Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

Norwich City 0 Arsenal 5   Premier League   Sunday 26th December 2021   3pm     A very enjoyable Arsenal performance on the road brought Christmas cheer to the traveling Gooners and those able to find a stream to catch the action from Carrow Road. When the Gunners last played Norwich there it was early December 2019. Unai Emery had just been given his cards, with Freddie Ljungberg in charge of the team for the first game of his caretaker spell. It was a disappointing (given Norwich’s low position in the table at the time) 2-2 draw. It is interesting to note that only two of the players in Freddie’s starting eleven began yesterday’s fixture. In the two years since, we’ve enjoyed an FA Cup final win behind closed doors, although also plenty of frustration as Mikel Arteta has effectively been learning on the job. Perhaps, with retrospect, it may turn out that his most significant decision was to freeze Aubameyang out of the first team picture. Now that the player w...

Arsenal 5 Sunderland 1   League Cup 5th Round   Tuesday 21st December 2021   7.45pm     It was an enjoyable evening of football after a frankly fortuitous quarter final draw presented Arsenal with a home tie against League One Sunderland. Of course, readers of an older vintage will recall the opposition – then in a lower division as well – preventing Bertie Mee’s Gunners reaching a third consecutive FA Cup final back in 1973. There was to be no such upset last night.   It was a chilly evening, but what probably kept a good number away from what was a sold out cup tie was the fear about catching COVID and ruining Christmas, especially given how packed trains to and from the stadium area would have been. It was understandable, but made for a significant number of empty seats all around the ground. Sunderland fans seemed less cautious, the away section looking fairly full. Mind you, they don’t get too many chances to see their team play in top flight venues th...

Leeds United 1 Arsenal 4   Premier League   Saturday 18th December 2021   5.30pm     Arsenal enjoyed a three decent slices of fortune yesterday, before the match at Elland Road even kicked off. Firstly, there probably couldn’t have been a better time to play this fixture, with the combination of Leeds’ incredible injury list and confidence surely severely dented after their 7-0 defeat at Manchester City during the week.   Second, the match going ahead at all on a day when the five other Premier League games were all called off due to the spread of Covid amongst the squads. Third, on that note, the fact that Mikel Arteta was able to play an unchanged starting eleven for the fourth time in a row – remarkable when you consider that there are players in the squad that have contracted the virus. Let’s see what happens today. At the time of writing, one of the four scheduled fixtures has already been postponed, at least saving Leicester fans starting the journey ...

Arsenal 2 West Ham United 0   Premier League   Wednesday 15th December 2021   8pm     It was certainly a match in which Arsenal needed to make a statement, given West Ham’s position above them in the table, and the club’s aspirations to start closing the gap that has seen a series of disappointing finishing positions in recent Premier League campaigns. Additionally, further exorcism of the recent poor displays away from home was required. The performance last weekend against Southampton saw the flickers of recovery, albeit against relegation contenders, and Arteta stayed consistent with his team selection, even if the opposition was a far tougher proposition. Emile Smith Rowe remained on the bench, and it feels like Kieran Tierney may have simply been held back to ensure maximum fitness and now appears to be the first choice left back once more. The contribution of Gabriel Martinelli justified his continued selection, and Arteta has a nice problem now, with thre...

Arsenal 3 Southampton 0   Premier League   Saturday 11th December 2021   3pm     After the calamities against Manchester United and Everton, the one thing the fixture list has provided for Mikel Arteta to try and rebuild faith in his ability to manage Arsenal is a run of less challenging matches. Yes, West Ham are next up, but it’s at the Emirates and the Hammers are missing three key players due to injury. After that, the three fixtures before 2022 arrives with a bang in the shape of Manchester City are all definitely winnable, and the Gunners really need to be taking maximum points to compensate for the abysmal run of matches that started with the 4-0 thumping at Anfield.   Yesterday, in a welcome 3pm Saturday kick off, Southampton were the perfect opposition for Arsenal to begin climbing out of the hole they had dug themselves into. Very much relegation candidates, they’d taken two points from their last four matches.   The pre-match buildup was dom...

  Everton 2 Arsenal 1   Premier League   Monday 6th December 2021   8 pm     Arsenal’s Premier League 2021-22 in three acts... Act 1 - Lost first three matches, in relegation zone. Act 2 - Unbeaten run of eight games sees a climb to 5th place Act 3 - Three defeats in next four sees Arsenal drop to 7th, overtaken by Spurs and Manchester United, under new, experienced coaches. Arsenal now have a run of matches against Southampton (home), West Ham (home), Leeds (away), Norwich (away) and Wolves (home). Southampton. Arteta being Arteta, I suspect he will pick up just enough points to remain in contention for a Europa Conference League qualifying spot, but based upon the last four matches, I think it’s safe to say we can forget any prospect of returning to the Champions League next season.   There has always been hope that Arteta can be the man to reverse Arsenal’s fortunes, but never really conviction, with the possible exception of the afterglow from the ...

Manchester United 3 Arsenal 2   Premier League   Thursday 2nd December 2021   8.15pm     Whether you were leave or remain, one thing that Brexit was responsible for was that the new manager bounce did not play a part in last night’s visit to a chilly Old Trafford. So no Ralf Rangnick directed 'gegenpressing', although the two results under Michael Carrick's watch before the visit of Arsenal were more than respectable. Mikel Arteta rested Saka and Lokonga, bringing in Martinelli and Elneny. Saka certainly needs to be given the odd game off, as will Smith Rowe, and Martinelli deserved a chance after recent displays from the bench. Elneny’s presence exposes the lack of squad depth in central midfield, and his name on the team sheet struck fear into this writer’s heart. In fairness to the Egyptian, he’s had worse games and did not stand out as a particularly weak link. Arsenal started very well, although when they took the lead it was a real curate’s ...