Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

  Villarreal 2 Arsenal 1 Europa League Semi Final 1st Leg Thursday 29th April 2021 9pm local time The memory goes back to 2006 and a previous European semi-final against Villarreal. Although a night of triumph for Arsenal, ultimately, it shouldn't be ignored that, by and large, they stunk the place out in that 2nd   leg, offering very little and hanging on for the 0-0 that qualified them for the Champions League final in Paris. And with Mikel Arteta’s team selection yesterday evening, one could be forgiven for thinking he sought a similar result. Manchester City have demonstrated that you can achieve success without an orthodox front man, but Arsenal are not in the same league (although the European Super League may have attempted to engineer that). Arteta, not happy with Eddie Nketiah’s contribution against Everton, could have played Martinelli up front instead (one assumes Aubameyang was not fit enough to start the game). But the manager chose to do without a front man ...

  Arsenal 0 Everton 1 Premier League Friday 23rd April 2021 8pm So the most encouraging aspect of last night was the demonstration of the depth of feeling about the club’s owners that took place in the hours before the game. Apparently the Everton team coach had to take a different route to the stadium to ensure they were not prevented from getting in, which I am guessing meant lowering the safety bollards on the Clock End bridge and the players entering through one of the doors on the east or south side of the stadium. I have no idea if the Arsenal players arrived by car, as they have been doing, or if a coach was organized due to the circumstances and they entered the same way as Everton. It is tempting to say the crowd outside was greater than some Europa League group game attendances over the years, although in truth, there were probably two or three thousand at its height, and fair play to them. What effect this will have remains to be seen. The Kroenkes will sell up if they c...

Arsenal 1 Fulham 1 Premier League Sunday 18th  April 2021 1.30pm Ah well, let’s start with the new  European Superleague competition  proposed by 12 self-elected clubs from England, Spain and Italy. And what a complete PR disaster it is. Just read the statement . The good news is that these self-serving money-obsessed pigs at the trough have been unanimously condemned, even by their own fans. Arsenal should be ashamed of themselves. Given they will be kicked out of their domestic leagues, and their players potentially  removed from the international football arena , it feels like a non-starter, a gun pointed at UEFA’s head. However, it is a gun that looks like a water pistol from here. No-one cares for this kind of self-serving uncompetitive bullsh*t, whereby no matter how poor a club may be performing on the field (er… Arsenal last actually qualified for the Champions League in 2015-16), they are guaranteed a place in this tournament that will take up 25 midweek slo...

Slavia Prague 0 Arsenal 4 Europa League Quarter Final 2nd Leg Thursday 15th  April 2021 9pm local time Well, well, well. The Jekyll and Hyde nature of Arsenal showed us the sanity of Doctor Jekyll in Prague last night with 250 actual fans in attendance. I’ll cut straight to another fictitious MD here and get the good Doktor Scheide’s message to me at the conclusion of the game in early… Fair dues. Well done Arsenal. Great result and how good to see some return of what we all want to see in a football ground: fan presence in the stands and Willian sat firmly on the bench. After a decent performance at Sheffield United last weekend, Mikel Arteta made a solitary change, with Emile Smith Rowe starting the game as Gabriel Martinelli made way. The backline of Chambers, Holding, Mari and Xhaka was a surprise in spite of their clean sheet at Bramall Lane, and it has to be said that going forward, Chambers looks as effective as either Bellerin or Cedric, and defensively, his improvement in ...

  Sheffield United 0 Arsenal 3 Premier League Sunday 11th April 2021 7pm Given Sheffield United anchored the bottom of the league table with 14 points from 30 matches, this was pretty much the ideal match for Mikel Arteta to get some confidence back in his team after a woeful run of four games in all competitions that failed to see any wins as Arsenal approach the business end of the season. They were in the bottom half of the table at kick off, although the resultant win saw them leapfrog Villa and Leeds to put them four points behind Spurs in seventh.   Arteta will be trying to make up that gap and hoping neither of Southampton or Spurs win the domestic cups, as then at least Europa League football is on the table next season, albeit via qualifying rounds. Of course, the priority is winning said competition in the current campaign and at least Thursday’s match looks marginally less daunting after the Gunners found their shooting boots at Bramall Lane. It was an interest...

Arsenal 1 Slavia Prague 1 Europa League Quarter Final 1st Leg Thursday 8th  April 2021 8pm Six changes from the team that started against Liverpool indicated that even Mikel Arteta realized his side needed a jolt in the arm. Given his display last weekend, it was no huge surprise to see Aubameyang dropped. Odegaard’s injury meant a start for Willian, and Granit Xhaka returned, as did Saka and Smith Rowe. Bellerin and Cedric came in at full back.   To think, people were delighted when the Europa League quarter final draw meant that Arsenal could avoid any of Man Utd, Roma or Ajax before the final. Hmmm. They could still go through in this tie, but in honesty, I wouldn’t even fancy them against Villarreal over two legs, not with Unai Emery’s record in this competition and his knowledge of the opposition his team would face.   Arsenal should have had enough to comfortably settle this tie in the first leg, but their finishing was poor, the general quality in the final third w...

Arsenal 0 Liverpool 3   Premier League Sunday 3rd April 2021, 8pm It was a shocker, let’s face it. And questions about Mikel Arteta’s ability to rebuild Arsenal are more valid than ever on Easter Sunday. A resurrection feels like another miracle akin to that which Christians are celebrating today, albeit many through the consumption of chocolate rather than a visit to the church.   If Arteta can land the Europa League and secure Champions League football next season, he will save his job. The club certainly aren’t going to qualify through League position. A seventh place finish in the table should be enough for Europa League matches for a fifth campaign running, but that shouldn’t be enough to keep Arteta in post. If he does remain, it will sadly demonstrate the lack of ambition in the club’s owners. The Premier League participation gravy train, along with a wafer thin slice of UEFA’s prize money pie is enough for them.   Expectations have certainly been managed downwards...