Arsenal celebrate
Arsenal celebrate
A flat hour at home is the test a champion side has to pass more than once. The crowd expects control, the opponent sits in and scores, and the afternoon turns into whether the bench can change the mood before the points go. Winning ugly is still winning. It is also how title races are kept alive.
Substitutes decide that version of a match. One player who demands the ball, plays with a different intensity and scores can turn a nervy stadium into a loud one in a few minutes. The starting eleven gets the credit on the sheet. The comeback often belongs to the one who was not on it.
That only works if the squad is deep enough to produce it. A manager who can change a game from the bench is harder to play against than one who needs his best eleven to be perfect for ninety minutes.
Bruno Guimaraes was that change as Arsenal beat Leeds 2-1. For an hour the champions looked flat. Leeds were compact and aggressive, and James Justin put them ahead in the 55th minute. Riccardo Calafiori equalised seven minutes later, and Guimaraes, introduced from the bench, scored the winner in the 70th to complete the turnaround.
Martin Keown, reacting to the game, said the response was what defending the title looks like. “Well, if you’re gonna be champions again, to repeat it, you have to win these games. And Arsenal found a way to win,” he said. “Then suddenly Bruno Guimaraes comes off the bench, and he plays with that electricity, a personality.”
He felt Guimaraes and Martin Odegaard changed the rhythm together. “Suddenly you see all the intricate football from Odegaard, and Arsenal are flying again and look like champions,” Keown said. His strongest line was for the midfielder who came on. “This man here, he’s really endeared himself to the faithful here. He’s another level.”
TNT Sports called him a super sub after he finished a team move for the winner. Champion sides do not always dominate. Sometimes they fall behind and find another way, and Guimaraes gave Arsenal the intensity and personality to do it when the game had become uncomfortable.
If that impact from the bench keeps arriving, this squad looks deeper than the one that won the league last season.
Arsenal now look ahead to Lille in the Champions League, followed by Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. Bruno Guimaraes will be hoping to start one of the next two games, rather than coming off the bench.