Not one that is going to live long in the memory but another three points against a seasoned Champions League team, another clean sheet, what’s not to like? It wasn’t vintage Arsenal and we didn’t blow the Greek side away like we all hoped but it was a decent performance and a good win. When the score remains 1-0 for such a long time and into the latter stages of the game, there’s always going to be a degree of nervousness that creeps in as it only takes one mistake or bit of magic to lose two points, but I thought Arsenal handled that pretty well. It wasn’t all one way traffic but this was still a very dominant display, which would have been reflected in the scoreline, if not for some wastefulness from our attackers.
The line-up
The lineup was slightly stronger than I was expecting with both William Saliba and Gabriel starting, along with Martin Zubimedi in midfield, but the rest was pretty much as expected. Our skipper, Martin Odegaard returned to the starting lineup and put in an exemplary performance and showed everyone what we’ve been missing while Viktor Gyokeres led the line again, as his wait for a rest goes on.
First half
Arsenal were dominant pretty much from the off, with the first chance coming inside two minutes. A brilliant sweeping team move which start with David Raya, ended up with Gabriel Martinelli heading a chance wide (it actually came off his shoulder) from a pinpoint Myles Lewis-Skelly cross, after a lung bursting driving run from left back. It was a gilt edged chance which Martinelli should have buried with ease but the Gunners wouldn’t have to wait long for the opening goal.
A piercing ball from Martin Odegaard between the two Olympiacos central defenders gave Gyokeres something to chase and chase it he did! It was a good ball from the skipper but in all honesty, it left Gyokeres with plenty to do but the Swede was equal to the task as he burst through the two centre backs, knocking one onto the floor, before poking towards goal, which the keeper got a bit chunk of, but couldn’t stop the ball trickling towards his net. Gabriel Martinelli did what all forwards should and followed in straight after and was clearly seen trying to let the ball trickle in to give Gyokeres the goal – a very risky tactic at 0-0 – before tapping home after the shot eventually came back off the post.
It wasn’t pretty but Arsenal had a deserved lead and although he had no goal to his name to show for it, Gyokeres played a key role in the buildup.
With the opening goal coming on 12 minutes, many Arsenal fans would be thinking that the floodgates would be about to open, but in truth Olympiacos had the next big chance as David Raya made a superb reflex save to tip Daniel Podence’s goal bound volley, from a right wing cross, over the bar. It would have been against the run of play but I doubt the Greek side would have cared to much about that. In any case, David Raya displayed his excellent alertness once again, to go from spectator to star of the show in a couple of seconds.
Arsenal dominated the rest of the half with possession and territory without really stretching the opposing keeper but Olympiacos remained a threat on the break with the lively wingers in Daniel Podence and Gelson Martins.
Viktor Gyokeres was a threat in behind and a menace to the Olympiacos defence throughout the half in a strong showing but the few really sighters at goal that came his way, Gyokeres either took too long to pull the trigger or slashed high and wide when well placed. They weren’t easy chances, like the one for Martinelli in the opening minutes, but the sort of chances we’ve seen Gyokeres stick away for Sporting in the last few years. Just feels like the big Swede is snatching at these chances a little bit at the moment as he searches for his next Arsenal goal. Leandro Trossard also blazed a decent chance over the bar to leave the score at 1-0 going into the break.
Second half
The second half followed the same pattern as the first, with Arsenal dominating but the comfort of the second goal alluding them. Leandro Trossard should have doubled Arsenal’s lead shortly after the break but he slashed an ugly looking short high and wide from around the penalty spot area on the left, following great interplay involving the excellent Martin Odegaard, Ben White and Mikel Merino.
Arteta turned to his bench early (by his standards) by bringing on Jurrien Timber for the tiring Ben White and Declan Rice for Mikel Merino, which seemed to lift Arsenal’s tempo but the threat of Olympiacos then reared its head again as a dangerous ball into the box from Podence was headed towards goal only to be parried away by David Raya, with the rebound being slammed home from close range only for the correctly raised offside flag to come to Arsenal’s rescue. Another let off for Arsenal, in a game where they really shouldn’t need let offs, due to the dominance going the other way.
Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka then entered the fray, as Arsenal showed yet again the frankly ridiculous level of depth that they have in reserve. Spare a thought for the tiring Olympiacos defenders who had been chasing shadows for much of the game and then turned to see these two come on as substitutes!
If the last two substitutes gave Arsenal a bit more control and tempo, these two were introduced with only one thing in mind – finish off this game. Bukayo Saka nearly helped Arsenal do just that with 10 minutes to play as he darted brilliantly to the byline and cut back for Martin Odegaard to slot home from around 9 yards out. Unfortunately for the returning captain, there was to be no cherry on top of his brilliant performance as a combination of defender and goalkeeper somehow managed to prevent both Odegaard’s initial point blank effort and the subsequent rebound.
As the game entered the final stages, Olympiacos sensed there might be something in this for them and the Arsenal faithful grew increasingly nervous , and probably a bit confused, as a game that should have been comfortable became anything but.
A fortunate bounce between the heads of Saliba and Cristhian Mosquera, on for the injured Gabriel late on, fell kindly into the arms of David Raya as hearts entered mouths once again and although these were truly nervous moments during the game, on reflection, Olympiacos still never really tested Raya in the second half.
The game was finally made save in the second minute of added time as Bukayo Saka popped up in the inside left channel to rifle a shot under Tzakolis following another superb Martin Odegaard pass. The goalkeeper maybe could have done better but Saka won’t care about that one bit and frankly neither do I, as Arsenal marched on, eventually, to another three points with captain Martin Odegaard, the star of the night.
Three key takeaways
There are no poor teams in the Champions League
Maybe it was the euphoria of the Newcastle game at the weekend or maybe I’ve just been reading too much hype about how good Arsenal are at the moment (let’s face it, the press and pundits are building us up a lot right now so they can bring us back down later) but I really thought we’d just turn up and despatch of Olympiacos quite comfortably with a much rotated team. The actual game played out slightly differently and was very nervy towards the end and it just leaves me with the inevitable conclusion that there are no easy wins or whipping boys in the Champions League, every three points needs to be paid for in full. It’s certainly made me look a bit differently at the games that we have left and how much we can/should rotate for the ‘easy’ games like Slavia Prague. If we’re going to get into that top eight in the Champions League again this year, we need to play a lot better than this against everyone.
People have forgotten how good a fit Martin Odegaard really is
I think we can all be guilty of romanticising certain players when they are out injured and thinking to ourselves that when they come back, we’ll be unstoppable! Even as I write this post, I’m thinking that exact thought about Kai Havertz!! It’s easy to forget their shortcomings as you only tend to remember the good stuff so it distorts the player and often when they come back, you’re a little disappointed that they didn’t all of a sudden fix everything. I don’t think this happened with Martin Odegaard. I think if anything, the opposite is true. With the arrival of Eberechi Eze, I think some people thought that the skipper’s days were numbered. The real Martin Odegaard turned up on Wednesday and reminded everyone that this is not the case. This was prime Odegaard, as he probed and jinked his way through the Olympiacos midfield all evening and played some beautiful defence splitting passes and even managed to get into some great goalscoring positions. The Captain has returned and it’s great to have him back…finally!
Saka can now play on the left? Arsenal have flexibility all of a sudden
It’s hard to not get carried away with Arsenal at the moment as nearly all of their shortcomings from last season have been clearly worked on over the summer and, in some cases, they appear to have been completely eradicated. One big criticism of Arsenal last season was that the team was too rigid and lacked in game flexibility to move teams around and ultimately open them up. Towards the end of the game tonight, Arteta (or one of the coaching staff) had seen something in the Olympiacos defence that could be exploited and indicated to Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze to swap wings. It seems quite a simple tactical adjustment but for two main points. Firstly, this is something that we never saw last season (or at least if we did I don’t remember it) and the very thought of it would probably have left most Arsenal fans laughing at the very thought of Arteta doing this. Secondly, it worked an absolute treat on the night as Saka popped up in the inside left channel to seal the game for Arsenal. This really feels like new territory for Arsenal right now, with players interchanging and popping up all over the pitch. If we can do this on a consistent basis while still keeping our defensive discipline and shape, we could be in for a very, very good season.