I came across this Arsenal compilation this morning after a friend of mine sent it to me, and if you don’t get goosebumps then there’s something wrong with you!
The video was posted by TheArsenalWay, but was actually created by reddit user Inevitable-Tip-6716.
Watch the video, and enjoy! #COYG
What a match, what a performance – and what a team. If you didn’t believe before yesterdays game, you might have after Reiss Nelson’s dramatic winner.
Yesterday was a rollercoaster of emotions, full of ups and downs, but here are 5 things we learned from that game:
1. Reiss Nelson is Arsenal’s Divock Origi
Every winning team needs that player in the squad who for whatever reason, produces moments of magic when needed. And for Arsenal, it’s Reiss Nelson.
He’s hardly featured for us this season, but that’s because he’s struggled with thigh injuries. But in the games he’s played in, he’s produced.
He came on against Nottingham Forest on 27 minutes when Bukayo Saka came off injured and scored twice and assisted once in a 5-0 win.
And yesterday?
He assisted Ben White’s first goal for Arsenal (and our equaliser) before scoring that massively important winner on 97 minutes.
He’s played 85 Premier League minutes and produced 5 goal contributions! Talk about impact.
2. Arsenal’s backup players aren’t good enough
Yesterday was a huge result for Arsenal, and there’s nothing like a last gasp winner to take all 3 points. But I have to inject a (small) dose of perspective. The bottom line is we were 2-0 down and it could have been more if Aaron Ramsdale wasn’t in top form.
In terms of changes to our starting line up there were 2 main ones – we had Takehiro Tomiyasu come in for Ben White, and Fabio Vieira came in for Granit Xhaka.
I love Tomiyasu, I really do but Ben White has been simply outstanding and while both players are excellent defensively, Benny Blanco really adds another attacking dimension when he plays – his interchanges with Saka have been a staple for our success on the right hand side this season.
Football is about rhythm and Tomiyasu hasn’t been in the team enough to be able to just replace Ben White without ramifications. Against Manchester City I thought it was a mistake to start him and he ended up making the mistake for City’s first goal.
If Arsenal want to keep winning, they need to keep starting Ben White.
Then we have Fabio Vieira. Arteta clearly backs him, but while he’s a skilful player he’s not at the level Granit Xhaka is. Xhaka is a leader on the pitch and has hugely influenced games this season. He also has excellent link up play with Zinchenko, Partey and Odegaard.
I’m sure Vieira will prove to be an excellent signing for Arsenal in the future, I’m not sure throwing him into games in the business end of the season is the way to do it.
3. Martin Odegaard must stay on corner duties
When Arsenal have corners from the right side, it’s either Bukayo Saka or Martin Odegaard who takes them. But yesterday, when Odegaard took them the majority of the deliveries were excellent. He sent in a great delivery when we should have had a penalty (one of many) and he put it in a great place which ended up being headed out for Reiss Nelson’s last minute stunner.
4. Aaron Ramsdale is England’s best goalkeeper
I’m not sure how this guy isn’t England’s Number 1 yet. In so many games this season, when it’s been 0-0 or we’ve been behind, he’s made a massive save. He did it against Aston Villa when it was 2-2, and he did it yesterday when we were 1-0 down. He consistently pulls of huge saves which have ended up with Arsenal winning matches.
I don’t know what else he needs to do to start for England as he has been absolutely sensation this season and is one of the reasons we’re still 5 points clear of Manchester City.
5. The mentality of this team is outrageous
Every team suffers a blip this season and we had it when we lost against Everton, drew against Brentford and then lost again against Manchester City. But at Aston Villa when it looked like we’d leave Villa Park with a 2-2 draw, Jorginho pulled a rabbit out of the hat, and yesterday we all know what Reiss Nelson did.
Whatever the score, and whatever the situation, this team keep going right to the end. No-one’s heads go down, no-one sulks or moans – these players are mentally monsters and never, ever give up. The mentality Arteta has instilled in this young side is nothing short of miraculous.
Could you see Aubameyang fight to the end? We’ve got rid of players who only care about the money and flash cars, and now have a squad of players who will fight for each other, fight for the club and fight for the fans. And never give up.
I honestly haven’t seen mentality like this since The Invincibles team.
What can you say about that?!
Arsenal hosted Bournemouth, who have been struggling this season and were 19th in the table before kick off – only 3 points from the bottom of the table.
So before the game, I think it would be safe to say most Arsenal fans thought this would be a routine win. Whatever that is.
But if this season has taught us anything, football is anything but predictable.
