Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

Manchester City 1 Arsenal 0    FA Cup 4th Round    Friday 27th January 2023 8pm      Arsenal unsurprisingly made their exit from the FA Cup away to Manchester City, but their performance was credible, and this was nothing like the 4-0 cup exit at Manchester United in the 2007-08 season, a game that was flagged up by ITV’s coverage as being significant in that season’s collapse.   All the same, Mikel Arteta’s team selection confirmed this trophy was not high priority, and in financial terms, it really isn’t. This is why the status of the trophy has declined over my lifetime. In the 1970s when I was a youngster, it felt of equal importance to winning the league. Now we see weakened teams and I don’t habitually watch the final. Manchester City last won the trophy by thrashing Watford 6-0 in 2019. I didn’t watch it and would never have recalled that without a prompt. I am of an age where my memory only retains stuff of greater personal meaning.    Pep Guardiola made two changes from the te

Arsenal 3 Manchester United 2     Premier League     Sunday 22nd January 2023 4.30pm     Phew! For neutrals, it was a thriller. For Gooners, it was a rollercoaster and the entertainment factor was secondary. However, there is no denying the win at home to a resurgent Manchester United side was dramatic, and hopefully it will prove as significant in time. The victories over Spurs and now United mean that, in matches against the other so-called top six sides this season, Arsenal’s record is more impressive than we have seen for a long time. Played 6, won 5, lost 1. Three home, three away. 15 points from 18 is a real achievement. Half the season has been played now. Seven points in total have been dropped, with 50 in the bag. People understandably talk about Arsenal as potential champions, although this observer feels the one thing that has come out of the season so far is that it would take an unforeseen calamity for the club not to be in next season’s Champions League. The fifth place t

  Tottenham 0 Arsenal 2     Premier League     Sunday 15th January 2023 4.30pm     It’s been a long time. The law of averages alone – let alone form and the table – suggested it might be about time for an Arsenal win in this particular fixture. To give you an idea how long ago the Gunners last won at the Lane, Tomas Rosicky scored the winner. Remember him? It feels like another age. From the off, Arsenal were determined to play their possession football - even in the heightened atmosphere of the North London Derby. This was a very different team from the one that lined up for that decisive midweek evening last May, in the match that turned the race for a Champions League place in Spurs’ favour.   It was a different feel to Arsenal’s line-up yesterday. The only first choice player unavailable was Jesus. Back in May, Arsenal, did not start the game with Partey (injured), Saliba (on loan), White (injured) and Zinchenko (still at City). Instead it was Elneny, Holding (red carded), Cedric a

Oxford United 0 Arsenal 3   FA Cup 3rd Round   Monday 9th January 8pm     Arsenal last played Oxford in the 2002-03 season, also in the FA Cup third round, with a starting eleven that was generally populated by back-up players, aside from Pires and Bergkamp, which kind of echoed things 20 years on, as Mikel Arteta selected both Martinelli and Saka. Arsenal went on to win the trophy that season, including an unlikely win in Manchester (against United), so who knows? Four players were retained from the starters that faced Newcastle, with Eddie Nketiah joining the two aforementioned attackers up front, and Gabriel in defence. Aside from that, it was a chance for second stringers to get game time and ideally make a case for selection in the Premier League, although no-one really took the opportunity with the possible exception of keeper Matt Turner. Yes, Vieira did get two assists, but we’ll come to that later.   Just a thought about this competition though – with nine Premier League teams

Arsenal 0 Newcastle United 0     Premier League     Tuesday 3rd January 2023 7.45pm      This game developed the look of a very tricky fixture as it got nearer, with Newcastle’s ability to carve out results seeing them climb from the pack into Champions League qualification territory in the table. And so it proved. This isn’t going to be a long entry today, because ultimately, there isn’t too much about the game that requires deep analysis, just a few questions for Mikel Arteta to ponder.   Arsenal were unchanged from the win at Brighton, and perhaps there would have been a different feeling if the team had drawn there and won last night. In the end, the points are the same, only becoming a factor if Arsenal end up neck and neck in a race with Newcastle for either the title or a top four spot. Ultimately, what this match probably told us was that sometimes, the current lack of Gunners’ squad depth will lessen the chances of winning such tight matches in the last 20 minutes. Arteta had

Brighton 2 Arsenal 4     Premier League     Saturday 31st December 2022   5.30pm     Well, well, well. So much for fears that the mid-season World Cup would derail Arsenal’s momentum. Two wins from the first two matches after the restart, and yesterday’s felt especially significant. Brighton away has become a more difficult fixture the longer the Seagulls have remained in the top flight, and on a chill windy New Year’s Eve, nobody was certain what to expect. Granted, the home side were weakened by the absence of the suspended Caicedo and the holidaying Mac Allister – but the thing with Brighton is that they don’t seem to be significantly weakened when squad players come in. Witness their League Cup win at the Emirates shortly before the Qatar interlude.   With the points dropped surprisingly by Manchester City and Newcastle, there was a feeling of the gaping jaws of opportunity beckoning the Gunners – and for too long now, such moments have generally not been seized. Is this a differen