And with Villa sneaking around, and with City soon to rediscover their normal form, we will need all the fairness that teams should expect in order to preserve our quest for the league. So far this season, I believe we have been the best, most consistent team. Only to have been robbed by ludicrous decisions.

This team, if it can keep Rice on the pitch, will continue to develop and evolve. I had always thought we needed another season to ferment and gel – along with one more transfer window – but games like today show how far we’ve come and how good a team we are. So, now let’s enjoy another week TOTL and then march onto Anfield to see how we can survive that culdron of emotion.

-LB7  

Thump. No longer TOTL. Tough loss today with missed opportunities and no breaks. I was nervous going into this and rightfully so. It does not help when you spot them an early lead. It’s a long season though and there are many more important games ahead of us.

The team selection was as expected. Without the aerial threat of Luton Zinny came back in. And, Villa exploited that for their goal. Though I didn’t think White covered himself in glory again. He should be getting tighter on his man.

We were by no means overwhelmed and worked our way back into the game. And, I would argue, were the better team. And Villa, in classic Emery-style, adapted to the circumstances and modified their approach to retain the lead. So unlike in their game against City, when they had 22 shots, today they had just a couple. Aside from their goal, we were largely untroubled apart from a couple of breakaways in the second half. But that was as much due to the Emery tactics change.

Raya, of course, retained his place. Villa decided to ring-fence players around him for corners but then failed to trouble him. One save on a breakaway that was (incorrectly) called as offside was important. At least he can know that he did not cost us the game or any goals today. Let’s see if Arteta lets Aaron have some gametime against PSV midweek. I hope he does. Aaron needs some game time if he’s to even be a backup. But today we can’t blame Raya. I’ll save that for another game.

Overall, I have this underwhelming sense of disappointment. We certainly weren’t outplayed. We have opportunities in this game. Frequently, in the first half, Martinelli would get past his defender and not quite create the right chance. One time Saka just mistimed a chance after exchanging passes with Martinelli. But too often we seem to pick the wrong pass in the box. Jesus continued to work hard and link up play. But he had one chance in the second half when Saka played him but could not control the ball.

Odegaard had two clear chances in each half. At least in the first half he induced a save from Martinez. He should have scored from at least one of these chances. Too often we seemed to just miss that final pass. And too often it seemed that when it got physical they would invariably come away with the ball. That’s more mental than technical. They seemed to just be more determined.

Lady luck was not with us today. We had a penalty that was not given. We had a goal, in the last minute, ruled out. Saka was called offside for one. As with Luton, as the game wore on, we dominated more. We clearly asserted ourselves. We were though a little challenged with their high line. We lacked runners from deep who could break the line. That’s something we really should have had a plan for.

Rice was again monumental even if he, finally, did pick up a good Fernandinho-like yellow card. In fact, we often looked the most dangerous in the second half when he strode forward. He took the initiative more than Odegaard or Zinny. Have-that had a decent game again though he should have been making those runs to break their lines. But I like his nasty, physical side. He’s not scared of getting his foot stuck in. Whether it’s facing up to Martinez or  McGinn. A number of times in the first half he’d help us win the ball high up the pitch only for others to squander our chances.

Saliba and Gabriel – aside from the goal – were excellent. Watkins was generally kept under control. And we saw Saliba misplace a pass today – so he is human. Alongside them White really should have defended the goal a little better. He does though provide more support for Saka and overlap really well. He’ll be defensively tested though over the next few games. And without Tomi to help him he better stay healthy.

I don’t really understand how Jesus was not fouled in the box; how that was not a penalty. Overall, I though this ref was quite reasonable. He let the game flow and did not throw around too many yellow cards. But the big decisions that lost us this game were wrong. In addition to the penalty, that equalizing goal could just have easily been a penalty for handball on Cash. And, he provide minimal protection for Saka. Teams really now implement rotational fouling on Saka these days. It just felt we used up all out luck on Tuesday at Luton.

We missed our chances and missed a gear today. While we dominated the game we just missed our opportunities when we did get behind their backline; always picking out thew wrong pass or – with Odegaard – not converting. This won’t happen in every game. And part of this should be credited to Villa who were, in classic Emery style, very well organized.

