Over and Over and Over Again

BACK HOME IT HAS BEEN a particularly good week for Arsenal with two consecutive wins and progress to the semi-final of the FA Cup. Following the disastrous restart with defeats at Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion, wins at Southampton and Sheffield United have shown how quickly fortunes can change in football. After four away trips in a row, it is a relief to finally return to the Emirates on Wednesday evening with relegation-threatened Norwich City the visitors. We are the only team to not yet play a home match since the restart so it will be an historic occasion. We have not lost to the Canaries in the last seven meetings, since a 1-0 defeat at Carrow Road in October 2012, and that has been our only defeat against them in the last 19, since they won 4-2 at Highbury on the opening day of the Premier League in August 1992. I have watched far too much football over the years to ever describe a match as a guaranteed win, but Daniel Farke’s side has lo...

FA CUP QUARTER FINAL SHEFFIELD UNITED 1 ARSENAL 2 A DRAMATIC LAST gasp goal from substitute Dani Ceballos sent Arsenal through to a record 30th FA Cup semi-final with a tense victory at Bramall Lane on Sunday. Mikel Arteta has now taken the club to Wembley just six months after taking the hot seat and the prospect of winning a trophy in his first season is still very much alive. After Nicolas Pepe had scored from the spot to give us a fully deserved half time lead, it was substitute Ceballos who popped up to win it in stoppage time just moments after David McGoldrick had brought the Blades level. After a bright start it was very much a backs-to-wall second half display, similar in many ways to Thursday’s win at Southampton, and Arteta was delighted with the character of his team. He said: “Yes, I am very pleased with the result. This is a really difficult place to come and win. After conceding so late, that reaction is not easy. We went for it again; we scor...

SHOW SOME STEEL ARSENAL WILL LOOK to follow up last night’s win at Southampton when they head north to face Sheffield United in the FA Cup quarter final on Sunday. Bramall Lane has hardly been a happy hunting ground for us over the years with Arsenal failing to score on four of our last five visits, including an FA Cup tie in 2005 which we won on penalties after a 0-0 draw. At the time of the original tie in March the Blades were in great form, chasing a top four place and playing some great football.  They had played extremely well in a 1-1 draw at the Emirates in January and of course beat us 1-0 at Bramall Lane in October. But the restart has not been kind to Chris Wilder’s side.  Following a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa in the first match of Project Restart, where they were denied a goal by a goal-line technology malfunction, they have since suffered back-to-back 3-0 defeats at Newcastle United and Manchester United. This though will be their first...

YOUNG GUNS HAVING SOME FUN SOUTHAMPTON 0 ARSENAL 2 ARSENAL FINALLY GOT their season back up and running yesterday evening with a hard-fought win in the searing heat at Southampton. Following two poor defeats since the restart just over a week ago, this was a game where we needed to see a response. And thanks to young Academy graduates Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock, that is exactly what we got. Nketiah, a surprising choice to lead the line, scored the opener after closing down Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy and rolling the ball into an empty net, before substitute Willock smashed home the second after McCarthy had failed to hold an effort from fellow replacement Alex Lacazette. After everything had seemingly been going against us in the previous two matches it was nice to see a few decisions go our way for a change and to get a little bit of luck.  Let us hope it has not all come in one game. Manager Mikel Arteta had received much criticism in the ...

AFTER A DISASTEROUS restart to the season, it does not get any easier for Arsenal this week as they travel to Southampton on Thursday evening before an FA Cup quarter final trip to Sheffield United on Sunday. St Mary’s has not been a particularly happy hunting ground for us in recent years with only one win in the previous eight league visits.  Last season’s trip saw the end of our 22-match unbeaten run under Unai Emery with a 3-2 defeat, while only a late goal from Olivier Giroud salvaged a 1-1 draw the season before. However, I would not call it a bogey ground as no away ground has been particularly happy for us in recent years.  In fact, since the start of 2017 we have lost away at 16 of the current Premier League grounds, plus at a further three clubs no longer in the Premier League. Quite frankly a shocking record for a club like Arsenal. This season has seen our away form hit new lows with only one win outside of London in the Premier Leagu...

