Statement victory from Arsenal
Well lovely Arsenal people, if you told me before the season started that we’d be sitting top of the league 9 games in, having just beaten Liverpool, I would’ve laughed out loud. I was weary of this game, because of our history in this fixture.
But, what a turnaround! We reversed losses at places like Palace and Brentford, we survived scares against teams like Villa and Fulham, we beat Spurs, but this one… This one sticks out massively for me. It has a massive psychological impact for a team so young.
Honestly it was a great game of football. Early goals, comebacks, penalties, players arguing. It had it all, but for once things went our way.
Remember last year Laca was 1:1 with Alisson at 0:0 and he missed. Today we were clinical.
We were second best in the first half, but we pounced in the first and last minute of the half to go to the break 2:1 up, even though we didn’t deserve it. In the second half we came out flying. We should’ve been 3:1 up when for once Odegaard decided to shoot, but it was a tame effort straight at their GK.
Then that guy Firmino again. It was honestly poor from us, two passes took out our midfield and defense entirely, than Ramsdale was too far out and nowhere near to save a good finish in the bottom corner. I was having flashbacks… Here we go again – Firmino, then maybe Jota again, or Salah…
But we actually remained the better team and got a penalty. By today standards that 100% is a pen. I’ve seen Tottenham given pens against us for much less. Jesus was first to the ball, Thiago hit his leg and that’s that for me. Up steps Saka and… He scores!
I was initially nervous, but at minute 82 I felt like we aren’t going to concede. It’s a very strange feeling for an Arsenal fan used to getting battered by Liverpool, but I actually wasn’t too worried.
Maybe it was the atmosphere, or maybe Klopp’s surprisingly negative subs and their poor form gave me the confidence that we’d win, and we did and I punched the air with a winning fist and I am simply loving life…
If I can just finish with some winners and losers from this game. It’s obvious from the moon that Martinelli made Trent look so bad, he was subbed at half time. The guy is my favorite Arsenal player and his energy is just electric. The guy gives me vibes I haven’t felt since Alexis.
The other obvious winner is Bukayo Saka. Some people think he’s had not such a great season, but the reality is very different. We’re simply not a team that’s overdepending on him anymore. Shout out to Jesus for that, who was superb again. That penalty was heavy and the guy was ice cool. After all that’s happened. My god, the guy is 21, we sometimes forget. Same for Gabi M.
And the final winners were the two full backs. Ben White at RB looks every inch a 50 mil pound player. But Takehiro Tomiyasu at LEFT back, when Tierney is available? An Arteta masterstroke! Something you’d deem unthinkable last year. Salah is still drying in his pocket.
The losers front sees a familiar face though in Gabriel. Their first goal was poor. Another mistake in a tight game. It seems like most of our defenders can play anywhere along the back 4, and I’m hearing shouts from Tomi to step in as CB, and Tierney/Zinny to go left, to give Gabriel a break.
The other loser for me is a little far fetched, but Martin Odegaard hasn’t been that great and Fabio Vieira is knocking on the door. We should’ve been 3:1 up in the second half, that miss could’ve cost us. I’ve seen Vieira bang them in from further back and his assists for Holding’s goal in the EL was mustard.
Odegaard is a player Arteta likes and he’s now captain, but I’m looking at Fabio and I want him in!
That said, just amazing from the boys. I am buzzing. We are top of the league and we deserve it. You see the difference between us and the likes of Spurs. Today was probably our worst first half of football and we still finished 2:1 up. When Conte does it at Spurs, people talk about “mentality”, when in reality it’s getting away with poor performances. We actually raised our level in the second half and dominated them.
It’s a massive win for us. 14 points ahead of Liverpool after 9 games, unbelievable. Even the Arsenal haters are running out of straws to grasp at. The season is long and I’m not getting carried away with title talks and so on. City remain clear favorites for that, but even Pep, albeit obviously puting some mind games in it, said that we are the best team so far. And when Pep speaks, football listens.
We’ll only see how good we’ve been in May, but so far, we are on road to regaining our fear factor. Teams no longer want to play soft old Arsenal, because we’ve become resilient. I think the painful end of last season has become the fuel of our fire.
Long may it last people, long may it last.
Konstantin
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