The season is long and I’m not too dispirited. Brighton and then Liverpool will help tell us where this team is. How we react to this defeat and then respond will be important. Losing, away, to a contender is the key. Which is why the Liverpool game is critical. Not for just the points but our mental state – our fortitude. We have a painful history of being run over – blown away – at Anfield. We need to go there and not be runover by their aggressiveness and the crowds passion. With Rice we have a chance. But we can’t win the league if we can’t pick up points when we play away at our challengers. And we still have to go to City and the wankers down the road (not that they are contenders).

As annoying as Villa are it just reenforces that this an open title race. Until City get KDB back and turn it on from February. At least Villa and Liverpool both have European commitments. And Liverpool and West Ham have to play each other in the stupid Carabao Cup before they play us. So, chances are Villa will fade as they get worn out as the seasons progresses. But with Newcastle faltering and Man United anything but united, there will be four teams now competing. All of which makes it harder for City. They are used to just fighting off one team – be it Liverpool or us.

As for us, we need to recover from this set-back. We need to find more ways to open up teams of this caliber and we need to correct these defensive mistakes. I don’t want to point the finder at Zinny on this one; that would seem overly harsh – even if the goal originated from his man. Others had time to reposition themselves and prevent this goal.  And we should have been able to score.

It’s funny to think how much money we’ve spent on goalies since we sold Martinez. We subsequently sold his competition – Leno. And then spent £50m+ on replacement goalies. At the time I think we all thought – including Arteta – that getting £20m from Villa was a good deal. Would we have been better off if we just sold Leno and kept Martinez? I’m still not convinced. But I’m sure Martinez has no regrets.

Brighton at home next. You never quite know which version of them will turn up. We know from last season how dangerous they can be. Surely we’ve learned our lessons. And hopefully we can rebound the way we did after our Newcastle defeat. Now we enter a really interesting period. We have to maintain some momentum through Christmas. It’s vital we stay engaged in advance of February. Then it will be interesting to see whether we learned our lessons from last year. That is keep Saliba healthy – along with Rice.

-LB7

Rice, Rice, Rice baby. First against Man United and now Luton. TOTL. Still. And we can thank Rice for getting those three points. By this point of the game I’d resigned ourselves to a single point which was still better than none when we were behind 3-2. But somehow, we managed to snatch all three.

Games like this infuse you with the belief that, just maybe, this team has the steel, grit and determination to go one step further than last year. Whichever way the result went today it would neither have lost us the league nor won us the league. This campaign is way too long to be decided in early December. There are many more challenges ahead of us. But today will long live in our memory. Today was pure joy. Moments like this are why you watch football. Moments of magic. But, overall, what a game.

A moment of thought for Luton. They are superior to Burnley and Sheffield. And after today, I hope they find a way to stay up. They worked super hard. Sure, they were a little physical. But, given their budget, they played above their station.

So many players excelled today. You got to love the performance of Odegaard. How involved was he today? He created chances, created goals and lead from the front. Sure, he was tested defensively by Barclay – who looked quite ugly but quite decent – but he was there at the end. In that last ten minutes he orchestrated all our moves and was instrumental in the opportunities that created. And, of course, set up the header for Rice.

Jesus again demonstrated his value for us today. In addition to continuous chasing – causing chaos and setting up the first goal and third, in addition to scoring our second goal. He was energetic and involved. Physically he was man-handled the entire game and received very little protection. But he lead the line superbly.

Nearly alongside him was Have-That. This was his best EPL game for us. He roved around the pitch, linked up play and was a threat the entire night. Sure he might have scored with a header to win the game at the end but then he knew that was destined for Rice. Have-that rotated into the center-forward position to win multiple headers from our goal-kicks, and would otherwise flick balls around and help propel us forward. He was a constant nuisance to Luton. And, of course, care of Jesus, he scored the all important 3^rd goal that gave us time to then batter them for 15 minutes before Rice struck. A great performance from him and, finally, it feels like he’s finding his way into this team. Sure he’ll revert a little but we’re starting to see some of his value.

Saka also seemed to be at the center of everything. From creating our first goal to generally terrorizing their left side he was on fire tonight. Again, he received little protection from the ref. But he tested their keeper frequently and kept Luton off-balance. On the other side Martinelli was abused for most of the game but nicked that first goal. Thereafter he spent more time being kicked and pushed around than anyone. But he continues to grow and, with Saka on the other side, it feels like we’re finding our way back to our best. We’re not there yet but you can feel it building.

