Good morning Gooners! What a beautiful morning it is to be an Arsenal fan!! Arsenal picked a near perfect time to put in one of (if not THE) best performances of the season to blow Fulham away at The Emirates yesterday evening to run away three nil winners to not only extend Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table to 6 points, but to add some much needed padding to that goal difference column as well.
Where to start on this one…
Let’s go with the lineup.
Let’s go with the lineup. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read Myles Lewis-Skelly’s name on the Arsenal team sheet – in a midfield position – yesterday afternoon. This was the curve ball or all curve balls, in relative terms from a largely predictable Manager, with the stakes being so high and this being something that Arsenal had never tried before, barring a few late cameos here and there. Who cares?!! It worked an absolute treat. Lewis-Skelly was a revelation in there, taking the ball under pressure and nearly always looking to go forward even by carrying on passing the ball, while keeping it simple at the same time. It was an unbelievable performance from the Hale End graduate and one that probably has wider implications in terms of the Summer and our squad building going forward (let’s put a pin that for now and focus on the game!).
Bukayo Saka’s name was another part of this lineup that brought a smile to my face and the inclusion of Riccardo Calafiori and Leandro Trossard also made perfect sense and three of them (in addition to Lewis-Skelly) added some much needed energy to an over-worked squad that ultimately turned the game in our favour. This is what we can do with a near fully fit squad. It’s hard not to think about what position we would be in right now if even just some of the players had been fit all season, but we can’t go back so it’s just ifs and buts at this stage.
After reading nearly every player rating article on the internet over the past 24 hours, I don’t think I’ve seen a single one that rates any of the above quartet lower than a 7 and most gave 8s, which I think is completely fair. They were all outstanding and in all honest, probably deserve to keep their place against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. I don’t see that for Calafiori or Lewis-Skelly, but I think both Trossard and Saka have a chance. This is what we want. No, scratch that. This is what we NEED, at this time of the season. Genuine arguments for rotated players to keep the shirt and disappointed players who have to start on the bench. Too many games this season the lineup has been completely predictable which tires out the over-used players, makes us predictable for the opposition and leaves the squad players rusty and isolated (Christian Norgaard anyone?). I’m looking forward to seeing a shuffled back for each game between now and the end of the season.
To the game itself
Arsenal absolutely flew out of the traps for this one. In hindsight, you can see exactly what the plan was. Get this game finished as a contest by half time so we can then rest players for Tuesday…and it actually worked perfectly!! A brilliant early goal for Viktor Gyokeres settled the nerves a bit and got the crowd going and then it was just a case of whether or not Arsenal could make their dominance count. On the goal itself, Bukayo Saka showed what we have been missing as he sat down Raul Jimenez to put the ball on a plate for Gyokeres who was in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time. More on him later.
Arsenal soon had the ball in the net again, as Riccardo Calafiori headed in an exquisite Leandro Trossard cross and despite my rule about not really cheering goals until I’m confident they are going to count, I couldn’t help but get a bit carried away, only for the passion-sapping VAR to rule it out and leave Arsenal with a familiar slender advantage at one nil. At this point, I wasn’t sure I could take much more of this. I think all Gooners had been praying for a two goal deficit to be opened up at some point in this game, to avoid repeating the agony of the Newcastle game, and to get that buffer, only to have it taken away, was a really bitter pill to swallow.
I just couldn’t believe we had to do it all over again. Absolutely crushing that feeling was. Little did I know, it was about to get a whole lot better!! After excellent work from Viktor Gyokeres, Bukayo Saka found himself in a familiar inside right position and he made no mistake as he swept the ball in at Bernd Leno’s near post to make it 2-0 and this one absolutely counted!! Cue mass ecstasy and relief for Gooners far and wide.
I was then just praying that we would get in at half time at two goals to the good, although we probably should have had much, so was our dominance in this first half and when Bukayo Saka was looking for a way out on the right touchline, I could see a nightmare scenario unfolding where we would play a risky pass to Gabriel that would be cut out with only seconds of the first half remaining to gift Fulham a route back into the game. I was nearly right as well!! Saka did play the pass, but thankfully Gabriel was alert enough to prod the ball to safety which in turn started an unlikely counter attack which lead to Leandro Trossard floating a beautiful cross to the back post for Viktor Gyokeres to head in for his second of the game. Scenes! Absolute scenes!! I couldn’t believe it. We went from potentially gifting Fulham a completely undeserved goal (in my head at least!) to extending our lead further, to a three goal cushion that we’ve not seen since February!! Just what the doctor ordered and no more than Arsenal deserved.
The second half was largely a null contest, barring the odd chance here and there, as Arsenal seemed content, for the most part, with their three goal lead. Both sides made a raft of changes, which led to the game petering out to a stroll, which suited Arsenal just fine. Special mention for Riccardo Calafiori who struck the cross bar and Gyokeres had a chance for his hattrick which Leno saved well, but this was a completely different game to the first half and understanably so.
For me personally, I’ve never felt more nervous when watching my team with manage a game with a three goal lead in my whole life. With goal difference playing such a key part in this final sprint to the end of the season, a three goal win was absolutely priceless. A single Fulham goal would have been an absolutely dagger on a day where I started off just asking for a win of any kind, so a clean sheet was so important at this stage. I reduced myself to putting the game into 5 minute instalments, where I was willing the players to just get to 60 minutes with a clean sheet, then 65 minutes and so on. I don’t remembering doing that since the FA Cup Final against Chlesea in 2017!! This is what this title race has reduced me too!!!! Fulham had one really good chance in stoppage time where they had an overload that they made a complete mess of and I was so unbelievable relieved to see Cristhian Mosquera get to the ball first. The closing stages was giving me Aston Villa at home vibes, where we started to lose concentration before gifting Villa a consolation, so the final whistle was celebrated like a goal for me. WHAT. A. WIN.
Honourable mentions
Aside from the four players I mentioned earlier, Viktor Gyokeres deserves a special mention as he was top, top, class. So good. His link-up play, the way he was pinning defenders, his work rate, his clever movement that led to his goals and obviously the finishing itself. By far and away his best performance and this came just days after probably his second best performance of his Arsenal career, against Atletico in the week. We’ve seen much improved performances from the Swede before, only for him to put in a stinker a week or so later, so now is the time for him to build on this and really push on. Come on Viktor, book us that place in Budapest on Tuesday night!!
I thought the defence was excellent as well. William Saliba imperious, Gabriel’s passing was much improved and he was as dominant as ever, Declan Rice looked much more assured again, in this new deeper role. That spine cannot be overlooked in performances like these. Eberechi Eze was good as well. They were all good to be fair. It was a full, team performance, which culminvated in an absolutely huge result.
What next?
As much as I’d like to dwell on this game for a little while longer, we have another huge tie on Tuesday night against Atletico Madrid with only our second ever Champions League Final at stake, so it doesn’t get any easier. If Arsenal play like this, they’ve got a great chance of getting over the line in that one as well.
Arsenal just need to focus on the performance and then hopefully everything else will just fall into place. Let’s see.
In terms of the league, that’s another one down, three to go. We hope we can get a favour from another Premier League team in Manchester City’s next two games, but make no mistake about it, if Arsenal keep performing like that and start really putting teams to bed in that fashion, they might not need any favours!!