Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

Arsenal 5 Sheffield United 0     Premier League   Saturday 28th October 2023 3pm   I am going to progress with the format I tried for my blog when writing up the Sevilla away match  – basically numbered bullet points. For some reason it makes producing the blog a little quicker and time is the eternal enemy over here.       1 - Rotation The name of the game for Arteta as he made five changes from the midweek starting eleven. He rightly felt that Sheffield United at home was a game in which he did not have to play his first-choice line up, although injuries made that impossible anyway, with Partey and Jesus unavailable. On that note, I imagine Odegaard was rested partly due to an idea floating around that he is not fully recovered from the nasty challenge he received from Kovacic, one that really should have been a red card. So Arteta started with Havertz and Smith Rowe as his attacking midfielders and moved Declan Rice back to the spot Jorginho was used in last Tuesday in Spain. Eddie

Sevilla 1 Arsenal 2    Champions League Matchday 3  Tuesday 24th October 2023 8.45pm (local time)    Firstly to mention that I am on holiday in a time zone nine hours behind Spain, so as this game kicked off at 11.45am for me, I was out doing holiday stuff and watched the match in full the following day on the official website. So for the sake of completion, an entry for the game.   I am going to do this differently today and list some thoughts/reflections in a numbered fashion – I might continue doing this given I am not rushing to do the pieces and want to get away from reporting the facts of a match everyone’s watched. 1 – Gabriel Jesus’ ability to play a pass and take on players to create a chance was the difference in this game, with the two goals coming from his skill. There have been questions about his contribution in terms of goal tally, given he plays as the main striker, but if we can see more performances with this kind of brilliance, such doubts will stop. The player has t

Chelsea 2 Arsenal 2     Premier League     Saturday 21st October 2023  5.30pm     In the end, it felt like a minor triumph rather than the tragedy Arsenal’s performance looked like becoming after a disappointing 75 minutes had been played. Two excellent finishes briefly rekindled hopes of a Kanu-style miracle comeback, as happened in this fixture in the late 1990s. It was not to be, although a draw was probably a shade more than the visitors deserved.   It was a very wet early Saturday evening at the Bridge, and two weeks after Arsenal’s previous match was played in glorious sunshine, this was a reminder that winter is now just around the corner, as daylight disappeared not long after the game began. The Gunners were sloppy early on, but seemed to have weathered an early storm in which the home side came close to scoring more than once. But their luck didn’t last, as they suffered an unfortunate penalty award against William Saliba when the ball struck his arm.    Although not spotted

Arsenal 1 Manchester City 0     Premier League    Sunday 8th September 2023 4.30pm      Firstly, for those who did not see my Tweet yesterday (Monday), from here on I will be posting my take on Arsenal games two days after they have been played (rather than one). This is because work commitments sometimes mean I have to rush to complete blog entries, and I’d prefer them to be a little more reflective. So having explained that, it’s back to a delightfully sunny and warm Sunday afternoon at the Emirates.    I was informed before kick-off that Arsenal would gain an unwanted record if Manchester City beat them again, that of the most consecutive defeats against one team in the top flight. It’s certainly been a long time since Arsenal took as much as a point from this fixture, and their last actual Premier League win was way back in 2015, when the Gunners beat City twice in the calendar year. Of course, the FA Cup has provided a little salvation, with the two semi-final wins leading to winn

Lens 2  Arsenal 1     Champions League Matchday 2  Tuesday 3rd September 2023 8.45pm (local time)      There was some minor rotation by Mikel Arteta for Arsenal’s first Champions League away fixture since Monaco back in 2017. A lot has changed since then, although game management has often proven a challenge in Europe. Trossard and Tomiyasu came in for Nketiah and White. It didn’t feel like a downgrade given the relative abilities of the players concerned.   It was a busy opening spell, and although Arsenal did well to go one up after 13 minutes when Saka intercepted a back pass, teeing up Jesus for an excellent finish, Lens had already gone close to scoring twice. The lead only lasted about ten minutes as a crossfield Raya pass intended for Tomiyasu – the keeper well outside of his area – was intercepted. The resulting move – which did involve use of the arm missed by the officials – concluded with a top-drawer finish beating the keeper – who was a little off his line. Raya might have

Bournemouth 0 Arsenal 4    Premier League    Saturday 30th September 2023 3pm      This is the kind of display we need to be seeing more often from Arsenal against teams in the bottom half of the Premier League table. They won convincingly and easily against a team that has a tendency to pick up unpredictable points and occasionally prove a thorn in the side. In their six previous Premier League visits to the Vitality, Arsenal have failed to win three times.    Mikel Arteta made only one change in his selection from the North London Derby the previous weekend, preferring Kai Havertz to Fabio Vieira, although there were question marks over the latter’s fitness in the build-up to the game. It was consistency in selection that proved a big plus for the team last season, and with familiarity, hopefully we will see the best of Havertz going forward. Declan Rice was another potential injury doubt after having to be subbed at half time last Sunday, and his return was excellent news. He has ad