Arsenal’s best chance for an away win in a big ‘un – writes @LaboGoon
If we thought last weekend was eventful in English football, midweek said ‘hold my beer’.
It was happy hour at the Emirates (of course), ‘out with the (not so) old in with the new’ for a few managers and for one manager the Premier League title chase came to an abrupt end (don’t laugh) … and here we go again.
Good day one and all.
Of the fixtures to look out for on the football calendar it always includes the North London Derbies; and as we make the short trip to Wembley to face Tottenham Hotspurs, it’s Arsenal who will want to build on the gains of these last two weeks.
Following two league defeats in five days the home side (read: squatters) will be licking their wounds, both mentally and physically. Now there’s a few pundits who will dress this up as “it’s the best thing that could of happened to them”, because, you know, it keeps their egos in check. Well Saint Pochettino, life came at him fast as he was ready to punch somebody’s lights out.
There they were leisurely cruising along to at least a 3rd place finish and boom, they now find themselves looking over their shoulder with Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea closing in, and, should they lose today, the stakes will be raised even further as the battle for top-four will be one of the major talking points in the run-in.
The Gunners go in to this game on the back of three wins on the bounce (all competitions) but here’s the rub … that was at the Emirates where we do well regardless and this season we have not travelled well against top-six opposition (D1, L3).
Hell, who am I kidding, we don’t travel well period.
We won just one of our last seven away league games (D2, L4) so the challenge will now be to see if we can keep our tails up, because with Pochettino having a few concerns there is the hope that we have caught them at the most opportune time.
Now there’s an argument that in derbies, form, or lack thereof, goes out the window and that one Harry Kane usually enjoy this ‘home’ fixture, but one also can’t ignore that he doesn’t seem to have brought his talents back with him from injury.
In no way am I implying this is our match to lose. In most, if not all, big games of this nature the home side usually has the edge though it is hard to ignore Spurs not looking so smooth at present.
Three wins on the bounce is nothing to scoff at, no matter the quality of the opposition, and we’ve done that using some mesmerizing creative passing missing from our game in weeks prior. If Unai Emery wants to maintain that consistency and familiarity with the hopes of a strong end to this campaign, it will be interesting to see if he fields an attacking lineup that includes our two most creative players, Özil and Mkhitaryan.
Both are both in good nick, in a game that could be pivotal to our season.
This is a big ‘un folks and of importance to both teams, so we can expect Arsenal fighting just as hard to get one over their local rivals as Spurs will to get back to winning ways.
COYG
Positively Arsenal 
Ozil getting ready to come on
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20 minutes plus stoppage time to go
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great ball from mkhitaryan but Aubameyang not strong enough and is shrugged off the ball in the area, needed to be better there
Ozil on for Ramsey
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kane offside but is given a penalty, disgraceful
kane scores, fucking same shit from the officials as usual
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they dont deserve that.
Come on Mesut! COYG!
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Harry “offside” Kane.
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There you have it, two fouls and they score….for fucks sake…
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that was a woeful effort from aubameyang, for fucks sake that was one weak ass penalty
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you could tell he was going to miss it. Shame he didnt just blast it.
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thats bullshit. Look at the angle…fuckin wank.
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Torreira rightly sees a straight red card,
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The Spuds got away with that one. FOYS.
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Then Rose should have had a red too.
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FT: Spurs 1-1 Arsenal
Ramsey gave us the lead, then an offside Kane is handed a penalty, we get a very late penalty but it was a poor effort from PEA and was easily saved, PEA even missed a great chance on the follow up. Lacca had missed two great chances too.
we really should have won that game, but our away form v the other big clubs is woeful.
spurs do nothing but cheat and foul and keep getting rewarded for it by the officials.
Torreira will not serve a 3 game ban.
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Dave I do not dispute that, but two wrongs do not make a right, but Taylor as I predicted would let spurs away with it, and he did
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Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks…we deserved to win…we were the better team…but we lost that due to stupidity….
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GP we lost it due to missing too many great chances including a penalty, added to officials not seeing 4 players offside in build up to their penalty
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Shit we lost now?
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Not the worst result, but annoying, and to a degree self inflicted.
As usual, they get a soft decision, penalty, Spurs goal. How did they apply the offside rules there? Get VAR in quickly.
