Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

Arsenal 2 Wolves 1   Premier League   Thursday 24th February 2022 7.45pm     Subsequent events will determine the significance of the win against a belligerent Wolves on Thursday evening, but when the final whistle went, due to the nature of the game, it felt huge. Although no individual game is a ‘must win’ until the business end of the season, Arsenal certainly need to start racking up points, especially at home, to allow themselves some slack when they face the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea before the season is out. More to the point, a win here for Wolves would have put them right into contention for the prized fourth place, and its attendant financial windfall. How ironic, fans used to scoff at the notion of a top four place as representing some kind of a trophy, but the reality is that it is now more important than a domestic cup win for the benefits a club accrues from Champions League participation. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is. In a sense, it is a st...

  Arsenal 2 Brentford 1   Premier League   Saturday 19th February 2022 3pm     Although the postponed Liverpool home game has been dropped into Arsenal’s schedule in just under a month’s time between the Leicester and Villa fixtures, this was the first of a series of matches where, potentially, Mikel Arteta’s team could make the end of the season far less stressful by putting another run together like that was saw in December. West Ham had dropped two precious points at home to Newcastle in the day, and compromised their own hopes of a top four place that looks like a shootout between five teams.   Tomiyasu was fit enough to take a place on the bench, although Cedric retained his spot. He didn’t play badly, but with Martinelli suspended, the right back was charged with taking the corners from the left side and made a hash of most of them. Emile Smith Rowe came in for the absent Brazilian. It was such a different side from that which had lost on that Fr...

Wolves 0 Arsenal 1   Premier League   Thursday 10th February 2022 7.45pm     There was no debate that this was a huge match for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, even before it kicked off. Perhaps what followed in the game itself might prove highly significant for the remainder of the season – and that can be looked at in two ways. Firstly, in terms of spirit, resilience and defensive qualities, it was a highly encouraging result. On the other hand, if Arsenal’s wide forwards are nullified, it’s difficult to see them picking up enough wins. Thursday evening saw two shots on target for the visitors, with a full complement of players for three quarters of the game. If the Gunners somehow seize fourth place in May, they will have done so without a goalscoring centre forward. In fairness to Lacazette and Nketiah, neither are exactly goal machines.   Now don’t get me wrong. I was highly delighted with the victory, but I do try to write objectively. Whilst there is a lot to tak...

  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...