Largely we were propelled by our midfield. Odegaard and the glorious Rice with Have-that. Behind them our center-halfs were untroubled. Kiwior looked solid and White helped set up Jesus’s goal. At times White looked a little rusty in defense. Today I realized how good Tomi has been defensively for us. But I doubt Tomi could have overlapped and put in that cross for Jesus. And we saw White overlap many times in the second half. His combination play and understanding with Saka helps bring out the best in Saka. But defensively I wonder whether he should have been tighter to Barclay on their third goal.

So, I think I’ve’ discussed all our players now. Oh, hold on, there’s someone who slipped my mind. For their first goal, our marking was non-existent. But for that second goal, you could hear Raya shout for the ball thus causing the defenders to hold off. Then that Barclay shot for their third goal is something that any regular goalie would be expected to save.  By then though you felt his confidence had already been knocked. But that’s two goals that should have been avoided.

What happens next now? I’m pretty sure Arteta will double down on Raya. He will feel like he has to back him. Poor old Aaron will have to watch the Villa game from the bench. For sure this will be the focus of the debates over the next few days. It’s hard to see how you can have a rotation – which we know, in truth, we don’t have – and not rotate Raya after a performance like that. In fact, given Arteta’s previous statements about last season wanting to make a GK change mid-match, you would have thought today was the perfect opportunity for him to swap in Aaron. But of course, that won’t happen. Now we will see whether Raya has any steel in him. Whether he can withstand the media focus and fan pressure that will befall him now. All eyes will microscopically analyze ever save, every pass. The clamor for Aaron will continue to rise up.

Thankfully we won today. Of course. But if we’d have drawn or, heavens above, lost, than Raya would have been crucified. Which, given that we have in our team Jesus, is a turn-up. I subscribe to the idea that we need to have two top class goalies. Turner was not that. He can’t even retain the #1 role at Forest. And, of course, there was Runarsson before that. So I understand the need for both Raya and Aaron. And I also understand that you have to show consistency and loyalty to help with the goalkeepers confidence. But, at some point, you have to give the other guy a shot (no pun intended). And this would seem to be that point.

So, watch this space to see what happens. But, as I said, my guess would be Raya will get a chance to redeem himself. We all make mistakes. Well, I don’t. That’s obvious. Look back to Saturday and the mistake(s) Zinny made. Yet when he came on – care of excellent substitutions from Arteta – Zinny energized and improved our speed of play. He was part of the reason we dominated the last 15 minutes. Of course, part of that was due to exhaustion on the part of Luton because they’d had to work so hard to stay with us. But part of it was due to the fluency and rhythm that he brings to the team.

Not wishing to belabor the point but Raya only had a single save to make tonight. It’s not like they peppered him with shots and he was under duress. He let in two corners and the second shot he faced. And on Saturday he’ll face up to Martinez who will enjoy seeing Aaron on the bench.

By a strange quirk of the fixture list City and us have inverse fixtures this week. We go to Villa after they play them tomorrow night. Ideally Villa will get, at minimum, a point tomorrow and a few red cards. Then we face them while City travel to play Luton. Hopefully after their performance tonight and a sense of injustice they will find a way to hold onto any lead they get. Let’s hope we did not run them into the ground. At least both Luton and us get an extra days rest. And I think we’re the only two teams in the ELP with single names. Fate has brought us together.

What a result though. What a team. There really is a backbone in Arsenal now. And it’s exemplified by Rice. Without him we’d be lost. He elevates everyone around him. Odergaard was driven today, You could see him demanding the ball towards the end. Searching for a way to win. No-one was hiding. Saka and White continued to push on with Zinny and Trossard testing their left side. There was no giving up. We continued to apply pressure and though we left it very late, we deserved to win. It was only because of Raya that we were in this situation. Nonetheless, this tells us something about this team, this spirit and the belief that is festering.

The season before last, when we missed out on the Champions League gave us a sense of injustice that propelled us throughout last year to greater things. Let’s hope that we’re seeing that the loss of the league last year has infused the team with same resolve and experience such that we can go one further this year.

I’ve been saying all season that this season is not our season. We need another year in order to have this team ferment and evolve. But matches like this, results like this have me believing. Not that I want to jinx us, but after todays results I’m beginning to feel like we really can challenge for the title and that this year could be our year. As long as we have Rice.

-LB7

Still TOTL. A nice place to be. And deserved on that performance even if that last ten minutes was more angst filled than it need to be. A good week all in all. A convincing destruction of Lens followed by a blistering start to the game.