We get a pen back, but have thought for a while PEAs pens are a little high risk, so it proved. He caused them problemswhen he came on, but a poor pen.
The red, don’t think he meant it, but came in too high.
Not at our most fluid, decent point, but a sense of frustration will linger for many.
We will need to be more clinical against Utd, I suspect we will see one of Riley’s special refs for that game
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sorry markyb, it should be we failed to win, not lost, but it does feel more like a loss,
we have now played all the other top 6 rivals away and failed to win any of the five games, W0, D2, L3, pts 2 from 15
we face man utd next weekend in the last of our games v our top 6 rivals, at home, we currently have W2, D1, L1
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https://mobile.twitter.com/Conorwhelanire/status/1101852280503062529
That’s called encroachment. The words “ got away with it” apply rather a lot to Spurs
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no encroachment there, no sir, none at all
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In January I predicted at my UFV blog that ARS would come 6th because of PGMOL bias and after today’s game with Spurs I stand by it. ARS played well enough to win this match but from the start Anthony Taylor made it almost impossible. The fact Taylor awarded ARS a bogus penalty near the end does not alter my conclusion one iota. To award Torreira a red card for a similar offence by Danny Rose who only earned a yellow by a ref, who in over 50 previous games has not shown a red, is further evidence of the heavy odds Arsenal will face as we the PL enters the stretch run.
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don’t know why anyone thinks kane was offside
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Kane and a few others.
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ha ha ha, Upson and Scott, both say “Smalling had a bit of his shirt, but no penalty”, good God is it any wonder Refs can fuck up week in week out and be told they are doing a fine job
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https://mobile.twitter.com/MoMoneyMoSalah/status/1101852924303589377
Hope they review this little incident on MOTD but won’t hold my breath.
Looks a red to me if the ref had seen it, if he didn’t, should be subject to review. Of course he will do a mariner should it be mentioned. deliberate studs high, violent conduct. But it seems that team operate on different rules.
Really hope this unpleasant team get knocked out of the top four, preferably by us of course, as Chelsea and Utd share their generally rewarded cynicism.
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our remaining BPL games
Man Utd – Home
Newcastle – Home
Everton – Away
Watford – Away
Crystal Palace – Home
Leicester – Away
Brighton – Home
Burnley – Away
we also have to arrange the Wolves – Away, game yet.
so 4 home games and 5 away games left.
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yeah Mandy, seen that at the time, the standard of officials is at an all time low. The current after game review system is not fit for purpose, and we have an FA and BPL and PGMOL with no will to improve things.
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Man Utd 0- 1 Southampton
first goal for 20 year old Valerie for Southamtpon
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Disappointed but not dismayed. Intense, nerve-wracking watch. So close to delivering real joy.
Utd behind and apparently ‘got away with one’ for a pen already. Sound like maybe they’ll need one of their generous pens to get result today.
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Damn hard to see from that pic of the offside what linesman could think he’d seen there.
White shirt directly in front of him, only Spurs shirts level with that man, then Kane further ahead, so which player is he meant to believe kept them on? Not even a contender in that photo.
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Those three have no will to do anything about anything, especially if certain teams, like our opponents today could come off worse. A player who got away with a pseudo head butt, but one clearly against the laws of the game, gets a soft penalty from an offside position. No wonder no English refs make it to the World Cup
Valerie! If his goal wins that game, who knows, he might even get a song about him.
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Emery after game comments from football.london
Emery on the draw
I am proud of the players.
We played like a team, together, pushing individually and collectively.
The adaptation to the match was good. We could win this match.
On Vertonghen’s encroachment for the penalty
Two months ago I said VAR is coming to help the referees.
Today for me the referees had a big personality, but it’s not enough to make the best decisions in difficult actions in the box.
VAR is coming to help them.
In 90 minutes if you create chances and score, you can win.
I think we played today with a big spirit, tactically we adapted well.
Emery on decisions going against Arsenal
The referee’s personality today was good today. Mistakes can come, it’s difficult for them.
VAR Is coming to help them.
On Sokratis
His progress is very important.
Today he played well, but the last matches he has come with confidence in himself to use his skills and capacity to help us.
He also has experience to continue his process with us.
