THE HARD WAY
FANS GET CARDIO WORKOUT AGAIN
I've concluded that the team we all follow is masochistic. There is no other explanation for the number of times we make things harder for ourselves than necessary.
I don't know about you lot, but I don't think the old ticker can take another game where we have a one-goal lead late on with the opposition lumping pot luck, fight balls into our box.
The bottom line, however, is that it is another game we failed to win last year but have turned into a victory this year—the Redemption Tour Rocks On, baby.
OPENING THOUGHTS
Last night's 2-1 win was the 2025 'Arsenal Experience' in a nutshell.
Total dominance for about 65 minutes, but can't put the game away. Lose an unlucky/sloppy goal when the opposition has their first spell of pressure. That then turns into nerves and a defensive crisis that in turn leads to enough anxiety to age The North Bank a decade.
We've seen it now in three home games in a row (Wolves, Palace & Brighton) and it could easily have been four (Brentford). That, my friends, is what we call a pattern, a trend, and a worrying one at that.
LINEUPS
The bad news of Timber not making it (load management?) was further compounded by Calafiori apparently having, let's say, an upset stomach during the warm-up and having to exit sharpish stage left while his dignity was still intact.
Hincapie, thankfully, was available for selection, so he took the Italians place at centre back with MLS keeping his LB berth.
The right back area has been a disaster all season with injuries. Whites inability to stay fit or being overplayed when available has left us, in turn, overloading Timber, which has then caused him to miss game time. It's a vicious cycle.
I see people clamouring to sign a RB in the January window, but in all honesty, what calibre of player are you bringing in who will be happy to be third choice when everyone is available?
When the lineup came out, I honestly had ZERO idea who was playing RB. It ended up being Declan Rice. He made a fine fist of it, as you would expect, but you don't want to be taking him out of the engine room for any length of time.
One great piece of news was Gabi at the Back's earlier-than-expected return. Still no Kai the Guy, though?
As for Brighton, their manager clearly didn't read the blog or else he would known I highlighted Saka roasting De Cuyper as an area we could exploit. The Belgian didn't appear for the second half.
THE GAME
As I've already touched on, the game itself was typical Arsenal.
We played some excellent stuff for the opening hour or so, couldn't put the game to bed, conceded a goal, then got nervous and ended up hanging on, resorting to lumping the ball to safety.
Earlier in the season, I wrote about us being comfortable in close-score games. There were matches where we were maybe one or two up, but I never felt our lead was under any real threat. This has changed, and I will tell you the main reason why.
Last night was our NINTH different back four combination in SEVENTEEN games, NINTH!!
The defence, more than anywhere on the pitch, relies on being a unit, playing as a collective. This has been virtually impossible with our constant injuries. I genuinely think that when we get the Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, and Calafiori combination back together, our defensive prowess will return, and the nervousness in close games will dissipate.
You then marry it with us missing chance after chance every game, and you can see where the problems lie. In our last four games, Arsenal players have scored 1 goal from 9.23xG. This points to a couple of things.
One is that we, including Arteta, are doing everything right up until sticking the ball in the net. The gaffer can't score goals. What he can do is tactically get us in the best positions, but then it's up to the players. It could also point to the fact that we have the same problem as last season, and that's why we signed Gyokeres, but that's a discussion for another time.
The second is that the xG numbers point to us giving someone a real battering soon. I'm not a huge xG be all and end all kind of guy, but they do help point to possible future trends, and ours says someone is going be on the end of a real beating soon (hopefully Villa next up)
WHAT IT MEANS
What it means is that we answered City's earlier ref-assisted win at Forest and stayed top, with our two point lead restored.
Our oil-money-fraudulent friends from the North have reeled off six wins in a row. Sounds impressive, but if you dig a little deeper, it's a bit more meh. Since losing to Newcastle, they beat Leeds 3-2, Fulham 5-4, Sunderland 3-0, Palace 3-0, West Ham 3-0 and Forest 2-1.
Out of those wins, you have the teams who are 18th (West Ham), 17th (Forest), and 16th (Leeds) in the table. As I said, meh.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Our first HM goes to Declan Rice. Not really because of his performance, even though it was pretty good.
It was more for the attitude taking on the role. Arteta spoke about it after the game. He asked him to do it and didn't get a diva response. It was, "yeah, no problem, I'll try my best to help the team" You gotta love the guy.
Our second HM goes to David Raya.
With the score at 2-1 and Brighton pressing hard for an equaliser, he pulled off arguably the save of the season from substitute Minteh, pushing the ball over the bar with a reflex save that was out of this world.
A save that was worth two points at the final whistle, securing the win instead of drawing the game.
Our MAN OF THE MATCH though goes to ....
MAN OF THE MATCH
Our captain had the kind of game that had haters deleting their tweets.
Declan Rice's reaction when celebrating summed it up, pointing to Odegaard like "He's the Man".
I didn't get or like the hate he has been receiving lately. I have been critical of the time he has missed, given the nature of his injuries, but I have never questioned his on-field performance.
Last night, he was back to his creative best. Scored a great goal, knitted our attacking patterns together, and was progressive in his passing. All the things we have associated with him in the past. Let's not forget, this is the guy who, in 22/23, equalled De Bruyne's record of non-penalty goals from a midfielder in a league season with 15.
If he can get anywhere close to that version, then it will go a long way to getting us where we want to be come season's end.
LOOKING AHEAD
Next up, in two days, is one I have been looking forward to: revenge mission time against Emery and his band of xG cheating (we'll get into that in the review), Villa.
After their improbable win yesterday at The Bridge, they have reeled off 11 straight wins. It's time to end that bollocks.
FINAL THOUGHTS
After the Villa game, we will be exactly halfway through the season. I will chat a bit more right after the New Year on where we are and what's ahead of us.
Until then, I will try to do a Villa match preview tomorrow. No promises but I'll see what I can do.