By Tony Attwood
‘Crazy Gang’ blow Atletico away to put Arsenal in Champions League dreamland” shouts the Telegraph, but that is not true, for this is no crazy gang. This is Arsenal, who are top of the Premier League, three clear of ManC and also with the best goal difference in the league. Four clear of Liverpool, five clear of the Totts and Chelsea, seven clear of the highly tipped and praised Villa, 10 clear of Newcastle… it’s a wonder any of those pre-season predicting journalists are still in a job. Although actually no, they are journalists, so the veracity of their predictions doesn’t matter. Here’s the league table…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 19 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 16 |
| 3 | AFC Bournemouth | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 15 |
Of course, we can’t really expect joy and celebration in the media and instead the Telegraph tells us that the Spanish league has announced that the “financial dominance of its English counterpart forced it to take the Villarreal vs Barcelona match to the US”. Ok, so matches overseas are all our fault. It had to be, didn’t it?
But not everyone is looking for the negatives, as the Independent tells us there was “something seismic, something spectacular” about last night. Of course, a lot of the media are fairly reluctant to print league tables with Arsenal doing so well at the moment, but just to make up for it, we will give a quick run-down of the top….
| Teams | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Paris Saint-Germain
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 9 |
| 2 |
Internazionale
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| 3 |
Arsenal
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 9 |
| 4 |
Borussia Dortmund
|
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 7 |
And yes, let us be really clear and say that tonight Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and even Qarabag FK could overtake Arsenal. But still, three wins and no goals against does make it look quite possible that Arsenal will qualify in the top group to go straight to the round of 16 without any extra pesky play-offs offs which Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea might find moderately engaging.
But here is a special little extra thing that can bring a smile to many an Arsenal face today. We know, but it seems many of the clubs we play against don’t know that Arsenal really do come to life in the second half.
In this match at halftime time it was goalless. In the game against Fulham, it was goalless at halftime. In the game against Newcastle, Arsenal were 1-0 down at halftime. In the game against ManC it was goalless at halftime, and in the second half, ManC scored first.
In the game against Athletic Club, is was goalless at half time In the game against Forest it was only 1-0 at half time. Put another way, in the last eight league and Champions League games, Arsenal have won seven. But at half-time Arsenal have only been ahead in three of those. That seems to suggest it is always worth staying to the end, but early arrival is not so important. Early leavers could have missed Saka’s goal against Olympiacos, both goals against Newcastle, Martinelli against ManC, and Trossard against Athletic Club.
Oh yes, and just while I am on that, Arsenal had eight shots on target against one from the opposition. Worth remembering next time a radio commentator tells you how wayward Arsenal’s shooting is.
But now maybe the media will stop reminding us about how many goals Viktor Gyokeres hasn’t scored. The man’s reply of two in three minutes ought to be enough to shut them up, but these journos are pesky fellows and I wouldn’t put it past them to dwell on the subject still further. There will still be talk about how much he cost and how Arsenal are only third highest goalscorers in the league (two goals behind ManC and one behind Chelsea), ignoring the fact that Arsenal are five poins above Chelsea and and three above ManC, but you know how these journos love to go on and on about one subject calling him not by his name but “the £54m forward”
Of course, Atletico Madrid had to have an excuse, and it was indeed that the showers on the pre-match training day were not working until 7.30 pm, and they left at 7.25 pm and showered in the hotel. I am sure that explains Arsenal’s victory.
But let us not, in more serious matters, forget the rotation. Gabriel Magalhaes came back and was a sensation. And while on the subject, let us not forget that Martinelli, had four (yes four) separate trials with Manchester United and each and every time they rejected him. I wonder what they thought of his 15 goals in 2022/23. This season he has scored in all three Champions League games.
And here’s another little point. Everyone now knows that Arsenal can do something special (“create chaos” was Arteta’s phrase) with set pieces, but still no one seems to be able to stop them.
I think this is all looking rather good.
Hard to pick highlights from such a great performance by the whole team, but an outstanding moment for me was the Lew-s-Skelly run and pass and the martinelly finish for the second goal – just like Thierry Henry used to do.
On a general point, Martinelli, in particular, had a great game throughout.
If a team wants to play against the Arsenal , Arsenal will find spaces against them and punish them with goals . AM I think wanted to play on the break , Arsenal restricted them in doing that and once we scored spaces appeared which we exploited .
I think this league format has opened up games , draws are not good enough to progress .
Regarding our set pieces, from which we scored another 2 goals last night as you all witnessed, I believe we have become Soooooooo good at them they have gone beyond the ridicule that was starting to come our way.
From ‘just a set piece team’, we have turned the ‘set piece’ into the ‘must have’ accessory for any team who wants to succeed. In fact, we have turned them in to an ‘art form.
Given Arsene’s famous use of that very phrase, proudly displayed at the top of this page, I don’t believe the irony would be lost on the great man himself.