The Arsenal played Newcastle Utd yesterday evening in what was the first of five Premier League play-off/shoot-out fixtures left this season. It was not an exciting jamboree of expansive football but more an exercise in the team playing their game whilst the Emirates faithful were probably as close to a mental health issue, as was I watching at home.
Prior to the game I was hoping to see Arsenal score an early goal followed by a more confident Arsenal team adding a couple more goals, but that’s not what transpired.
Looking at an Arsenal bench which included Dowman, Jesus, Martinelli, Gyokeres, Trossard and Saka it seemed clear to me that Arteta had goals in mind.
Despite spending most of the week playing down the goals scored column it seemed clear to me that if the opportunity was there, Arteta didn’t want us to leave any goals on the pitch, whilst still leaning into our strength, our defence.
The opening 5 minutes gave us a foretaste of what to expect with the Arsenal players looking nervy and giving away soft possession whilst a Newcastle team on the back of a terrible run found some form, no doubt encouraged by the general anxiety on the terraces and on the field.
Arsenal had three early corners, all played short, the first two didn’t come to anything but the third around the 9th minute saw Madueke knock it smartly to Havertz who then laid it back to Eze who thumped a curling shot past the helpless Pope. That should have released some of the steam from the pressure cooker, but it really didn’t.
The next 20 minutes saw Arsenal’s stop-start football create very little as Newcastle recovered their poise, but as disjointed as some of the Arsenal football was they did create some promising phases, but that habit of overplaying your hand saw those phases fail to develop into shots on target. That of course saw the anxiety return to the crowd and that vicious cycle continued to impact the team. Raya had to make a top save from a swerving Tonali shot as Newcastle probed for opportunities whilst Arsenal continued to look for the perfect goal. Then Kai Havertz went down.
Andy Townsend the co-commentator opined that it could be a thigh or a groin injury given the attention the physio was giving to that area and on 34 Kai departed straight down the tunnel and probably out of the next four games and on came Gyokeres. Without the technical security that Kai gives our attack it took a while for the team to adapt and the rest of the half played out without any real threat on Pope’s goal.
Half-Time 1-0
The second half began with Newcastle on the front foot and Arsenal looking iffy but fortunately the Gunners defence kept the Magpies at arms length. Then Eze went down (ffs). Ebbs didn’t look too uncomfortable so I’m guessing it was a precautionary substitution, anyway on came Martinelli on 53.
The next 25 minutes could be best summed up as tense, with the major talking point being Gyokeres being fouled by Pope. In my opinion, it was a red card because if a defender fouls a player who could be clear on goal, it’s a straight red card even though he has to beat the goalkeeper. So if the goalkeeper makes that foul and only has one defender behind him who isn’t favourite to get the ball then what is the difference? We’ve seen Sam Barrott before and he is a referee who tends to shy away from the difficult decisions.
On 80 minutes Newcastle’s German centre forward set up Wissa for a certain equaliser, especially as Wissa had already scored on his previous two visits to the Emirates so I waited for the net to bulge. Fortunately Wissa seems to have left his shooting boots in West London as he wastefully blasted his shot over the bar, phew!
Arteta acted after that as on came Myles for a clearly fatigued Zubimendi and the disappointing Madueke exited as the hero returned. Saka immediately added some urgency and threat to our attack and almost scored immediately before delivering a number of testing corners. Martinelli from a Rice corner almost executed a textbook overhead shot which Pope caught.
Newcastle came back and a dangerous Harvey Barnes cross found the lanky Dan Burn but Raya held his header. Shortly after, a Saka dribble then set up Odegaard whose low drive was saved. Saka was making a difference and his influence on the mood of the crowd was noticeable, the stadium was, if not rocking, at least optimistic again. We played out 7 minutes of added time and banked 3 points. 4 more heart stoppers to go!
Myles looked very good in midfield and we might need him there as Declan and Zubi are running on empty. Hincapie had a great game at left back, in fact in general the defence was, as Pep would say, so so secure.
We March On…