Gunners eventually come good in Cup at League One Oxford

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 remaining once the replays are done, and one of City or Arsenal to fall before the last 16, there is a serious chance that Spurs can break their 14 year barren spell without a trophy. It has to happen some day. And let’s simply be thankful that didn’t turn out to be in Madrid in 2019 in the Champions League final.

You would have thought Marquinhos would have got a start last night, after all, surely Saka could have used a rest. Emile Smith Rowe could have started instead of Martinelli but evidently Arteta did not consider him fit enough. Arsenal wore the all white kit that we saw in their defeat at Forest at this stage of the cup a year ago, and those of a superstitious nature might have felt the ‘no more red’ slogan referred to the Gunners’ perhaps not progressing in this tournament. As it was Oxford’s kit had something of late 1980s Arsenal, and initially you had to remind yourself that it was Oxford on the ball instead of their visitors.

As for the game, although Arteta’s eleven were certainly strong enough to make light work of the game, the first half proved very scrappy, Arsenal’s midfield were unable to control the game. The understanding didn’t seem to be there to read the forward runs. Oxford seemed to take their time with perhaps a policy of clock eating with one eye on a lucrative replay date at the Emirates. Even Arsenal seemed to be in no rush, and the half largely petered out. Would Arteta get ruthless and make subs at the interval? Sadly not.

The second half started a bit slowly so I looked at the entry for Oxford’s Kassam stadium on Wikipedia to pass the time, after finding out they did not even own the ground. One things that caught my imagination:

In 2001, Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries conducted an exorcism after the feeling of a malicious force and the team's loss of thirteen of their first seventeen games at the new stadium was blamed on a gypsy curse placed on the club by a Roma man who had been evicted from the site during construction.

Hmmm. More entertaining than what was up to that point a relatively turgid cup tie. What struck me was the sheer weirdness of the car park, rather than even a modest stand, behind the goal on the west side of the ground. Apparently it is shared with the local cinema. Maybe they could consider something similar under the Emirates for patrons of the Holloway Odeon?

Things perked up a bit with Oxford breaking through Arsenal’s backline and Matt Taylor had a glorious chance to give his side the lead, but over-ran the ball and allowed the advancing Matt Turner to gratefully get his hands on it. It turned out to be their best chance of the evening. Just after an hour had passed,  finally, a Arsenal breakthrough, after Lokonga and Tierney had been hooked for Xhaka and Zinchenko. In fairness to Tierney, he’d been one of the team’s better performers, although the Ukrainian would offer more guile and unpredictability. Lokonga looks increasingly like a waste of space, unable to influence a game even against League One opposition. The two subs combined to win a free kick near the edge of the area and Vieira’s delivery was faultless, making it an easy header for Mo Elneny.

Strangely, a sense of urgency suddenly gripped the home side and they played at a pace that suited Arsenal much better. It led to more errors, and after the ball was given away in the 71st minute on the halfway line, it found its way to Vieira to notch a second assist with a through pass to Eddie Nketiah to waltz around the keeper and convert. It was a nice pass from Vieira with no pressure around him, a reminder of some of the stuff on the YouTube compilations of his better moments in a Porto shirt.

Not great to see Bukayo Saka limping off a bit later, although on the flip side, wonderful that his replacement was Emile Smith Rowe. He will surely get more sub appearances as he is phased back into the first team, but Arteta ultimately needs his to be starting matches so that he can rotate a bit. February is reasonable in terms of the number of fixtures, but if there is to be progress in Europe, there will be little breathing space in the last three months of the campaign. 

Nketiah made it 3-0 with his second goal after 75 minutes – a sweet little dink past the keeper from the angle after Martinelli’s pass. As the game wound down, and with constant shots of various ex players in the crowd (including Robbie Fowler), I totted up that four of Arsene’s first double team (1997/98) were in attendance. Aside from Ian Wright and Lee Dixon on media duties, Martin Keown and David Platt were also there. I wonder if it is any kind of omen for 25 years on? Manchester City will of course have a view on that.

Which takes us to the fourth round and the visit to the Etihad. It means the two clubs will face each other twice in 19 days, and in the cup first. I do wonder what kind of side Arteta will put out for that match. If he plays a similarly weakened team as last night, you wouldn’t fancy their chances, and look at it as simply getting shot of an unwanted distraction in the face of bigger priorities. Would it make a psychological dent in the team if they were hammered? What if they went for it with the best eleven possible? It’s an interesting dilemma for Mikel Arteta. Spurs and Manchester United in the League before that – two huge games. Hang onto your hats people.

One last point on the match at Oxford. Two minutes injury time? Ok, it made no difference, but the second half saw six substation breaks, three goals and from memory at least one physio visit to attend to a player on the pitch (Saka). Guessing the ref felt a bit chilly and wanted to get into the warm.

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