Arsenal: the horror, the defeat, the win, the unbeaten, the future

by Tony Attwood

• Media repeats untrue Arsenal story from 9 years ago, and its still untrue!

As you may have heard Pablo Marí, who is currently on loan at Monza, is in hospital after being stabbed in a Milan supermarket.  Although he was not seriously hurt in the attack one person was killed and five injured.  A man known to be suffering from mental health problems has been arrested, two of those attacked are in hospital.  Edu has been in touch with the player’s family.

Monza’s president, Adriano Galliani, has said that “Pablo Marí is not in danger as his injuries are not life-threatening. We hope to see him back soon,” he said.

Pablo Mari has played 14 times for Arsenal (including two when on loan from Flamengo) and in now on his second loan from Arsenal, his first having been with Udinese where he played 15 games.  He has played twice for Monza.

Were we watching Arsenal’s first string or second string? It is becoming increasingly hard to tell. Either way, two goals from Lina Hurtig, who returned to the starting lineup, and a stunning volley from Jordan Nobbs, making her first start of the season, gave the Gunners a comfortable 3-1 win over Swiss side FC Zürich in the Champions League group stage.

With Juventus having held Lyon to a 1-1 draw in the earlier game, Arsenal would take a two-point lead at the top of Group C with a win against Zürich at the Emirates Stadium, before a tricky trip to Juventus, the team led by their former manager Joe Montemurro, in late November.

Meanwhile Arsenal women beat Zurich 3-1 using what for a large part were the back up players – and there was no talk of Arsenal’s small squad here.  Seven of the players who had featured in the 2-0 win over Lyon were dropped – and the media had reported some animated discussions between certain members of the squad who had not got game time.

And Zürich women should not be compared to the men’s team from the city who we play again in the final men’s round of the Europa group stages.   They scored ten in their last match.  Here are the highlights

https://youtu.be/6cabyjFmamc

Here’s the table

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	2	2	0	0	8	2	6	6
2	Juventus	2	1	1	0	3	1	2	4
3	Olympique Lyon	2	0	1	1	2	6	-4	1
4	Zurich	2	0	0	2	1	5	-4	0

 

Meanwhile as you will know the men’s team lost in what the Guardian described as “Arsenal’s worst performance of the season by some distance.”

It seemed clear from the outset, watching it on TV, that Eindhoven were pushing for the win and Arsenal holding on, and so the final result wasn’t a surprise.

So we still need to focus on the final match in order to avoid the knock out round early next year, where the possibility exists of meeting Barcelona.  The final fixture is on 3 November at Arsenal Stadium against FC Zurich who picked up their first points in the competition with a surprise 2-1 win over Bodo Glimt.

 

UEFA Europa League – Group A 2022/23

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	5	4	0	1	7	3	4	12
2	PSV Eindhoven	5	3	1	1	13	3	10	10
3	Bodo Glimt	5	1	1	3	4	8	-4	4
4	FC Zurich	5	1	0	4	5	15	-10	3

 

Only Arsenal and PSV can qualify but to be sure of being top Arsenal must be FC Zurich in the final match on 3 November – a game that comes just before a match against Chelsea.

After the game Arteta said, ““It’s the end of a long run and now it’s time to reset and analyse what happened,” Arteta said. “PSV deserved to win, no question, we were nowhere near our level today. We didn’t have the threat and aggression we’ve been playing at and that is worrying.”

But before all that we have Nottingham Forest at the home on Sunday – then it is Zurich and Chelsea in quick succession.

The additional knock out round is certainly something to be avoided both because it brings with it additional games, and because of the strength of some of the clubs in there, such as Barcelona and Sevilla who are certain to be in the knock out round, quite possibly along with Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Ajax.   We shall know after the final round of games.

But here’s a thought.  Although 2003/4 will always be known as the unbeaten season, it is worth noting some of the results from that season…

Date	Match	Res	Score	Competition
10 Aug 2003	Manchester United v Arsenal	L	1-1 (4-3)	Community Shield
17 Sep 2003	Arsenal v Inter Milano	L	0-3	Champions League
21 Oct 2003	Dynamo Kiev v Arsenal	L	2-1	Champions League
20 Jan 2004	Arsenal v Middlesbrough	L	0-1	League Cup
3 Feb 2004	Middlesbrough v Arsenal	L	2-1	League Cup
3 Apr 2004	Arsenal v Manchester United	L	0-1	FA Cup
6 Apr 2004	Arsenal v Chelsea	L	1-2	Champions League

 

Results don’t always transfer from one competition to another.

• How are Arsenal doing over the last 100 games and the signing of Danilo