This was seemed over after 20 minutes. Wolves are a decent team. Certainly, an improvement on Burnley and Sheffield. However, we dominated and controlled this game much quicker thank those games. Maybe it’s the benefit to actually having our attacking group all back and finally fit.

The only team selection issue was whether Have-That had earned the right to start over Trossard. Unfortunately, there was no debate about who’d start in goal. After Wednesday selection, we can well and truly consign poor Aaron to first the bench and then secondly another team. Rumors this week were that Wolves were interested in him. He deserves – and needs – to play somewhere and it clearly won’t be with us.

The start of this game was much more reminiscent of our play from last year. We tore Wolves apart from the start, sliced through them and were a pleasure to watch. None of the backwards and sideways interchanges were witnessed earlier in the season. And it’s not like they gave us any more room. Saka, care of the support from Tommi, looked more electric; Martinelli terrorized them down the other side. And Jesus linked up all our play.

Jesus was instrumental in both our goals. Playing more like a center on a basketball team, he joined up all our play. Firstly feeding the ball back to Saka and then playing a perfect one-touch pass back to Zinny to set up Odegaard. It’s this type of play that amplifies the intelligence and value he brings to our team. Sure it would be good to see him score more – how can that ever not be the case – but the creativity and movement he provides is not matched by anyone else we have. Maybe Trossard though he seems to prefer to operate on the left.

It was noticeable how much more Tommi overlapped and therefore provided Saka with more options. This liberates Saka and fuels our attack. The only cloud on the day was the injury Tommi picked up. Not that it’s bad to have White being able to replace him. But we need Tommi; he provides cover and competition for both full-backs. We can’t afford for him to be out as we enter the Christmas period.

We really should have put this game away earlier though with a third goal. I thought it would come before half time. And then in the second half, when we seemed to relax, we still created chances. Eddie had a one on one where he hit the post. He has to score that. And we hit the post another time and also Trossard had a difficult chance as well.

Overall it seemed plain sailing. There were a few worrying signs though. As with last week against Brentford, Zinny remains careless in defense. In the first half he made a few mistakes in possession. These were largely unforced errors. And then he proceed to hand Wolves a way back into the game,. Dithering inside our box he handed them a chance. And then the last ten minutes became quite tense. But even then, Raya had very little to do. Throughout the game Saliba and Gabriel controlled the game perfectly. These two are surely the best center-half pairing on the league. And for Arsenal, it’s the backbone of the team. I still have nightmares of the Mustafa and David Luiz combination as well as the Mustafa and Sokratis. Well, Mustafa and anyone would give you nightmares.

And in front of these two we have the majestic Rice. He had already defended their attack when Zinny decided to dither inside our box to give them that goal. As brilliant as Zinny can be going forward, you can see why City were prepared to let him leave. It’s that defensive vulnerability that keeps getting exposed. Which is the reason we brought in Timber. And the reason why we need Tommi to stay fit.

Odegaard was as involved and fluent as he has been in a long time. Hopefully this is him rediscovering his form. With him controlling the game, we looked as smooth and fluent as we have all season; that first 20 minutes was electric. That second goal was beautiful to watch. We just needed that third goal.

Back to Rice though. He was remarkable. How many times did he snap into tackles to break-up their play inside their own half. His reading of the game and anticipation is as good as I have seen. There is no way anyone would have know how good he can be for us. And there is no way we’d be top of the league without him. We should got back and apologize to West Ham for not paying enough for him. We should throw them an extra £50m. He’s worth it. What’s also amazing is that (fingers crossed) he does not seem to pick up yellow cards (or reds). I can’t even remember close calls. Yet he puts in ferocious tackles; he just knows how to time the tackles. And he provides that additional cover to Saliba and Gabriel. And that’s why we’ve conceded fewer goals than any other team. Mustafa must be so envious.

Now we just have to protect Rice. At least we won’t need him to play in that last Champions League game. We can let Jorginho and Elneny carry that one. And maybe see a little more of Nelson and others. But before that we have to play North Arsenal on Tuesday night. That will be tough; we’ve seen Liverpool struggle there. We know it will be physical but we have the team for this now.

Before departing it would be remiss to not comment on the genius ideas emanating out of the great brains of IFAB. Their latest masterful idea is to consider introducing sin-bins. And you wonder why football is in such a fucked up state? Really, when there is madness all around caused by VAR these great minds conclude that the resolution of all the anger and frustration is to introduce yet more stoppages, more subjective rules. And this time to protect the referees – to protect exactly those people most in the glare from the fucked up process and game decisions? That’s like trying to reorganizing the deckchairs on the Titanic just before it hit the iceberg. Or like, deducting Everton 10 points when City have violated 115 rules and have had no consequences.

