Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

  Arsenal 5 Wolves 0     Premier League    Sunday 28th May 2023 4.30pm       I don’t think there’s much doubt that Manchester City would have performed much better in their final two fixtures, had the title been at stake, with stronger team selections for starters, but it was ironic that they provided the required draw and defeat that Arsenal needed them to after the Gunners had beaten Chelsea and Newcastle. However the poor displays that ended in defeat to Brighton and Forest put paid to that, and turned yesterday’s once hotly anticipated final game of the season into what felt like a testimonial. The intensity was gone, the players relaxed – especially Wolves – and the goals flowed in for the home side.   The sun shone, Granit Xhaka very nearly scored a hat-trick in his final ever appearance in an Arsenal shirt, and was subbed off by Arteta so that he could receive the applause of the crowd. He’s had a very effective season. After six years...

  Nottingham Forest 1 Arsenal 0     Premier League    Saturday 20th May 2023 5.30pm     It’s been a season far better than anyone could have anticipated, but having set such high standards, the way Arsenal have tailed off has been disappointing. Yes, the bigger picture gives reason for optimism, but of course, it’s the hope that kills you. The difference between drawing a game from a winning position and salvaging a point from a losing one. The result is the same, the emotions very different.    So the Gunners’ campaign winds down in a state of whimper, which seems to have become the norm in recent seasons except for those in which they made the FA Cup Final. They recovered wonderfully from the February blip that saw them take one point from three matches, by winning seven in a row. All set for the title run-in. Since then, nine points out of 24. Manchester City have dropped just two out of the last 42 available to them. There was a...

Arsenal 0 Brighton 3     Premier League    Sunday 14th May 2023 4.30pm       It was a brief recovery – the wins against Chelsea and Newcastle giving hope that Arsenal might still be able to win the title in the event that Man City were to drop five points in two of their remaining four matches. The earlier kick off narrowed the opportunities of that happening down to three remaining games for Pep Guardiola’s side – none of them foregone conclusions, although in their current form, one thing was absolutely beyond question. Arsenal had to finish with maximum points from their last five fixtures. Two down and three to go, but Brighton have frequently proved difficult opposition at the Emirates since being promoted to the Premier League, and that didn’t change yesterday afternoon.   It was a similar starting eleven that battled their way to a 2-0 win last weekend at Newcastle,  Tierney for Zinchenko the only change, but the energy and determ...

Newcastle United 0 Arsenal 2     Premier League    Sunday 7th May 2023 4.30pm I checked back on my entry the morning after Monday 16th May last year and it wasn’t pretty reading. I questioned the wisdom of already having given Mikel Arteta a contract extension when he (without the distraction of European football) had looked almost certain to fail to get Arsenal back into the Champions League and wrote of the defeat at St James’s Park – a game the visitors had to win – “ That Newcastle all too easily bullied their opponents is a damning indictment on Arsenal in 2022. For all the technique – which looks wonderful when it comes off – there is not enough steel. ” I questioned whether Martin Odegaard could produce when the heat of the battle became intense.   Well, 12 months is certainly a long time in football. Mikel Arteta might fall agonisingly short of winning the title, but the progress made since Newcastle’s 2-0 defeat is remarkable. The team have 81 points f...

Arsenal 3 Chelsea 1     Premier League    Tuesday 2nd May 2023 8pm    Six days on from the chastening defeat at the Etihad and it was a relief to see Arsenal return to winning ways at home to Chelsea. All they can do now is try and win their remaining matches this season, anything less would surely give them no chance of bucking the current odds and usurping Manchester City. As it is, the current holders have to suffer a draw and a defeat from their final six matches to concede the title, should the Gunners finish with maximum points. Brighton away might prove a difficult fixture, but can you see them slipping up at home to West Ham, Leeds or Chelsea? Their other away trips are Everton and Brentford. Not gimmes, I will grant you, but City do resemble a runaway train.    After four games without a win, three points was vital for Mikel Arteta’s team last night to get back on their own track and prevent the season collapsing completely. Chelsea seeme...

Manchester City 4 Arsenal 1     Premier League    Wednesday 26th April 2023 8pm     Ah well. Arsenal are still top of the table after last night’s chastening defeat at Manchester City, but their rivals for the title have two matches in hand and are playing like a runaway train that could feasibly win the treble. The season isn’t over, and football is unpredictable, but for Arsenal to end the season top of the pile, they will surely have to win all of their remaining five matches and then see if City lose and draw one of the seven they still have to play.    The injury to William Saliba in the Europa League second leg against Sporting Lisbon looks to have cost Arsenal dear. The team managed the absence of Jesus fairly well, but that has not been the case with the young French centre back. The team is less balanced for his absence. This isn’t a criticism of Rob Holding, it’s just that he’s a different type of player who isn’t at the same level when ...

Arsenal 3 Southampton 3     Premier League    Friday 21st April 2023 8pm Taking a cold hard look at Arsenal recently, this is not a team displaying title form. They have conceded seven goals in three matches – five of them against relegation contenders. Three points from nine matches is the equivalent points-wise of losing two of them.    The late Gunners’ equaliser provided cause for celebration at the end of normal time, but more because it provided hope of a chance of another late, late winner. That didn’t come, with Thomas Partey firing over the bar in an attempt to score an injury time Hollywood goal when he had Odegaard in space to his right for a simple pass was a moment that summed up the lack of cool-headed thinking required to negotiate pressure games.   And that is it in a nutshell – these players have sadly made too many poor decisions under pressure. Football is a results game and they were dominating the first two of these three draws, bu...