SPI 1-1 GOT (3-0), Semifinal: Really Good Game at Audi Field...Plus Some Arsenal Stuff

 The Washington Spirit were almost out of the NWSL championships, but leveled the match in second half stoppage time.  Despite Gotham's losing a player to two yellows in the first extra time period, the Spirit didn't manage to score the winner, and Gotham had a chance or two.  But to PKs it went, and three worse PKs than Gotham kicked are hardly to be found.  All were saved rather easily by the Spirit GK; she had only to avoid diving the wrong way.  The Spirit kicks were quite good and beat the Gotham keeper, though two just barely.  On to the final!

Arsenal and Chelsea drew 1-1 at the Bridge in a game in which the Gunners (to my eye) looked a bit sharper.  It leaves us nine back of Liverpool and four behind City, who've lost four games running in all competitions.  There are 27 games to go, so there's a chance, if we can stay healthy.  We lost 1-0 in Milan to Inter in CL via a generous handball call.

NEW 1-0 ARS: Outthought, Outplayed, and Out of the Race

 It was a pedestrian display from the Gunners as they fell victim to a scrappy, aggressive Newcastle.  I don't blame anyone for the goal; it was a great cross and superb header.  Livramento canceled out Martinelli and our midfield was simply not up to the task of breaking the Magpies down.  I can't remember Nick Pope having to make a save, certainly no difficult ones.  Fair result.

Barring a miracle, Arsenal's chances of overhauling both Liverpool and Man City are extremely remote. They'll try, of course, but the focus may shift to the cup competitions.  I wondered what would happen if Odegaard had a long term injury, and now I know.

ARS 2-2 LIV: Great Game, Fair Result (if refereeing is ignored)

 Anthony Taylor is the new Mike Dean, apparently.  Right up until the end, when an obvious corner should have been awarded to the Gunners but wasn't, he gave Liverpool advantage after advantage.  But with all that, and with our injury crisis (we lost two defenders in this game as well), we played Liverpool even and probably should have won this game.  We're now five adrift of City and four behind 'Pool.  We need our top players back.  Saliba's suspension is over, but his CB partner looks to have suffered a knee injury.  

Liverpool played a very good game, but I don't see them as a juggernaut.  City seems a little off their pace from last year.  We've got to get through the festive period without further serious damage to our points haul or our players.  Then the run-in could see us through.  I hope we take all four competitions seriously.  Silverware is a requirement this season.

ARS 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk (ECL): Another Game, Another Injury

 We're sitting on 7 points after three games in the new Champions' League format after an uncomfortable win at the Emirates.  Our goal came courtesy of the opposition keeper's butt.  To be fair, he was excellent all game and this was just really bad luck, the hard first half  Martinelli shot coming back off the post and smacking him in the ass.  Trossard missed a penalty in the second half.  Raya made a great save late on (see below).  With the penalty save against Atalanta, that's three points our GK won for us just in this competition.  It's important for us to finish in the top eight out of the 36 teams in the ECL "league" so we avoid a two-legged playoff to get into the final 16.

Calafiori twisted his knee; it could be serious.  Sunday will be a struggle against Liverpool.

BOU 2-0 ARS: Self-Destruct Button Pushed Repeatedly

 Credit to Bournemouth, who looked as likely to score as we did when it was 11 vs 11.  I'm not going to rehash the series of poor mistakes that lost this game.  It was a sad display all around.  Saka was missed; Sterling was not in that class today.  We got very little out of him.  Kiwior has demoted himself to the bottom of the defensive pecking order; at this point, Arteta might send Tomiyasu out wearing a leg brace before playing Kiwior.

It's a humbling experience and a costly one.  In addition to the dropped points, Saliba won't be playing for a couple games, including Liverpool.

Mexico 2-0 USMNT

 This was far from the US's best squad.  There were a lot of injuries and Pochettino released players, presumably to take a look at more of the Americans vying for a spot.  He probably wasn't delighted at what he saw; we had one shot on target.  It was low stakes for CONCACAF's top dogs, since both are in the next World Cup due to being co-hosts (with Canada).  What do you think of the Mexico jersey?  I can't make up my mind.