There is so little referee abuse. Yet this is the problem they want to solve. It’s like a magician waving his hand to distract you from the real trick. With this level of stupidity, I’m surprised it was not IFAB that came up with the European Super League. When the leadership of our game is controlled by a combination of IFAB, PGMOL, FA, UEFA and FIFA is it any surprise that the continue to try and destroy this game. It speaks to the beauty and resilience of this game that they had, so far, failed.

City are likely to destroy the wankers down the road but that will still leave us TOTL for the weekend. So we can sit back and relax. And continue to admire this team. This coach. And this club.

-LB7

Still top of the league. Amazing. But soon to be caught by the Nordic giant from the North. What a contrast to last year. Five games with maximum points. Time to end the season I think. Who needs a nine month season. August is sufficient to determine the league winners.  

I was petrified that Arteta would juggle the entire team to adjust for the lack of Partey and Elneny. Instead he made the wise choice to go with the as-yet uninjured Sambi. Fortunately, against such muted opposition he was not tested greatly. However, he performed admirably and linked up the play quicker and more smoothly than our injured Egyptian. In fact, we looked a little more nimble with him there. He does though have weaknesses that others will exploit. He can’t seem to win headers and is caught ball-watching on defense. Too often he fails to track his man back as he watches their possession develop. But, all  in all, it was a good introduction for him. It’s been a while since he’s played 90 minutes and deserves time to adjust to no longer sitting on the bench.

Our attacking strength was on fall display today. Again, we came out of the blocks pretty quick. We dominated. Well, as much as we could, while Villa were hacking us to bits. It’s amazing that McGin did not get a yellow card until the second half while the wonderful Odegaard picked one up in the first half. Maybe it was their colours, but there were times when they looked like and played more like Burnley than Villa. Not that Gerrard is as ugly as Dyche. But like Burnley, if they continue to play like this they will be relegated. Though they will discard Gerrard before then.

There were so many chances to score in that first half. Our interplay was at a level they could not compete with. Jesus continues to shine brightly. Martintelli buzzed around and Saka showed signs of life. At some point he will rediscover his scoring boots. Maybe he has to learn to shoot with his right foot or learn just to stand on it. Marintelli set him up with a gorgeous chance that he missed. And there were so many skirmishes in their area that you wondered if we’d ever manage to get that opening goal.  

Martinez pulled off a number of excellent saves. And it was refreshing to hear the crowd continually boo him. Well deserved after his comments. Thankfully though the curse of our old goalkeepers returned to help us. He should have done better with that first goal. As good as Xhaka was again operating in that forward position, he should never have been allowed to advance without being offside but they could not hold their line and then Martnez should have held onto that deflection. Thankfully Jesus was alert enough to pounce and deservedly give us the lead. It was suprising how muted the Villa reaction was to going behind. We continued to dominate and miss chances.

Most of our best play came down the left. Tierny and Martinelli linked up well and Xhaka, operating in that free role, pulled the strings. He looks so much happier these days. And on the other side Odegaard continued to stroll around. Saka, aside from not scoring, flitted in and out of the game. But once he hits his stride, this team will explode. Of course, by then we’ll be playing teams that are more towards the top end of the table so we’ll need him.

The defense, while untested, was solid again today. In fact, I thought when White was taken off we actually got worse. By the end we had ESR and and Tommy on the right and we looked more venerable. First off, for their goal, Tommy has to take some of the blame. He was in front of Ramsdale and should have made more of an attempt to attack the ball. And then, while he is better at getting forward, he gave their players more space to operate in. It made me appreciate a little more the work White has been doing. In front of Tommy I was surprised at how low ESRs work rate was. It’s noticeable now once you see how much running Jesus does – and even Eddie, when he came on. ESR has to figure out how to work harder. He came on for Odegaard who was still suffering from the hacking of that thug McGin – when he was not booked.

By then we demonstrated our new found resiliency. I had the fear that Villa would find a way of scoring after we passed up so many chances and had started to withdraw into a more game management mode. But then, like against Leicester, we found a way to respond immediately. That must give us increased confidence. It started and finished with Martinelli. But this time Saka returned the compliment of setting him up. And Martinelli showed him how to put it away. And, again, Martinez, did not cover himself in glory. Maybe against United, they can sign Almunia or bring back Peter Cech.

