By Walter Broeckx
Some rotation as could be expected with this match sandwiched between the Europa League matches. No Sokratis as he is suspended but also a few players getting some rest. Maitland-Niles, Kolasinac, Özil and Lacazette among those who started on the beach. Xhaka returned after injury and the most notable starter is probably Mavropanos who comes in at centre back. It will be interesting to see if we put our money on the Europa League and go for a slightly lesser team in the PL?
Arsenal: Leno, Mustafi, Koscielny, Mavropanos, Monreal, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Iwobi, Aubameyang.
On the beach: Cech, Maitland-Niles, Kolasinac, Elneny, Guendouzi, Ozil, Lacazette.
Leno in a bit of trouble after a ball was played to him and he took a bit too much time but he could kick out of play. Watford with some early pressure after a corner but the shot is well off target. Arsenal seem to overplay a cross and Watford play it back to their keeper. Aubameyang rushes towards the keeper at full speed and blocks the attempted clearance and the ball goes in the net. GOAL! 0-1 after 10 minutes.
Seconds later the ref pulls out a red card against Deeney for an elbow that was missed by the camera’s but not by the ref or his assistant. It was an elbow against Torreira seen by the assistant. Still 0-1 after 15 minutes. Too much cojones Troy?
Iwobi send away by Ramsey with a good low cross to Aubameyang but a defender deflects his goal bound shot. A free kick falls in front of a Watford striker who has a dangerous shot that is kept out by Leno and the post. Doucoure plants his studs against Torreira but the ref just gives the foul and no further card. Mavrapanos misses his interception and Gray escapes but Monreal can clear his cross. Watford apllying some pressure now as Arsenal have trouble in clearing the ball. Gray tries to block Leno twice at a corner without the ref doing anything. Arsenal can clear and counter but Foster saves the effort from Iwobi. The corner is cleared and a shot from Xhaka is half blocked so no problem for the Watford keeper. A dangerous attack from Arsenal but Ramsey cannot control the deflected cross and Watford can clear. Hughes dribbles himself and goes to ground and gets a free kick for Watford. Leno makes a great save. That would have gone in. Super save. Still 0-1 after 30 minutes.
Arsenal trying to keep the ball and make Watford run but we don’t really get forward that way. Arsenal overplaying it a bit in the Watford penalty area and not taking the shot. Not much movement up front so Ramsey goes for a shot from distance but not even near the target. Mustafi with a brave header after a Watford free kick. We really should score that second goal to get some breathing room. Arsenal playing too much with the handbrake on. Too much of an Italian job in mind? Ramsey with a good cross to Aubameyang who turns twice but Watford can block. Hughes tries to burry Ramsey but doesn’t get a card for that wild challenge from behind. Still 0-1 after 45 minutes.
Özil came on at the start of the second half in the place of Torreira. Arsenal keeping the ball for more than 3 minutes at the start before a Watford defender can touch it. Not that we created anything but as Johan Cruyff once said: when we have the ball, the other team can’t score. Iwobi with a low cross but Aubameyang just can’t touch it and the ball goes just wide. Capoue with a strong challenge on Mkhitaryan and he gets a yellow card. Arsenal playing at pedestrian speed most of the time. Iwobi then on a quick attack and his cross finds Mkhitaryan but somehow the keeper makes the block. Özil to Mkhitaryan but his shot is off target. When we up the tempo we get chances. After 58 minutes Guendouzi comes on for Mavropanos. That will mean a reshuffle at the back I think. Still 0-1 after 60 minutes.