Spurs Are Spursy Again, and Other Observations

 The ugly away kit was justly punished in a fashion that is just so Tottenham.

The North Londoners were all over the Seagulls in the first half and Brighton were lucky not to be further behind than 0-2.  The second half was a very different story.  Ange Postecoglu has never heard of adjusting tactics for game state.  His Spurs are told to play the same way every game, all game, whatever the score.  So they kept their high defensive line rather than sitting back to protect their lead, and this naivete was punished severely.  The 3-2 scoreline at full time was no more than Brighton deserved--or Tottenham.

The PL's top three all won, albeit with some difficulty.  Man U held Villa to a scoreless draw, which may have given ten Hag another few weeks of employment.  United has some great attacking players (who are poorly coached), but their back line is ravaged by injury and, to put it unkindly, with age.  I don't know what happened to Marcus Rashford.  I still like him, but Man U seems to have sucked all the joy out of his life.  

Here's the current table, just seven games in:

I don't believe that Palace will finish near the relegation zone, and I don't think Manchester United will finish in the bottom half.  Fulham and Brighton are doing better than I expected, though I'm happy for the ex-gunners on those teams.  Wolves are a shocking last place.  Can they turn it around?  Southampton is, I think, a sure bet for bottom three.  Whether Ipswich and Leicester join them in going back down to the Championship after one season is an open question, with Everton, Palace, and Wolves all doing so poorly.  There are no surprises at the top of the table.  I expect a more wide-open race for the title this time, though if any team has a chance of running away with it, I think it's Arsenal.  City has lost Rodri for the season and they may fade, even with their cyborg goalscorer.  Liverpool has had a kind schedule to date.  By March, I may be backtracking on these predictions, but my crystal ball has Everton, Leicester, and Southampton going down, Arsenal winning the league, and Liverpool, City, and Villa rounding out the top four. Chelsea 5th, which may be good enough for Champions' League.

ARS 3-1 SOU

 This was not the walk in the park I expected.  We couldn't break through despite overwhelming possession in the first half.  I thought Sterling and Jesus were too slow to make decisions, and didn't always make good ones.  I was worried about Partey as right back, but he wasn't tested.  Calafiori had a strange game:  going forward he looked great, but his best moments on defense were when he had to make recoveries after being beaten by his man.  He does not appear to have the pace of a Premier League forward, and is too easily outrun down his side.  He also lost his man late in the game and put us under pressure.

But Saka imposed himself on this game.  After the Saints' too-easy goal, our main man got two assists and one goal.  His corners were more erratic today. but he did put some nice ones in.  Havertz was really good again today; his finish for our first was perfect.  When the subs came on, I thought it would be Trossard who scored, but Martinelli made a great run and applied a deft finish from a yard out at a tight angle between Ramsdale's legs, on the end of an exquisite cross from Saka.  He potted the third goal after a breakaway and a follow off a blocked shot.

I didn't see the PSG game, but the highlights are definitely indicative of the stats.  It was a deserved 2-0 win off what I have to say looks like a shadow of the PSG of prior years.

ARS 4-2 LEI

 What a crazy game.  Leicester tried shutting up shop in the first half and it didn't work.  Arsenal's relentless attacks resulted in two decent goals.  The Foxes came out swinging after the break and it paid off.  A free kick was headed by Justin and took a wicked deflection into the top corner.  Then a cross-field ball was volleyed by Justin magnificently off the far post.  Maybe a goal of the season.  So, 2-2 and an Emirates stadium full of worriers.  It took until injury time, off our 17th corner kick, and it was an own goal, but it was definitely coming.  The fourth goal came on a counter.  Their keeper Hermansen kept Leicester in the game with some smart saves, but in the end we didn't have to explain how we could outshoot an opponent 25-4 and not win.

