Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

  Arsenal 0 Burnley 0   Premier League   Sunday 23rd January 2022 2pm     In Arsenal’s pursuit of a top four place, I think it’s fair to say that the inability to defeat the team propping up the table, at the Emirates does not bode well. On the upside, at least the result was an improvement on the behind closed doors disaster of December 2020, when in the midst of a woeful Gunners run, Sean Dyche’s men took all three points from this fixture.   Scoring goals seems to have become an issue since Arsenal netted in the first half against Manchester City on New Years Day. The team were scoring for fun in the run of matches after the defeat at Everton. The goals in the five league games that followed came from Lacazette (2), Odegaard, Gabriel, Martinelli (3), Smith Rowe (3), Saka (4) and Tierney. They all seem to have dried up. It’s real feast or famine stuff as four matches in various competitions since have seen the Gunners completely blunted, accompanied by tw...

Arsenal 0 Liverpool 2   League Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg   Thursday 20th January 2022 7.45pm     Strange to think now, that Arsenal could have been managed by either of Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola if the club’s board had been more ruthless back in 2013 when it was obvious the Gunners were gradually going off the rails under Arsene Wenger’s stewardship. But short-term profit mattered more than long term ambition, and the rest is history. Arsenal’s board now consists of the Kroenkes, their lawyer and Lord Harris. Just the men to make the big decisions about how to run a successful football club? Last night, Mikel Arteta, an inexperienced number one, was given a tactical footballing lesson by the aforementioned Klopp, a manager that started slowly at Liverpool, although he did get them to a European final in his first season at the club, and made the top four at the end of the second. However, Klopp had already managed two clubs in Germany, starting in 2001. So expe...

Liverpool 0 Arsenal 0   League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg   Thursday 13th January 2022 7.45pm     It didn’t look good from the off. Jurgen Klopp fielded his strongest possible lineup, with only his two African forwards unavailable due to AFCON duty. Arsenal were weakened by more than just the absence of their four African players – although probably only Partey of that quartet would have started. Tomiyasu, Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe were all unavailable.   The selection of Ramsdale in goal indicated how important Mikel Arteta felt this match was, although perhaps that decision was harsh on Bernd Leno given he was the only player who could have held his head up high after the previous weekend’s horrowshow against Nottingham Forest. The previous occasion the Gunners visited Anfield was last month, when the 4-0 pummeling in the league was an ugly, if unsurprising end to a good undefeated run, but both Mane and Salah played then, so last night did feel like it didn't...

Nottingham Forest 1 Arsenal 0   FA Cup 3rd Round   Sunday 9th January 2022 5.10pm    Mikel Arteta played a mix and match side – as is often the way in the earlier rounds of the domestic cups – and it was such a selection that were beaten 4-2 at the City Ground in January 2018, Arsene Wenger’s final match in this competition. Rob Holding was the sole representative remaining from that line up, and that experience should have ensured that he of all people must have been aware of the danger of fielding weakened sides in the cup, especially away. He was the captain yesterday, but evidently was unable to motivate the troops sufficiently, as performance-wise, it didn't feel all that different to four years ago. All white kits were worn as part of a campaign to prevent the needless deaths of teenagers from knife crime, with cuts closing youth centres and removing safer alternatives for how youngsters spend their spare time, compared to gang culture. A worthy initi...

Arsenal 1 Manchester City 2 Premier League Saturday 1st January 2022 12.30pm The return to the team of Takehiro Tomiyasu meant that Arsenal were at full strength on the pitch for this early New Year’s Day kick off, in spite of the dugout being shorn of the Covid positive Mikel Arteta. Such was the spirit and belief in the performance of his team, it's difficult to think his presence would have made any difference, and he was certainly deciding on which subs would be used and for who from his living room, communicating with the dugout remotely. Arsenal put in a storming first half, at times dominating Manchester City, effectively playing them at their own high pressing game, and doing it better, perhaps aided a little by City playing three times in a week, to Arsenal’s two, after seeing their match against Wolves called off. It was Thomas Partey’s final game before disappearing off to the AFCON tournament to play for Ghana, and wouldn’t you know it, it was the best display we have s...

Norwich City 0 Arsenal 5   Premier League   Sunday 26th December 2021   3pm     A very enjoyable Arsenal performance on the road brought Christmas cheer to the traveling Gooners and those able to find a stream to catch the action from Carrow Road. When the Gunners last played Norwich there it was early December 2019. Unai Emery had just been given his cards, with Freddie Ljungberg in charge of the team for the first game of his caretaker spell. It was a disappointing (given Norwich’s low position in the table at the time) 2-2 draw. It is interesting to note that only two of the players in Freddie’s starting eleven began yesterday’s fixture. In the two years since, we’ve enjoyed an FA Cup final win behind closed doors, although also plenty of frustration as Mikel Arteta has effectively been learning on the job. Perhaps, with retrospect, it may turn out that his most significant decision was to freeze Aubameyang out of the first team picture. Now that the player w...

Arsenal 5 Sunderland 1   League Cup 5th Round   Tuesday 21st December 2021   7.45pm     It was an enjoyable evening of football after a frankly fortuitous quarter final draw presented Arsenal with a home tie against League One Sunderland. Of course, readers of an older vintage will recall the opposition – then in a lower division as well – preventing Bertie Mee’s Gunners reaching a third consecutive FA Cup final back in 1973. There was to be no such upset last night.   It was a chilly evening, but what probably kept a good number away from what was a sold out cup tie was the fear about catching COVID and ruining Christmas, especially given how packed trains to and from the stadium area would have been. It was understandable, but made for a significant number of empty seats all around the ground. Sunderland fans seemed less cautious, the away section looking fairly full. Mind you, they don’t get too many chances to see their team play in top flight venues th...