Özil with a cross to Mkhitaryan but once again his shot not even near the target. A cracking shot from Masina goes over after having chrased the crossbar. FFS score that second goal Arsenal will you….. Gr&y is almost played in but he misses his control after some sloppy play from Arsenal in midfield. The second ball falling to Watford too many times for my liking. Ramsey with a cross to Özil who tries a curious shot but it is blocked. A low driven cross from Mkhitaryan finds nobody in the middle. After 67 minutes Maitland-Niles comes on for Ramsey. Aubamyeand caught offside a few times now. Mostly a sign that the balls don’t come quick enough. The ref lets a few fouls on Arsenal players go now. Iwobi almost away but he can’t fin Aubameyang. A low cross from Mkhitaryan finds Aubameyang but he misses from 3 meters out. Still 0-1 after 75 minutes.
Xhaka with a shot from distance but the keeper could stop it. Gray gets a chance out of nothing when Arsenal defend sloppy but Lucky Maitland-Niles is there to block the goal bound effort. We are playing with fire at times. The refs now also determined also to give every contact against Arsenal. Watford with a header but over. Hughes finally gets a yellow card when he kicks Monreal on the ankle. Aubameyang on a run in the Watford penalty area but he shoots wide. Guendouzi gets away but he can’t find Özil and Watford can clear. 3 minutes of added time.
Watford with some late pressure but Monreal can clear twice. Koscielny intercepts a cross and Leno can catch. Aubameyang escapes but he was offside. The extra time is over now and the ref blows the end of the match.
Arsenal win a match where you could see us caught in two minds : go for the win completely but don’t waste too much energy. Arsenal is back in the top 4 now level with Chelsea but with a better goal difference and a match in hand.
Deliberate elbow miles off the ball. NBC pundit “harsh red card”…
@Vince Typical then there gonna 8 different angles he’s not that kind of player, his dad is an honest baker and his mum works for the church England. He also has a picture of mother Teresa in his living room. Lucky Arsenal.
The medja rats are looking for twits from all the twits they can find, to show both sides of what the twit who speaks cojones did.
We need some goal difference there Gunners!
COYG!
Va Cong Rham – LOL!! The amazing free kick given for Hughes losing his balance close to Torreira takes the biscuit. Watford have been coached into the brute force, probably by Deeney. It seems to get dividends because the PGMO official does not punish obvious fouls.
Lets see what Ozil will do as a sub for Torreira.
Half time sob Özil on for Torriera, Ramsey dropped deeper
Come on Mesut, open up that team with some surgical passing!
COYG!
The Guardian seem to be spending as much time bashing Arsenal, as commenting on the game. I hope they go broke.
COYG!
Capoue consisten withy studs up tackles eventually gets a yellow. It is quite amazing how many studs up fouls have been missed by the officials.
Arsenal are not making enough noise when fouled, so the blindness is justified.
The corrupt blindness is woeful!! Miki pulled by his arm & nothing given.
Another Arsenal treatment, and no sign of a card.
COYG!
@Menace blind reffing effing in the second half
Hughes dirty grin after dirty tackle on Monreal says it all
Our players can’t kick the ball!!
Well, a win is a win.
It was a poor showing but not that bad in the circumstances – playing against a fouling team on a sloping pitch.
Good win need more goals to slap Topscum cold spurs title contenders
3 points in the bag.But the performance falls
short of the standards of a top 4 contender. 10 man Watford pressurizing 11 man arsenal for considerable periods of the match shows there is a problem either with emery’s tactics or the quality of players we have.with the fortune of the red card, this are the kinds of games you utilize and add significantly to your goal difference.At least 3 goals wouldn’t have been bad.A very poor performance from my perspective. Watford would have won nothing less than 4-0 if arsenal were the ones with 10 men.
Who cares!.It is about winning, end of.Just looked at the bbc football site.On updates, tosser Sutton is having a right pop at us.He hates us and I mean hate.Who did he manage, was it Lincoln and got the tin tac.
He has made himself a pundit because he likes to be outspoken.Not good tonight, but who cares.
Menace, poor showing, I agree. But Gord said it all : a win is a win… This one is a litle bit more than just a win. To be honest, I was afraid by this match. Considering our bad form away (like did Tony in an article some days ago) and the rather good results of Watford, I was not sure at all that we could have win tonight. The boys did it and that’s a relief! We probably won our place in the top four tonight… And why not another St Totteringham too.
