Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

  Leicester 0 Arsenal 1    Premier League    Saturday 25th February 2023 3pm    After the recent slump that saw a just one point gained from three matches, wins at Villa Park and the King Power looked to hold the key to Arsenal’s status as the real thing when it came to the title race. They have passed the test capably, even if the drama at Leicester yesterday afternoon was a little less fraught. Arsenal always looked like the team that was going to win this game, but of course until they score, domination counts for nothing.    Mikel Arteta preferred Leandro Trossard at centre forward instead of Eddie Nketiah, which meant Gabriel Martinelli came back into the starting eleven as Eddie dropped to the bench. Nketiah will surely get more starts soon enough as the Europa League campaign resumes against Sporting Lisbon, but Trossard in the middle added greater variety to Arsenal’s attacking moves, with his superior ability to become involved ...

Aston Villa 2 Arsenal 4    Premier League    Saturday 18th February 2023 12.30pm    Things needed shaking up a bit after the last three matches and Mikel Arteta brought Leandro Trossard into Arsenal’s starting eleven in place of Martinelli, and Ben White reclaimed his position at right back after Tomiyasu’s below par display against Manchester City. Unfortunately, the changes did not have a positive effect in the first half as Villa outscored their opponents by two goals to one.   Unai Emery’s side took the lead after five minutes when Zinchenko lost possession trying to go past his man and then failed to take a card and stop the break that developed. Arsenal were caught cold on the counter attack as Saliba failed to deal with Olly Watkins, who was able to slot the ball past Ramsdale without too much resistance. It was an avoidable goal, a little too easy. The Gunners regrouped and their pressure in Villa’s half created an equaliser as Mings’ poor head...

Arsenal 1 Manchester City 3    Premier League    Wednesday 15th February 2023 7.30pm    Most Arsenal fans would have settled for a point from this fixture, even before news of Thomas Partey’s absence, an indicator of a realistic assessment of where Arsenal currently are. City have habitually beaten the Gunners in recent seasons, swatting them away like flies at times, and the gap between the two clubs had developed into a chasm. Things are of course a little different this season, but the recent run of a draw and two defeats (one against City in the FA Cup) in their last three outings felt like a blip that had to come at some point, and certainly lowered expectations ahead of yesterday evening’s 7.30 game.   It was a strange combination of circumstances that led to this match – originally scheduled for October – being played against a slightly weakened Arsenal line-up. The death of the Queen postponed the Europa League group game at home to PSV, w...

Arsenal 1 Brentford 1    Premier League    Saturday 11th February 2023 3pm      Even those who felt more optimistic about Arsenal’s chances of holding off Manchester City and winning a first league title in 19 seasons must have anticipated the kind of bumps in the road we have seen over the last eight days. Just lately, it feels a bit like the Gunners have run out of steam. They worked hard to fathom a goal against Brentford, who in fairness should have been ahead before substitute Trossard’s 66th minute finish gave his team the lead. But then having got in front, a mixture of shocking VAR officiating and poor work in the home side's penalty area saw the visitors level.   Arsenal’s forward players – including Odegaard – are all young with Jesus still unavailable and Trossard currently starting on the bench. At some point their levels are going to drop, and so it has proved lately. Brentford were organised, as were Everton the weekend before and th...

  Everton 1 Arsenal 0    Premier League    Saturday 4th February 2023 12.30pm      Before the game, the big screen at Goodison Park refreshed our memories with highlights of the 2-1 win back in the autumn of 2002 that announced Wayne Rooney to the world as Everton beat reigning champions Arsenal 2-1 with a late goal past a pony-tailed David Seaman in his final season at the club. The Gunners had not lost away from home in the league since the 2000-01 campaign, and it meant the end of that run, the dropped points ultimately costing heavily come the following May. Twenty seasons on, yesterday’s match could prove to be an omen.   There were justified concerns about the prospect of the new manager bounce with Sean Dyche taking over from Frank Lampard. Everton’s approach surprised nobody. They were committed, worked hard, generally played on the counter-attack and broke the game up in a variety of ways that the referee allowed them to, not le...