Eddie the man as Sheffield United routed

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 Nketiah for Jesus was expected given the injury news, and Zinchenko and Kiwior started in defence, with Gabriel and Tomiyasu stepping down. Resting players is going to be necessary and on that level, Arteta made some good calls with this match, including his substitutions.

 

2 - Bukayo Saka, captain

With Odegaard on the bench, it was interesting to see Saka given the armband, not least because Declan Rice is a far more obvious skipper. Possibly this was based on his number of seasons at the club, which is the approach they take in certain countries on the continent. Does it matter who is captain? Only if someone is more persuasive with the referee I guess, but in terms of influence on the field, you expect communication and encouragement from all of the players ideally. No armband required. Still, it was a nice touch for Saka to be given the captaincy for this game.

 

3 - Break down the opposition and we can enjoy a game of football. 
It’s a regular aspect of Arsenal home matches that unambitious opponents will get numbers behind the ball, camp in their own half and try and get out with a point. So it was with Sheffield United. In the days when the Gunners were last winning titles, they used to be two up by half an hour against such teams and use the remaining 60 minutes to practice keep ball. It was a welcome relief when Eddie Nketiah opened the game up with a goal after 26 minutes. He’d only scored two in his previous 27 appearances, although in mitigation, many of these saw him get limited minutes as a sub. No dearth of goals today for the young striker. For his first, his control of Rice’s pass took out Austin Trusty, who resisted the temptation to foul Nketiah to avoid a certain red card. Eddie finished well from close range.

 

4 - Ah yes, remember Austin Trusty?
Arsenal signed Trusty from Stan Kroenke’s Colorado Rapids side in January 2022, and the player never kicked a ball in anger for the club. What was that all about? I recall at the time thinking it was an odd signing. Oh well, he’s at Sheffield United now and didn’t do anything which made me question the wisdom of letting him go.

 

5 - David Raya re-states his case

A quick goal kick after 18 minutes reminded us why Arteta sticks with Raya in spite of his errors. He put the ball on the left wing in the opposition half to allow the pacy Martinelli to run onto it. He took the ball into the box then passed unselfishly to Saka who was unable to get a clean shot in. It was an example of how Raya’s quick thinking and quality distribution can create havoc at the other end of the pitch.

 

6 - Forgive my ignorance 

I watched this game near the end of my holiday on another continent, and on what I assume to be the Premier League feed. Martinelli went to the sidelines after receiving treatment for injury in the first half, and I then learned from the commentary that there is a 30 second clock before an injured player can re-enter the field. This rule was news to me, but then again, I struggle to keep up with all the rule changes. I figure it’s been introduced as a disincentive to play acting / clock eating, and a bit of me would be happy to see it extended even further, to cut out the unsporting habit of feigning injury to use up the clock by getting the physio on. Is this 30 second thing common knowledge among supporters? Comment please below – you don’t have to register, you can just type and it should appear when you submit it (although I am opening a can of worms here, but hey, my readers are here because they are a loyal bunch who aren’t going to wish for my premature death… as did happen once on the Arsenal World forum! Keyboard warriors, eh? Don’t you just love ‘em?)

 

7 - VAR the star (well, at least correct)

Of the five goals Arsenal scored in the game, three of them were either a result of VAR intervention or confirmed after a VAR review. All of these went the Gunners’ way, although it should be noted that Jared Gilet was not the man in Stockley Park on this occasion. The goal that made it 2-0 was interesting. Ben White did a good job of making life difficult for the Blades’ keeper Foderingham, which sounds more like a stately home than a football player, but I digress. White’s positioning was just the right side of a foul and as the ball went from the keeper’s outstretched flap to the waiting Eddie Nketiah, White ran across the keeper to get out of the way of his team-mate’s shot, which went into the net with vigour. Nice work. Later, referee Tim Robinson went to the monitor to look at a foul on sub Fabio Vieira with the game at 3-0, and rightly awarded a spot kick, which Vieira converted himself. The check on Tomiyasu’s late goal from a corner flicked on by Elneny was a mystery to me, as I wasn’t even sure what they were looking at. The involvement of the subs in the last two goals was a welcome sign of a stronger squad. It is after all a 16-man game these days, and Arteta calls his subs ‘impacters”. No better impact than scoring or assisting goals.

 

8 - Eddie’s hat-trick strike

What an absolute beauty this was, his strike from outside the area the sign of a natural striker with no doubts about his ability. Hopefully this performance will spur him on to more goals, especially as there is talk that Jesus, who watched the game from the players’ corporate box seats, being out for a while.

 

9 - The Havertz question
Will he come good or won’t he? Havertz did have a reasonable late chance to score at the death of 10 minutes’ injury time but put it in the side netting. His overall performance was nothing outstanding, but solid. However, this was the kind of game when you’d think it might be easier to score, and Nketiah certainly made hay. File under – waiting to come good, but not given up yet. The bottom line is that the team are not losing, and he is a part of the collective. Yes, for the purchase price, we’d like to see more, but it’s early days. My guess is he is still adapting to what Arteta wants from him, and it isn’t coming easily. Compare with Declan Rice, who seems to have hit the ground running. 

  

10 - Spurs – Gunners keep up with the noisy neighbours

Now there is a little concern about Spurs continuing to pick up wins left, right and centre, with the consequence that they are leading the table. It’s a little too early to panic, although I will say I think they are nailed on for a Champions League spot as things are going (helped by the seeming disappearance of Chelsea from that picture). But Arsenal remain unbeaten, two points short of Tottenham, and the latter have enjoyed a serious dollop of good fortune in certain of their results this season, not least in the draw at the Emirates (and who could forget the shocking officiating that allowed them to beat Liverpool. Normal service will be resumed sooner than later. I am confident of that. This is Spurs we are talking here.

 

11 - In conclusion

Yes, an expected win, and you’d be seriously concerned if Arsenal had failed to take the three points from this match. Arteta’s team achieved an excellent result with a dominant display, even with five changes from the Champions League side that played four days earlier. Nketiah was obviously the star man, and Arsenal can go to Newcastle in a week’s time with confidence of taking all the points with what will surely be a stronger eleven. You imagine the League Cup is pretty low on the manager’s list of priorities, so it would be no surprise to see a mix and match side at the London Stadium on Wednesday. Hell, we might even see Cedric get a start. As for Sheffield United, job done, points secured, a useful 90 minutes for Eddie and onto the next one. 

 

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