ARSENAL MAUPAY-ED THE PRICE BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 2 ARSENAL 1 ARSENAL’S SEASON OF woe continued as a stoppage time goal from villain of the hour Neal Maupay, gave Brighton and Hove Albion a shock three points on Saturday. Following on from the disastrous restart at Manchester City on Wednesday, where we not only lost three points but also three players, the last thing Mikel Arteta needed was another injury and another defeat. But when things are not going your way it never just rains, it pours. The first half injury to goalkeeper Bernd Leno, undoubtedly our player of the season, was made even worse when Maupay, the player who had injured him with a needless challenge that went unpunished by dreadful referee Martin Atkinson, popped up with the 95 th minute winner. Quite how we managed to lose this match was a mystery but perhaps goes a long way to explaining why we are down in tenth place in the table. After looking comfortable for 70 minutes and 1-0 up t...

PLEASE BRIGHTON UP OUR DAY FOLLOWING THE DREADFUL defeat up at Manchester City on Wednesday evening, Arsenal return to action on Saturday with a trip to the seaside. Unfortunately, not for a nice relaxing summer’s day at the beach with the family but for another tough Premier League match against relegation threatened Brighton and Hove Albion. It was not so long ago when a match against such opposition would not have caused us too many sleepless nights and we would be confident of going there and getting a good win. But those days are long gone. In fact, Brighton have proved to be a bit of a bogey team for us in recent years.  We have not beaten them in our last four meetings, since a 2-0 win at the Emirates in October 2017, and we have not won away at Brighton in the league since a 1-0 success at the old Goldstone Ground way back in April 1981. Remember, the Seagulls won 2-1 at the Emirates earlier this season in what was Freddie Ljungberg’s first...

MANCHESTER CITY 3 ARSENAL 0 SO, PREMIER LEAGUE football is back after a three-month break but how many Arsenal fans this morning wish it were not? The 3-0 defeat at The Etihad last night was not the restart we were all hoping for but in many ways, we got off lightly. In all honesty if could and should have been six or seven. If we thought the days of the heavy away defeats were over when Arsene Wenger left, then we really need to think again.  This performance was as bad as anything we have produced over the last 10 years and had it not for the magnificence of Bernd Leno this would have been even more embarrassing. I am sure I was not the only one who was shocked when the starting line-up was announced. No Alex Lacazette, no Nicolas Pepe, no David Luiz, no Gabriel Martinelli, and a fit Mesut Ozil not even in the 20-man squad. Our three-man midfield of Granit Xhaka, Matteo Guendouzi and Joe Willock looked out of its depth compared to the City trio of ...

EMPTY-HAD SO, THE PREMIER League is back this week although it is certainly going to be a completely different experience to what we have always known. I must admit I was not particularly in favour of football returning behind closed doors. For me it has always been about the fans, the atmosphere, and the whole match-day experience. Taking that away I am not convinced it will be anywhere near as enjoyable. Certainly, if the German experience is anything to go by then I am not sure I will enjoy it at all. Even though the fake crowd noise has slightly improved the TV watching experience it has lacked the usual intensity and drama. Also, I cannot get my head around preparing to watch a Premier League match in the month of June. Usually this month is reserved for tournament football and indeed this week would have seen the opening of the 2020 European Championships. The last time Arsenal played a league match in this month was in 1947, a 2-1 defeat at Sheffield United on ...

THE MAKING OF MODERN ARSENAL - PART FOUR - 2012 - 2020 - THE FINAL  YEARS OF WENGER AND BEYOND THE SUMMER OF 2012 would see the latest rebuilding begin. With the club now settled at the Emirates Stadium funds were finally being made available to Wenger, although after seven years without a trophy the pressure was building. The departure of Robin van Persie to rivals Manchester United had seen a backlash from the fans so Wenger knew he needed a good summer in the transfer market. With that in mind the business looked promising as in came midfield maestro Santi Cazorla from Malaga for £10 million, French striker Olivier Giroud from Montpellier for £9.6 million, and German forward Lukas Podolski from Cologne. With Adu Diaby finally fit, the Arsenal team that won 2-0 at Anfield on 2 September 2012 suggested a brave new world – Mannnone, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Arteta, Daiby, Cazorla, Gervinho, Podolski, Giroud. It was a 4-2-3-1 formation with Podol...