Gunners’ backup boys blow away plucky Sunderland

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 these days.

In fairness to them, their team had a go. They attacked with drive and purpose and could have scored more than the single goal they gave their supporters some cheer with. Arsenal had notched up two by that time, with Nketiah bundling the ball home from a corner after Rob Holding’s header was cleared off the line (you get the feeling Holding will never score for Arsenal sometimes). This was followed by Pepe finishing tidily for the second after a one-two with the overlapping Cedric. Pepe had an interesting game – careless one moment, mesmerizing the next. He set up two of the goals aside from scoring himself. Defensively though, he is not really the player the team needs – a little too lackadaisical. He loses possession too easily, and better sides are going to punish that more than League One opposition. Given what he has achieved at the club, it’s difficult to argue his purchase back in 2019 was anything but a waste of money that Arsenal couldn’t afford.

When Sunderland got their goal on the break, a nicely finished effort when Leno was chipped by Broadhead on a counter attack, it did feel like game on, and we had to wait until after the interval for an Arsenal goal to settle the nerves. 

Arteta could afford to field a largely second string eleven, given the team they had to get past, although Smith Rowe, Odegaard and White started. The latter presumably because both Mari and Chambers had contracted Covid. It was the same 4-1-2-3 formation we had seen against Villarreal in last season’s Europa League semi-final. It proved disastrous then, but such games are not the places to introduce such defensively-risky systems. Bernd Leno got some game time, and Rob Holding’s new hair also got an outing. You have to wonder what has happened to Ainsley Maitland-Niles not to feature at all in this game. There seems to have been a fallout over the lack of opportunities the player has had and if he is not going to be picked ahead of someone like Elneny, then there is really no point him being at the club. 

Eddie Nketiah invariably gets a run out in this competition, and it was good to at least have another look at how Folarin Balogun is progressing. He had an excellent chance to score from a close range header, but somehow fluffed it. Eddie though, enjoyed his evening far more, scoring his second and third goals with tasty finishes after good low passes were delivered from each flank in the first 15 minutes after the interval. Before we get too carried away, we must remember the quality of the opposition and the reality that, when given the chance against stronger teams, Eddie has failed to make his case anywhere near as convincingly. He’s a player everyone wants to succeed, but the feeling is that he isn’t quite going to make it. Let’s be honest here, Arteta would have happily unloaded him to Crystal Palace last summer if the decision makers at Selhurst Park agreed to the fee and wage demands. His contract expires next summer, and his record for England U23s suggests that he will have choices about where to go. 

Can Arsenal risk offering as a big deal as other clubs will to a might be? It’s a debate that has a way to run yet. For me, in spite of his hat-trick in this game, he’s generally not clinical enough and the fact he’s had so little Premier League exposure this season suggests that is also the case in training. Still the goals last night were nicely taken, the hat-trick one from Pepe’s assist especially so. 

Ben White took a knock and was replaced by Gabriel. By this time, Granit Xhaka had also entered the fray, for Balogun, giving Arsenal a more familiar formation – and their dominance of the game improved as a consequence. Martinelli for Odegaard brought a rapturous welcome from the fans for the Brazilian, although it was young Charlie Patino that stole the show by the end. Wearing the number 87 shirt, which I was informed was the number worn by Bukayo Saka when he made his own first team debut, he was given 10 minutes plus injury time and got on the end of a Pepe ball across the goal to score in his first senior appearance. The crowd loved it, and throughout the game, the celebrations after goals – from mainly second stringers remember – indicated a sense of unity between the players, and the congratulations for the youngster after he made it 5-1 seemed to confirm this. It was a very feel good (albeit chilly) night and an enjoyable end-to-end cup tie. 

Credit to Sunderland for having a go – even at 0-0. But ultimately the gulf was just too great. Arsenal now await the results of the other three quarter finals amidst speculation that the semi-final might be decided by one game rather than two – and if that is the case, I suspect luck of the draw will be a factor there too, because they are hardly going to be played at a neutral venue. One prospect is Spurs beating West Ham, and if drawn against the Gunners, the potential of three North London Derby matches in 11 days (if they decide to stick with the two-legged semi-final format). Really not sure that would be such a good idea, but of course, tomorrow’s games, and then fate, will decide upon that. 

For Arsenal they can go into Christmas on a high. We hope the squad is not going to be decimated by the virus, but the bottom line is that, especially for the players who have kids in school, it is going to be very hard to avoid, although at least they have broken up for the holidays now. We wait and watch, with the possibility that the Wolves match, even if it goes ahead, might be played behind closed doors, or with a very limited capacity. Remember when football used to be a simple sport? 

We’ll finish with a festive dose of dubious humour from a potentially soon to be struck off Doktor Schneide…
A variant Arsenal A team boosts into the semis? Yule be lucky for a good semi-final draw? Oh f*** it I’ve been drinking- what do you expect?

Merry Christmas everybody.

To be notified when there is fresh content on my blog (generally the day after matches), follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/KevinWhitcher01