Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction
Sometimes a game of football is a wonderful thing, leaving you fulfilled and happy. Sometimes a game of football is a terrible thing, leaving you sad and frustrated. And sometimes a game of football just happens.
Last night, a game of football happened. I’m happy that Arsenal won, and beyond that it’s hard to say too much at all. As expected, Mikel Arteta rang the changes, nine in all to the starting line-up, and early on there was a little bit of pre-game excitement as it looked like Gabriel Martinelli would be starting up front. That was something people have keen to see, but in the end it was Mikel Merino who was given that job, with the Brazilian out on the left as usual.
We scored a nice early goal. Martinelli’s ball into the box was flicked on (just) by Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Eberechi Eze was there to finish calmly for his first goal in an Arsenal shirt. He said afterwards:
It’s a special day to get my first goal and to win. It’s important to get through to the next round; that was the main thing. But it’s a special day for me.
How long must he have dreamed of that moment? And coming in the 8th minute, it gave Arsenal a platform to … do absolutely nothing of note for the next 30 minutes. Ethan Nwaneri was buzzing around nicely, but that was about it until Eze had another chance not long before the break. Merino was the provider, but this time the keeper made a decent save to deny him.
In the second half there was a bit of early worry when Bukayo Saka got caught with studs on the top of the foot. Painful, but thankfully not much more than that. On the hour mark he was replaced by Max Dowman who, a little while later, played a superb pass to fellow sub Viktor Gyokeres, but he was blocked off as he tried to get his shot away from inside the box.
More nothing happened, some short corners, and then in the 86th minute William Saliba found Leandro Trossard with a long ball over the top. The Belgian took it down, took a touch, and rifled it into the bottom corner to make it 2-0 and to make the game safe. It’s not that we were ever in any danger, but at 1-0 – and with penalties after 90 minutes – you can’t be 100% sure.
If you look at the possession stats, you can probably say we deserved it, but in terms of what we created over 90 minutes, you could debate that. If you wanted. But I have no idea why anyone would want to waste their time and energy over that this morning. Afterwards, Mikel Arteta said:
What was at stake in this game is your reputation as a club, as a team, as an individual. And we play these types of games, I’ve been here long enough to understand it’s going to be very tricky. I think we started the game really well, very dominant, scored a goal, and had another three or four chances that we didn’t manage to score.
In general, happy with the win, the clean sheet and the debut of Kepa for us today, Ebz’s goal, his first for the club and then the fact that even making nine changes, the team can still perform really well.
This was a game when Arsenal barely got out of second gear, and I don’t necessarily mean that as a criticism. Even when I say this was a game that happened, that’s just a certifiable fact. It did happen, there’s no denying it, but maybe – ahead of a big, difficult game against Newcastle on Sunday – that’s just what we needed. We came through an away cup tie with a win, no injuries, and got minutes into some players who really needed them.
Starts for Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri keep the young guys involved; Ben White back on the pitch after an injury hit start to the new season; first starts for Kepa and Christian Norgaard; minutes for Saka and Saliba, both of whom tend to be at their best when they’re playing regularly. And, as I said, no injuries, which is really important at this moment in time. Was there any need to go hell for leather? Did we need to risk anything in 50/50s? No.
Would I have liked to have seen a more entertaining game? Sure, but I can live with this being exactly what it was. A game that happened that Arsenal won. Your mileage may vary on if this adds to concerns about our creativity and firepower, and I can’t lie and say I didn’t feel a bit anxious about that last night, but in the context of everything I’ve laid out here, and in the cold light of day, I can’t get too fussed about it. If we struggle at St James’ Park, that’s a different story, but hopefully the benefit of last night is that we’re reasonably fresh and, with a side that’s likely to look very different, hopefully a lot more effective in the opposition’s final third.
The reward for last night’s win is a home tie with Brighton in the next round, and I suspect that’s going to be a bit more eventful than last night. Because last night just happened. And I can prove it.
See above.
Right, I’ll leave it there. We will have an Arsecast for you later on, ostensibly to talk about the win over Port Vale, but I suspect we might have to find a few other topics of discussion to flesh things out. We should have that for you around lunchtime.
Until then, have a good one.
#Port #Vale #Arsenal #Eze #Trossard #Gunners
