Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

Arsenal 2 Everton 1    Premier League    Sunday 19th May 2024  4.30pm     It was not to be. Manchester City’s incredible run of winning Premier League matches continued, meaning that despite Arsenal winning three points in their final match, they finished two short of Pep Guardiola’s side in second place.    That City’s victory over West Ham was so expected meant there was less tension in the Emirates air than there might have been, especially when Arsenal looked like they might fail to win the game as the second half wore on. It all felt a bit academic by that time with the league leaders two goals ahead, and coasting to victory. It was as much as Gooners could realistically hope for when West Ham did score, but they were never going to get three.   Bukayo Saka was neither in the starting line-up nor on the bench, as a ‘muscle injury’ was given as the reason for his absence. It meant Martinelli starting on the right side ...

Manchester United 0 Arsenal 1    Premier League    Sunday 12th May 2024  4.30pm     The points were the main thing for Arsenal, and given that they historically struggle to win at Old Trafford, nothing could be taken for granted in the Gunners’ penultimate game of the season. On paper, given the relative strength of the two teams, you’d have liked to see a scoreline akin to Manchester City’s at Fulham on Saturday lunchtime. If only football was that simple.  An unchanged Arsenal line-up did enough to win, in that they produced better efforts that Manchester United, whose finishing was woeful, but they didn’t play that well. As one friend commented,  “ That match was painful. We played like a team on the Wednesday before a cup final. Too cautious but a win is a win. Agonising as it was!”   That they kept a clean sheet was partially due to defensive resilience and organisation, but also the woeful quality of U...

Arsenal 3 Bournemouth 0    Premier League    Saturday 4th May 2024  12.30pm     After the disappointment of the home defeat to Villa, sandwiched by the Champions League quarter final legs v Bayern, all Arsenal were left with to finish their season were six Premier League matches. With Manchester City’s record of closing out campaigns from a winning position, the prevailing wisdom was that Arteta’s players would need to win every game for the remainder of the season, and this was the fourth out of the the six.    The manager stuck with the same eleven that had delivered wins against Chelsea and Spurs, and people were conscious of how good a run of results Bournemouth have had in 2024, so were not to be taken lightly. Last season it took the last minute wonder goal by Reiss Nelson to secure three points in the corresponding fixture (and keep Arsenal’s title hopes very much alive back then). Same consequence of the win yesterday, ...

  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. ...

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 we...

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...

  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...

  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 implic...

  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 ov...

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 E...

  Arsenal 2 Brentford 1      Premier League  Saturday 9th March 2024  5.30pm     Oh Aaron. Yesterday was a salient reminder why Mikel Arteta decided last summer he wanted a keeper who was more comfortable with the ball at his feet. It was the Southampton match late last season when Ramsdale presented a goal to the opposition in what finished as a 3-3 draw. Back then, he tried to play a pass to a team-mate which was too easily read and intercepted. With hindsight it was probably the final straw for Arteta who wants every player in his starting eleven to be comfortable, confident and competent with the ball at their feet. Against Brentford almost a year on, he had the option of an easy pass to his right, but elected to play a long clearance out instead. It cannoned off Wissa and looped into the goal.    The keeper pulled off a couple of very decent saves to keep the scores level after the interval, but his colleagu...