Emery on Aubameyang’s miss and Lacazette
I spoke with him. He had 35 minutes to help us for the victory,
He did this action and got the penalty. After, you can score or not. It’s not a mistake, it’s one action.
The same with Laca. He had good chances, but no problem.
Today we create some good chances but today it’s not enough.
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Ha, ref let Utd off again on a pen.
Not often you get Sky Sports News lot being honest about it, ie: ‘Dear me, ref must have selective vision at the moment. Looking right at it’
He’ll give em one tho if he gets a chance.
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gutted gutted gutted gutted GUTTED, the fact that im gutted shows how well we played and how in control we were. Apart from Leno’s double save in the first half and lamela’s side netting shot at the start of the second we restricted them to virtually nothing. Even song, who had scared the life out of us in the first half at home was non-existent and no surprise when he was hooked.
I have seen the spuds play well and beat us or earn a draw but it was all about the officials today, to get so amny decisions wrong all the way through the game was criminal.Yeah I know the official defenders will say if we put away our chances especially in the 91st minute then we win however the fact is officials get decisions right and we win anyway with ease.
Alex Iwobi, what a conundrum poor defensively, caught daydreaming and drifting, decison making still not great but drives us forward all game and continually put the opposition on the back foot.I think if makes steady improvement to his game he will be wonderful.
Auba oh Auba wheres the confidence of last year. His movement is still world class but the rest is awful. Today he was continually caught in no mans land between the CB and fanny rose and contributed little to the shape of the side. When he was one on one with the last defender or even when he had a sight of goal his confidence and therefore execution was poor. Again we know he can be lethal when on form.
I thought all the other players had great games and as a team this was a performance above that against either southampton or bournemouth so considering resukts that just show how strange football can be Next weekend we play the team arguebly the best in the PL so another step is needed.
Papa got MOTM today but it could easerly been so many others especially Miki who proved again today what a great deal we got in getting him in.
Nine games to go and we seem to be just progressing a little bit better each game and so a result against manure would mean third would be possible but with four clubs chasing there is little room for error especially when you look at some of hard away games coming up wolves,burnley etc.
Tommorrow I might feel better but at the moment i’m GUTTED!
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A or B top post, I feel the same.
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I see Pep says Man City will likely make 4 big signings this summer, certainly a Defensive Midfielder
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man utd 1-1 southamtpon – fuck it
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utd take the lead – fuck fuck
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Man Utd currently above us in the table
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utd 2-2 southampton – good good
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utd won to move up above us into 4th, and 3pts behind spurs
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arse_or_brain@ 3:54 pm: In our podcast George and I agreed Auba could not sustain 7 shots-7goals or a similar ridiculous stat. He would return to the mean. Data never lies.
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What a game! I though we deserved the 3 points but I think that before the match i’d have taken the draw so I can’t complain about the result.
I was impressed by Emery today, solid defensive plan without an overload of defensive type players, bringing Mesut on while ahead was a nice surprise after the past months saga. PEA must be so disappointed to have missed the penalty, get em next time.
Fantastic finish by Aaron, we’re going to miss him ! I know we dropped to 5th but am thinking that we can beat manure next week and continue on this positive run.
As for the refereeing, pretty standard fare, unfortunately. It’s amazing (or is it really) that the lineman was out of position on the Kane incident. For the red card, Torreira kicked a bouncing ball, where the hell was his foot supposed to be? Rose pretty much ran into his foot…speaking of rose, I wish we played him more than 2 times a year, what a shit player!
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Wrong photo Ed. Got me first look as well but that’s first half disallowed one. Guendouzi in pic.
Underlined again today why Spurs are, similar to Pool attackers, wise to play it right on edge with offsides.
Allows them to get situations where they are fractionally on and usually get them; fractionally off, and often get them; and also ones where they are definitely off, but get them.
Over time, doing very well in all those scenarios, bound to encourage you to play right on edge.
Conversely, If you don’t tend to get any daft freebies when well off, and don’t do well when fractionally on or off, will mean that over time you tend to play it safer.
On defensive front meanwhile, can you try and compensate against opponents who often get wrong offside calls in their favour? Don’t think you can really. Certainly not without putting yourself at a disadvantage.
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