I'm not forgetting the League Cup win over Leeds. Arteta fielded a team composed mostly of fringe players, and they came through, earning a decent win to progress to the quarterfinals against Sunderland on December 21. It's minor silverware, but you know Arteta wants it.
It has to be a strategy of Mikel's to come out of the blocks flying, hoping to catch the opponents before they wake up. Aston Villa did not look as though they belonged on the same field in the first half, and when ESR potted the third Gunners goal early in the second half, we sat back and let the Villans huff and puff. They got one on an excellent strike from outside the box, but it wasn't nearly enough to get anything out of the game. It was an encouraging performance and a big improvement over the last two games.
The theme continued at the King Power, where the Foxes hit the snooze button one or two times too many, inviting Arsenal to take an early lead, which they did. A fabulous glancing header from Gabriel put us up in the 5th minute, and the lead was doubled 12 minutes later after a storming attack saw Emile Smith Rowe pounce on a ball that rolled fortuitously into his path for a smart hard finish past a helpless Casper Schmeichel.
The three points were preserved by a MOTM performance from our 22 year old keeper Aaron Ramsdale. Bernd Leno was beaming from the bench; he knows that his young "backup" would start ahead of any keeper in the world in the form he's in. He commanded the area in a way Leno never did, and he's making some fantastic saves. This is a game that could have been 4-3 either way had a few chances managed to beat the keeper.
Okay, I'm going to whinge (I like that Britishism better than "whine") about the nasty fouls on Ramsdale and another Gunner--I forget who--in the second half. It was low class and only one of them got a yellow. Speaking of which, Johnny Evans was very lucky to have stayed on the pitch after wrestling Auba to the ground when he was the last defender.
All's well that ends well, as some hack playwright once put it, and this was another march up the table for the men in red and white. Well done!
Arsenal is playing well now, after their slow start
ReplyDeleteIt was their worst first three game start ever, in 135 years. But they've captured 17 out of 21 possible points in their last seven, putting them in 6th after ten games. I was disappointed with the Brighton and Palace draws at the time, but it's clear now that both teams are tough and getting a point may have been a decent result. We're depending on an in-form goalkeeper, but Ramsdale has been magnificent.
Delete