Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

  Tottenham 2 Arsenal 3    Premier League    Sunday 28th April 2024  2pm     It all looked so comfortable at half-time. Three goals up at Spurs and the home crowd silent. With Arsenal needing to win every one of their last six Premier League matches after the home loss to Villa, this was the third in the series, and arguably the most challenging. Of course, form goes out of the window in derby matches, as Everton v Liverpool proved in midweek, but Gooners attending at what started as a very grey Sunday afternoon at the Lane had good reason for optimism.   It was justified in a first half that saw them take what looked like an unassailable lead, as Arteta started the same eleven that faced Chelsea the Tuesday before. Spurs hadn’t played for two weeks, whilst their visitors had played four times. There was no sign of fatigue from Arsenal though, and they had to draw on all their reserves in the concluding minutes.   Their finishing was excellent, although the opening goal was courtesy of

Arsenal 5 Chelsea 0    Premier League    Tuesday 23rd April 2024  8pm    Before this game, I had a feeling it might prove an opportunity to enhance Arsenal’s goal difference, and in the event that Manchester City draw one of their six remaining matches, we could end up with a situation in which three teams finish on 89 points, in which case such wins as the Gunners registered last night against Chelsea could prove highly significant.   Arsenal’s history has been shaped by goal difference, and before that goal average. The 1971 title was decided (fortunately) on the latter – otherwise Leeds United would have been champions. In 1989, beating Liverpool at Anfield 2-0 in the final game meant Arsenal’s goal difference was superior – simply because they had scored more goals than Liverpool, the actual difference being identical. The club have history for narrow triumphs, and who is to say we won’t see a similar situation less than four weeks from now? The bookies for one, who still have Manc

Wolves 0 Arsenal 2    Premier League    Saturday 20th April 2024  7.30 pm       Looking at Manchester City’s fixture list, to have any chance of winning the title after the defeat at home to Villa, you really felt that Arsenal would have to win every one of their remaining six Premier League matches, and in spite of Wolves’ very weakened team, the Gunners’ own recent disappointments meant this was never going to be a walk in the park.   Wolves made life difficult for their visitors in the first half, as they struggled to create easy chances, with the opposition players proving adept at foiling Arsenal’s attacking moves when they came within range of the goal. There were potshots from the edge of the box, but nothing that you felt was a ‘must score’ moment. In fact, until Trossard’s goal as the interval beckoned, the best attempt to score was a Wolves break that exposed Kiwior and saw a Raya reaction save push the ball onto the post. With Tomiyasu injured, Kiwior got a start ahead of Zi

Bayern Munich 1 Arsenal 0    Champions League Quarter Final, 2nd leg   Wednesday 17th April 2024  9pm (local time)     If you’d said at the start of the season that Arsenal would make the last eight of the Champions League on their return to the competition, and remembering the last time they managed that was 14 years ago, you’d have thought, fair enough. As it is, Arsenal join a quartet featuring Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City. So there is no disgrace in the exit to Bayern Munich, as these are exalted levels which the club have not really had any exposure to for longer than anyone could have foreseen in the days when Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin were still pulling on the red and white shirt.    However, some of the excellent football played since the turn of the year raised hopes that this could be a remarkable return to the top table, and with the final at Wembley, a place Arteta has never experienced defeat, people were understandably dreaming.

  Arsenal 0 Aston Villa 2    Premier League    Sunday 14th April 2024  4.30 pm     Ah well, the afternoon was going so well. Liverpool’s shock defeat at home to Palace opened the way for Arsenal to open a gap on one of their two rivals for the title. It ended with Manchester City benefitting the most on a day when all they had to do was sit in front of the TV and enjoy what transpired.   Villa have now done the double over Arsenal in the league this season, although their home win was less deserving  and featured some far more controversial decisions from the referee. Yesterday, it was a fairly even game – the Gunners were on top in the first half, Villa had the better of things after the break.   Ultimately, it was a case of the home side not making the most of their early dominance. There were a good number of chances to score before Villa were allowed back into the game, the most clearcut being Trossard’s point blank shot that was foiled by Martinez’ foot.    Unai Emery’s side made

Arsenal 2 Bayern Munich 2    Champions League Quarter Final, 1st leg    Tuesday 9th April 2024  8pm     Although it’s been 14 years since Arsenal last experienced a Champions League quarter final, they’ve certainly met Bayern Munich a few times since then, normally in the last 16 of this competition, with subsequent elimination every time, often with a massive dose of humility. There was much greater hope that, given the respective form of the two teams, this time it would be different. Yet the sight of the German side scoring at the Emirates last night felt all too familiar.    There was no shortage of action at either end, and the complete absence of all but a handful of club picked Bayern supporters (who sat in the posh seats) meant that Arsenal’s home advantage had an extra edge. The crowd supported the team loudly, but in honestly, the opposition players didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest.    So yes, by their own high standards, Bayern are having a disappointing season, but

  Brighton 0 Arsenal 3    Premier League    Saturday 6th April 2024  5.30pm     A couple of earlier results in the day sent varied messages to those of a Gooner persuasion. Bayern were two goals up at half-time against lowly Heidenham, and yet construed to lose their Bundesliga game. They have injuries and do not appear to be anything like their imperious usual selves. There does seem to be a phenomenon of team competing for the title with Bayern self-destructing as the season closes, but it really feels like Leverkusen will break their run of 11 consecutive championship wins. And to think, we are bored with Manchester City winning the Premier League here. Anyway, after over 20 years of struggling against Bayern in the Champions League – always with Arsene Wenger in charge, finally, it feels like the Gunners have an excellent chance of overcoming them.   I mentioned Manchester City, and the other score that had implications for Arsenal’s match at Brighton was their earlier victory abou

  Arsenal 2 Luton 0    Premier League    Tuesday 3rd April 2024  7.30pm     It’s a game that won’t live too long in the memory, but even the Invincibles played the odd dull game. The only real question before kick-off was whether Arsenal would struggle with the four changes that Arteta made, as Kiwior, Rice, Jesus and Saka stepped down from Sundays starting line-up. Saka wasn’t even on the bench, but given he’s been nursing an injury for pretty much the whole season, it was no bad thing to give him a midweek off. It’s difficult to imagine he won’t be back for the Bayern first leg if not at Brighton on Saturday.   The changes meant rare starts for Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson, as well as two players recovering from injuries – Thomas Partey and Zinchenko. Luton themselves had endured a demoralising and exhausting defeat on Saturday at Spurs, so were hardly at their freshest. As it was the contest was effectively over by half time. The first goal was a nicely fashioned move in which

Manchester City 0 Arsenal 0    Premier League    Sunday 31st March 2024  4.30pm     I don’t think there were too many Gooners who wouldn’t have have taken a point from this game if you’d offered it to them before kick off at the Etihad. This observer felt that a win might be possible if both Saka and Martinelli began the game, but the two were never on the pitch at the same time.    Let’s start by looking at how things are different from last season’s late April visit to the same venue. Arsenal had drawn three in a row and were then stuffed 4-1 by City. The differences in team selection were that Ramsdale, Holding, Zinchenko, Partey, Xhaka and Martinelli started. Yesterday, we saw Raya, Saliba, Kiwior, Jorginho, Rice and Havertz.    It was a very different performance shown by Mikel Arteta’s team, one in which the defensive work, organisation, focus and discipline was off the scale. Play as well as this in Europe and Arsenal could win some tight ties in the way that the 2005-06 team di