To be able to recover the lead so quickly was so refreshing and so unlike Arsenal of the last few years. I’m still in partial shock. Of course it was deserved. But after all those missed opportunities it felt like we decided to wake up from our deep slumber to just put Villa down again. We had outplayed them and were so clearly superior. When you think back to last seasons encounters you can gauge how much progress we’ve made. And so much of it stems from Jesus. Not just his scoring but his work-rate and attitude. It infects everyone. Including Eddie. When he came on, aside from spurning one great chance, he worked so hard, held up the play and occupied their defense.

I’ve yet to mention Saliba or Gabriel. And that’s because they had little to do apart from swat away Watkins. How Gerrard left David Luis, Coutinho and Ings on the bench for so long is beyond me. Maybe he was scared of being picked apart. Maybe he did not notice that was happening anyway. But even when they did come on (apart from the freak corner) our rocks in defense held firm. We even saw a late appearance from Holding and his new improved, coloured hair.

That’s not to say the game was not annoying. Beyond the constant Villa (aka Burnley) fouling and weak referring, we had to deal with our own sloppy passing late in the game. When we should have been holding onto the ball we seemed to give it away to easily and started to lose the second tackles. It was enough to put my nerves on edge. Fortunately, Villa had no punch in them (ironic I know). Even Fulham were more threatening than this lot. As I said, hopefully they will go down this year.

Beyond this though, the most annoying part of the game was the abject camera work. And the habit of showing replays at least 3 times. While the game is going on. Or shots of either manager that linger while the game is going on. And now, whenever a player does anything, the camera goes in for a close up on that player. While the game is going on. For example, when, in the first half, when Martinez was closed down by Saka and he tried a back heel while right by his goal-line, we did not see that because we were being subjected to yet another re-run of a replay. Whoever is making these decision is an obvious moron. I can’t believe, in this age of ubiquitous iphones, streaming services and tick-tock (whatever that is), we don’t yet have either (1) picture in picture or (2) a choice of camera shots. This would alleviate the pain of being subjected to some producers idea of the collision of art and football.

So, when we next meet, we might or might not have made a few more transfers. If we haven’t it’s still going to hard to claim that this was not a great window for us. Remember this is a team for the future. One more year and one more window and we’ll have the full squad we need. But, let’s return to Sambi and Partey. As I said after Saturday, we can’t rely, unfortunately, on Partey. He was barely injured while at Atletico. But, in the English League, with its increased intensity and increased thuggery (that’s you, Villa), he can’t be relied on. And with Elneny felled by some mysterious injury, we can’t just rely on Sambi. As much as I’d like to have Neto it’s more important that we add a defensive midfield player. Once Sambi gets injured we’ll have to move Xhaka back into a position where he’s guaranteed to get booked and sent off due to his lack of pace. Not that I know who’s available at this late stage. But, as I’ve said even a blind man could see this exposure in the team. Not to say I’m a blind man, because I could see it.

This team is so exciting to watch now. It reminds me of our best Fabregas lead teams with Hleb, Carzola, Rosicky and Jack. Except that team was more mature. You have to go back to Eduardo to find a forward of the caliber of Jesus (sorry Giroud). We are close to operating at the level of the top 2 but we just need that defensive midfield cover. And we need another year or two to mature. This season cannot continue like this. Enjoy it while it lasts. It’s unreal. After the pain of the end of last season we deserve this. All I’m doing is watching the points gap with Chelski, United and that other lot. Give us as much cushion as we can to get that Champions League position. With the NoHoppaCup due to start I’m sure we’ll pick up yet more injuries. That’s what undone us last season. Even more reason to bring in a few more players. And we should also say goodbye to AMN and Hector. And all before our journey up into the red midst of the north. Let’s hope Ramsdale is fit and we have someone in midfield to demolish their cheating, faking, rollover at every chance clutching you face Fernandez.

In them the meantime, can I remind you of something? We are top of the League.

-LB7

We are top of the league. We are top of the league. I know. I said that last week. But I want to enjoy while it’s lasts. Because it won’t. And it nearly didn’t today. But we had a little luck, and we showed some resilience. And we deserved it. Arguably, we scored all three goals – if not created all three that’s for sure.