City drew with Newcastle and Liverpool won.  It's getting quite congested at the top of the table.

The hits keep coming

 After losing an early 1-0 lead, Everton 2 Crystal Palace 1, and we are still winless in six games.  What happened to the on-fire team that got 16 points out of its last five games just a few months ago?  The fire seems to have gone out.  

ARS 2-2 MCI (women) and MCI 2-2 ARS (men)

 I didn't get to watch either of these games (we were helping a relative move) and saw the highlights afterwards.  Wow.  The women's game was really good but the men's game had a lot of drama as well as quality.  What a hit from Calafiori!  It made up for the way he was spun by Savinho earlier in the runup to Haaland's goal.  Gabriel's scoring record is phenomenal from corners,  I don't have an argument about Trossard's red card; it was harsh but he did clatter into the player from the back with his elbow leading.  Arsenal may be the world's toughest team to score against, so I wasn't surprised that we held out for over 50 minutes before City broke through.  It was coming.  I'd have taken a point before a ball was kicked, and that's what I got.

No one is running away with the league. We've drawn with City and Brighton (playing with ten men for a half in each game) and beaten Villa.  We've had our share of injuries and suspensions too.  Merino and Odegaard are big misses and we will need them to return before too long and play at their customary high level if we are going to have a chance to win the league.  We have to target silverware in all competitions.  

Ex-gunners Smith-Rowe, Reiss Nelson, Alex Iwobi (Fulham) and Welbeck (Brighton) had a goal or an assist this weekend.  Good for them.

HBK 1-0 ARS (women, CL qualifier) and More Thoughts on the NLD

 You don't get points for hitting the crossbar or for time of possession, unfortunately.  Hacken defended really well, and scored on one of their dangerous counters.  Now we'll have to win by two at home in the second leg.  We'll have to play a lot better than we did today.  Chances went begging and no one wanted to shoot.

Jon Ollington's excellent "By the Numbers" column on Arseblog News reveals the possession dominance of Spurs last Sunday, but xG was even.  We relied on our strong defense to nullify their attack and in the end a corner kick goal was their undoing.  Two of our three goals in our last win in the Toilet Bowl were off corners too.  Postecoglou looks rather dumb for failing to do anything to improve Tottenham's ability to defend set pieces (we're not the only team to score against them that way) and opposition goalkeepers must be getting nervous when we take them.

To win without so many important players inspires confidence.  But the Spurs game was close, and as I wrote before, Villa could easily have won that game.  Nevertheless, we have an awesome away record and will be hoping to extend that run next Sunday at the Etihad.

City's hearing on their financial transgressions started yesterday.  I don't expect anything to come out of it.

TOT 0-1 ARS: First Test Passed

 I was traveling for the Brighton game and didn't see it.  Replays revealed how silly Rice's second yellow was.  Annoying.  Two points stolen.

Rice's suspension, coupled with Odegaard's injury, and Merino's injury, meant that Arsenal's probable starting midfield was unavailable for the North London Derby.  I was apprehensive.  It was a close, hard-fought game, the difference being a corner.  Gabriel powered a perfect Saka corner kick past a flailing GK in the 65th minute.  Tottenham had chances, but they never really looked like scoring.  We played surprisingly well.  The usual ball control was missing, but defensively we were excellent.  These three points was earned.

AVL 0-2 ARS: Anything But Routine, But I'll Take It

 Wow, what a wild ride.  Ollie Watkins of all people missed two sitters.  Villa had more quality chances than we did, but failed to capitalize.  We made two of our chances count, via Trossard and Partey.  Martinez should have kept Partey's shot out but his wrist was not up to the task.  Villa was very good and launched some superb counters, to no avail.  This ought to do wonders for our belief and confidence.

Timber did well at left back.  He asn't as smooth in possession as Zinchenko but he did his part, and he was an upgrade on Zinny in defense.  Calafiori came in for him and looked really good.  If we had a midfield injury crisis, I can see either of them doing a job as a holding midfielder.  Raya made a great save (to be fair, so did Martinez), the back four was solid for the most part, and we did enough in midfield to maintain most of the possession.  It wasn't a game for strikers.