After 9 seconds, Bournemouth took the lead when (it has to be said) they pulled off a clever kick off routine, which was well finished by Billing.
Arsenal were caught cold and the only good thing was that there were still 90 plus minutes to go to get the 2 goals we needed to get the 3 points. Unfortunately for all the possession, Bournemouth were relatively comfortable at keeping us at bay.
And then on the hour mark, Bournemouth doubled their lead.
We were now faced with a situation where losing against a team who were second from bottom was a reality. And with Manchester City beating Newcastle earlier on in the day, the lead at the top of the Premier League table would have only been 2 points.
But as we know from this young Arteta side, they are fearless.
Thomas Partey scored on 62 minutes, and then White equalised on 70.
It was a good comeback, but even a draw would feel like a defeat in the circumstances.
The last 20 minutes were tense and the officials gave us 6 minutes of injury time. And then those 6 minutes were up and it was still 2-2.
Had Arsenal blow it? Were Arsenal going to be called bottle merchants?
In the final passages of play, Zinchenko had a cross-shot deflected behind for a corner, which Saka sent in. It was headed away by a Bournemouth player, and was chested by Reiss Nelson. The trajectory of the ball took it onto his weaker foot, and if he needed to produce a moment of magic it was now. And with his left foot, he only went and smashed the ball into the top corner.
You couldn’t make this up!
The players, coaching staff and fans went absolutely ballistic! I screamed the house down! I don’t think there will be moment as important as this one – simply in terms of keeping the momentum and positively around the club.
Make no mistake about it, a draw today would have been absolutely devastating.
But what did you make of the game? Are you starting to believe? Leave your thoughts in the comments section!
After winning their game in hand 4-0 win against Everton, Arsenal went 5 points clear of Manchester City. So after 25 games, the Premier League table looks like this:
Photo credit: Premier League Twitter
Arsenal are on 60 points and Manchester City on 55.
I’ve said all season that I would be over the moon with Top 4 and our place back in the Champions League, and that’s still the case. But it dawned on my last night that there are 13 games left!
That’s still a big number of games remaining, but not sure a huge number. And anything can happen between now and the end of May, but even a pessimistic like myself is starting to believe – just a little bit anyway!
And this is not just me being reserved or trying to play down our chances, but all things considered Manchester City are still favourites for me – even with Arsenal having a 5 point lead.
They have won 4 of the last 5 Premier League titles, with the following points totals:
2021/2022: 93 points
2020/2021: 86 points
2018/2019: 98 points
2017/2018: 100 points
So a rough average of the points Manchester City will achieve this season is around 95 points – but in the title winnings seasons they usually lost between 2 and 4 games, whereas this season they have already lost 4.
But they have the experience in winning the league and getting results when it matters. In the last game of the season last year, when they needed a win and were losing 2-0 to Aston Villa, they rallied and came back to win in dramatic fashion. They have the players, the expertise and knowhow when it comes to the crunch moments. Plus they have Pep Guardiola, who is considered by many to be one of the greatest coaches of all time.
But there’s no doubt Arsenal have been phenomenal this season and the belief Arteta has instilled in his young squad is nothing short of miraculous. He’s given the Arsenal fans hope, and put us in a real title challenge for the first time in 18 years. Whatever happens, we can be proud of the players, the manager and the club.
But do you think we can get over the line and do it? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
In the summer, we brought in a few players like William Saliba (finally), Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, and after the 5th place finish last season, the level of optimism from Arsenal fans was fairly high – as it usually is. However, 4 months later, Arsenal are top of the league, 2 points clear of the mammoth Manchester City, who are seen as many as this unbeatable footballing machine, thanks to the addition of Erling Haaland.
The biggest criticism has been that although we can beat the lower teams in the Premier League, we always bottled it against the top sides. However, we have beaten Tottenham and Liverpool, and even though we lost against Manchester United, the general consensus was that we were the better team.
And we face Chelsea this weekend.
And in the Europa League, we’ve topped the group with a win against FC Zurich last night, although it was certainly a nervy finally 20 minutes as they turned the screw and really pushed for that equaliser which would have been a disaster for us!
So the big question is, hand on heart – did you expect Arsenal to be in this position before the season started?
Given we had the terrible burden of Thursday Night Football, I have been surprised at the performances in the Premier League and we’ve managed to keep up such a high level. Although the games against Leeds and Southampton certainly saw the effects of this – we managed to get back into the groove in a much better performance against Nottingham Forest.
And another question, where can Arsenal finish this season?
Let me know in the comments section below!