More good news, the U23 (with Jenkinson) beat Chel$ea! Nketiah with a brace, and Jenkinson with the third!
https://www.arsenal.com/fixture/under-23/2019-Apr-15/chelsea-under-23-1-3-under-23-match-report
I have no idea “What it Means”, as that part of the Arsenal page is just a big white space for me.
I guess PEA has been shutting down goalkeepers for a long time, and this time he got the result. Good for him!
https://www.arsenal.com/news/ive-waited-long-time-score-goal-it
Paul – several of us care. We were capable of scoring 4 or 5 against this Watford team and a few against Everton.
Our hunger seems to have gone and we are accepting physical fouling with complaints. Our players need to learn how to play against physical aggression. Scream, shout, wave your hands about. Keep at the ref about protection & every touch that is away from the ball must be played upon. The ref has to react at some point & the cameras catch everything but not all is shown to the public.
Hughes & Capoue should have seen double yellows and the PGMOL Laws for Arsenal let them off.
Carregher the dim is gobbing away as usual & his mate the ugly sister is talking the usual shite expected from a compost heap.
@Gord,
Re theU23s. Unfortunately this result doesn’t mean a lot. Our poor mid season form precluded us from retaining our championship from last year but we have put in a strong end of season finish. One last game to go at the Emirates on Friday 26 April. Cost will be minimal so we’ll worth a ticket for those inLondon.
very happy with the points and the red for cojones Deeney, for the rest Watford were very studs up with impunity, that makes it a lot more easier for any team to be succesfull in pressing etc, I agree that Arsenal were lacklustre and sloppy at times but I think it was kind a wise team management with Napoli around the corner not to waist too much energy. But they werent that bad, read the stats:
Watford 9 attempts, 2 on target
Arsenal 13 attempts 6 on target
those stats say to me clearly it was a deserved win and we should have done better finishing them off.
Glancing over the summaries in the medja of the game; i sthat the medja is just crap. If any of the other Top-6 had won the game that way, all the medja would be fine with that. It is only because it is Arsneal; that all and sundry must bitch about it. The goal was a fluke (not due to hard work by the striker). The red card should have never happened (even though the player supposedly described what he would do before the game). And because it was only 0-1, we never generated any offense; and so it was still a fluke we won.
The medja is all just crap!
WOO HOO, HOO ! An away win and a clean sheet to boot. I would have taken it before the game.
Was edgy all the way , but we were better . With a bit of luck and a lot more composure, we’d won it easily . But I guess , with the Napoli game so close , caution was the way to go.
Nice to see Deeny rewarded for exhibiting his cojones once again . And the commentators trying to justify the elbow to the face by saying it was probably due to the disparity in height of the two. And the angle of vision of the ref and linesman . No mention that the ball had been long dispatched away.
Up the Gunners !
Agree with what one or two are saying, that there should have been a second red for Capoue’s studs up on Torreira; not even a yellow. It was the intervention of the linesman who spotted Deeney’s elbowing or he’d have gotten away with it completely.The ref allowed lots to go unpunished including at least one other studs up.
Was not a great performance, and TBH I was concerned that we were still going to lose even after the sending off, Watford pressured us so much for the rest of the game.
According to the BBC, Watford deserved to win as apparently, they had far more of the game than us………………..I guess because they had 11 shots to our 19, 3 on target to our 6 and 36% possession to our 64%. yes I can definitely see where they’re coming from…………..a point of complete bias
On the general issues of luck, deserving to win, influence of refereeing decisions on outcomes concerning the contenders for top 4 places, there has been surprisingly little comment about Manchester United being assisted by a biased referee to give them 3 points against West Ham.
yeah the manure daylight robbery, there were a few remarks but nowhere near the bad press Arsenal is receiving, lots of manure lovers among the plundrits I guess