Man U lost to Brighton due to a couple of terrible defensive mistakes, leaving Seagulls wide open at the far post.  It was a great day for former Gunners Welbeck, who scored for Brighton, and for Smith-Rowe and Iwobi, who powered Fulham to a 2-1 victory over Leicester.  Good for them.

No Goal, No Justice

 My blogmate must still be seething over the gross injustice done to Crystal Palace and Eberechi Eze in Week 1 of the Premier League.  Eze took an audacious free kick direct at goal from a long way (38 yds?) which beat the Brentford keeper, who was expecting a cross into the box.  But the referee blew the whistle because of a tie-up in the group awaiting the free kick.  In my view, it was not a foul in the first place, and it had nothing to do with the free kick.  This would have been the opening goal.  Palace eventually lost the game 2-1.  It was a very entertaining contest, but it was annoying in the extreme to see the game's best play chalked off for a stupid officiating error.

ARS 2-0 WOL: One Down, 37 to Go

 The score was about right.  The Gunners deserved to win comfortably, which is not to say that it was easy or that we didn't male mistakes.  A couple of those mistakes probably should have been punished, but weren't.  We gave the ball away cheaply several times; Partey was particularly loose.  Our goals were magisterial, Havertz expertly heading a perfect cross from Saka past Jose Sa in the first half, and Saka receiving a Havertz pass out wide, cutting in, and lashing one inside Sa's near post.  Both were unstoppable.  We could have had more but for stout defending and wayward finishing.  All in all, Arteta learned a few things and our main men were close to their best form.  The Merino buy looks more necessary than ever after this worrisome start from Partey, though.  Timber came on late and looked very sharp, but tried to do too much and was robbed of the ball once in a bad spot.  He'll get a talk about that from Arteta.

I still wonder if Timber or Calafiori could play as a holding midfielder.

Well, it's Aston Villa next weekend.  They looked very good today beating West Ham in London.

The Preseason

 First, transfer tittle-tattle:  We made the Raya acquisition permanent, and spent £40+M on another defender, Riccardo Calafiori.  Honestly, Arsenal has the deepest defensive bench in the world.  Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes start at CB, and White at RB.  LB was an issue but Calafiori would be ideal there.  Any of those guys can play across the back line.  Behind them, there's Kiwior, Zinchenko, Timber, and Tomiyasu.  Arteta is definitely building from the back.  Apparently he thinks the Premier League's best defense can get even better.  It looks as though Mikel wants another Mikel, Merino, in midfield.  He has a very Rice-like profile and could play a six or an eight.  Outgoings include Emile Smith Rowe (Fulham) for £34M and probably Eddie Nketieh to Marseille for around £20M.  Reiss Nelson is in the shop window as well.  It would not be surprising to see Kiwior move back to Serie A, but if Gabriel goes to Saudi Arabia (long shot), we'd probably keep him for backup.  Everyone wants a great striker or winger, but the price has to be right.  And Aaron Ramsdale is desperate to play.  I think the guy is a really good GK and should fetch £20M+ easy, but we shall see.  Karl Hein seemed pretty solid to me in all three games.

The three US games were great showcases for young talent and an opportunity to get everyone together in a competitive atmosphere before the regular season.  It's always nice to win, but no one actually cares much about that.  Liverpool scored two really nice goals--the second was delicious--and deserved to edge the Gunners last night.  We beat Man U by the same 2-1 score, and Bournemouth was a 1-1 contest.  Bright spots were Ethan Nwaneri in midfield--the guy is almost ready for the senior team--and a rejuvenated Gabriel Jesus.  Martinelli looked eager as well.  Timber was good.  It was a good run up to the season ahead.

