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 3rd 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