With the boys being in the middle of the Christmas congestion period, they are dealing with this exceptionally well. Four games played in the space of ten days, one played in the UCL and three played in the League. Three of these games coming in the shape of both Tottenham and Bayern at home. As well as Chelsea away at the Bridge. We gathered a total or 10/12 points in the Premier League and beat German giants Bayern in the UCL, so we should be very proud of the team and how they have performed. Now with all the context explained let’s get into yesterdays game against Brentford.
The boys were coming off the back from a tough run of fixtures, so Mikel Arteta made a wise decision to play a rested line up against the Bees, with a number of rotations used from the squad. The line up was as follows. Raya, White, Hincapie, Mosquera, Calafirori, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Madueke, Martinelli and Merino. My reaction to this line up was relief. I was so worried that with our history of running our players into the ground, and us loosing stamina in around March/ April time. However, with the reinforcements coming into the side, we got the result we wanted. We stared the game well with a lovely bit of skill and link up with a nice bit of skill for Noni Madueke and a trademark Ben white overlapping run putting the ball directly on the plate for Mikel Merino to head the ball in and give us the lead after eleven minutes played. The boys maintained control for the first half of the game, with the majority of the chances coming from an impressive Noni Madueke and Ben White. The first half ended with us 67% possession taking eight shots in comparison to Brentford’s three goals. Clearly showing a quality defensive performance.
With the only sub being made in the first half being Jurrien Timber replacing a lightly injured Mosquera, the line up remained the same. The second half we lost control a bit, we invited a little bit more pressure. However, we were still dominant with a few chances coming from Mikel Merino, Calafriori and Bukayo Saka once he came on. With three subs being made during the second half including a new look front three including Eze, Saka and Gykoeres. With the Starboy scoring in injury time, with a slightly lucky finish.
Though yesterday wasn’t our best performance, the only thing that matters is that we got all three points. The more and more this season goes on, the more confident I get with the boys going all the way. We had a near enough fully rotated back line and still did not concede to a well capable Premier League side. Onto the next one I say!