It’s funny how our center-backs have each given goals away and then made up for it and the other end by scoring. Gabriel though can’t be put in the same league as our Big Willy (I know, but I enjoyed the reference last week so I thought I’d double down on it – so to speak).

So, somehow, we remain undefeated with maximum points from 4 games. That’s unheard of. I believe the last time we achieved this was back in 1856 when we beat Collective United National Trade Society 5-0 with three goals from Fred Oracle the 3^rd. But I digress.

Now I’m just saying, you know, if a meteorite just happened to crash into the earth and destroy all football stadiums and all available football pitches and then the season would have to be cancelled then not only would we qualify for the Champions League for next year but we’d also win the Premier League for the first time in this modern era. Please note no people were injured during the making of this stupid hypothetical; it was a very specific alien engineered meteorite. Anyway, the point remains. We are top of the league.

This was all part of the grand plan when we acquired Ramsdale. Put Leno in goal at the other end and then pepper him with corners. He managed to save a few of our shots but it was inevitable that he’d go all Fabianski on a corner. Karma when you only pay us £10m for him.

It was good to see though that Zinny was not too injured so that he was able to participate in the Gabriel celebrations. When he scored that is – not when he set them up for their goal and their celebrations. We missed Zinny today. And Partey. Our Elneny worked reasonably hard but he’s a Mini compared to the Partey Range Rover. You could see the lack of creativity down our left. Tesco Tierney defends better but tends to pass sideways and lacks to the imagination of our Ukrainian hero.

Thankfully though we still have Jesus and Odegaard. Jesus is like an electric eel whereas Odegaard was majestic today. Making Ozil-like passes but with a real workrate. Some of his passes today were out of this world. He was the link up player today. Without that Zinny creativity we were entirely dependent on our Captain.  He teed up Jesus a few times who, on another day, will score. Instead it was left to Odegaard to open our scoring. Quite a nice habit he’s developing. Eventually teams will kick him off the pitch or just have someone follow him right out of the dressing room.

Saliba was outstanding yet again. He is like a Rolls Royce at the back. His distribution is everything that Gabriels isn’t. He was able to feed White and Odegaard whereas Gabriel was still too slow and rarely got the ball out to Tierney. As a consequence Zhaka was more isolated and had to come back a little further to get involved. As for Gabriel, I suppose the only good news was that he did not foul their Serb and get a red card. I hope he learned from that but towards the end of the game he nearly got caught again. Saka should never have played that pass to him. It was careless and very high risk. But Saka could not know that Gabriel would go full-on Mustafa. But, unfortunately, Gabriel has that in his locker.

Saka still has not found his groove yet. I would have thought ESR would have come on for him at some point. Saka had a few chances but still needs to sharpen his finishing. He has plenty of time to get back his mojo.

Arteta deserves credit for his changes once we went one down. Though we lost a little when Jesus was moved to create space for Eddie to zip around we made up for it in the increased intensity. Eddie should have scored. But this was not like last season at Everton. Eddie has developed and is more threatening now. But he should have scored at least once. But Arteta made the right moves. And this team showed some backbone today. Last season I don’t think we’d have won this game – we might have done enough to get a point. But to come back from one down against such a dour team as Fulham should give us confidence.

But we saw today what happens when we lose Partey. In addition to the cover for the defense we lose someone who can pick up the ball from the defense and propel us forward. So, with the transfer window still open that’s where the focus should be. Sure another attacking player – like the high priced Neto – would be good but there’s no way we’ll get 30+ games out of Partey.

There were times today where I was convinced it was one of those games where we’d have all the chances in the world but luck would conspire against us to score. We certainly deserved to win it was just not clear that we’d get the breaks necessary. That we’d actually take one or two of the chances we’d gotten. Because we had so many and seem in capable of shooting or scoring. So I’m relived that we got the goals and points we deserved. And that we back at the pinnacle of the league. Enjoy it while it lasts. The more distance we can put between us and the other teams that will be competing for 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th so much the better.

But we’ll need Partey for Old Trafford that’s for sure. Tierney’s defense will help there but we’ll want Zinny on Wednesday. And let’s hope another returning goalie can help us out as well. Hopefully the ego that is Martinez can also emulate Fabianski. It’s nice that we’ve populated some many teams goalkeepers; maybe they will be our secret weapon this year.

So, enjoy another few days at the top and pray for the good health of Zinny and Partey because they were missed today. But get used to it. And remember, this team was not built for this year but for next.

-LB7