Another Almost Season

 Oh yeah, a sixth straight win, 2-1 over Everton, but City won 9 straight to close us out.  They're so good that they operated without de Bruyne and other important players for a lot of games and still won the league.  Arsenal had injuries this season, but not like last year.  Zinchenko, Partey, Jesus, and Martinelli were out for much of the season, and of course Timber missed the whole thing with an ACL tear.  Saliba played every minute of every game and still looked great out there.  We barely had a game without Odegaard, and we had Saka most of the time.  Rice was ever-present, as were Big Gabi and Ben White.  Havertz was always available.  So we can't say we were hit hard by injury.  We were the third youngest team in the league, so the future looks bright.  

No silverware this season, again.  That will be the goal in 24-25.

Crystal Palace 5 Aston Villa 0

  Six wins and a draw in their last seven games.  Mateta joins Eze and Olise to produce a potent offence.  Palace finishes in the middle of the table, after seemingly being dead in the water after 31 matches.  What a turnaround.  Even Bayern Munich is trying to grab Glasner.  

OTOH, even the 30 points they had after 31 matches would have kept them from relegation.   The bar was very low this year, but who knew it after 31 matches?  

Can Palace hold on to these players and Glasner?  

For the moment, I'm satisfied to end the season on such an upbeat note.  

Juventus Wins Coppa Italia, and Celtic Win the SPL

 I have secondary favorites in other leagues, and two of them won silverware this week.  Congratulations to them.

Tottenham tried to beat City, but they just don't have it in them this year.  Unless West Ham does the unthinkable at the Etihad, the club with 115 violations of financial rules will win again.

MNU 0-1 ARS: Not Pretty, But Good Enough

 On recent form, Arsenal was expected to blow Man U out of Old Trafford, but that's not how it played out.  We were good enough to win, but just barely.  United had a lot of starters out injured and we were healthy, but our offense never got going with the exception of the goal, which Casemiro made possible by walking forward and allowing Havertz to stay onside.  He then turned Jonny Evans inside out and made a great pass to Trossard, who made an excellent run into the box for the finish.  All in all, not a good game, from all accounts.

So it'll go to the last day, whatever happens at the Toilet Bowl between City and Spuds.  Recent results have shaved our goal difference advantage to just three, so City could retain the title after a draw at Spuds if they beat West Ham by three goals more than we beat Everton.  It could happen, you know, and what a finish that would be, with both teams trying as hard as they can to run up the score.

CP 4 MU 0

 Palace is ending this season on an upbeat mode, having played well since the win over Liverpool, which is a hopeful sign for next season.  

ARS 3-0 BOU: Not as Close a Game as the Score Indicates

 Bournemouth is a team in form, and they played well.  It seemed as though their coach Iraola set them up to keep it close in the first half, which they did, but that's risky.  Havertz won a soft penalty late in the half which Saka scored, but it should probably have been 3-0 by then, but for some wayward finishing and last ditch defending.  The Cherries came out swinging in the second half and presented some threat.  (For the game, Arsenal had an expected goals of over 3 and Bournemouth had an xG of about .37.)  Eventually, the Gunners' high press wore the Cherries out and Trossard got a second Arsenal goal off nice work from Rice.  Rice got the last goal deep into stoppage time.  Bournemouth had the ball in the net after our second, but Raya had been pushed out from under a ball he'd have caught otherwise, so it was disallowed.  The refereeing was not great.  Saka's thigh was bloodied by a late studs-first challenge and no card was issued, for instance.  Fouls were given for infractions that at other times were ignored.  We got the big decisions, and I think we were lucky to get both of them.  They seemed close to me.

City did us one better in the goal difference contest, beating Wolves 5-1.  Our GD is now six better than City's.  GD will only come into play if City draw one of their three remaining games (and the rest are won by us and them), so let's assume they do that.  For them to make up the six goal difference, they'd have to get a GD at least + 8 in those two wins.  (Because we'd be at least +1 in each win, natch.)  It's possible, but unlikely, and if we can pad our GD in our two games it may be out of City's reach.  But they have to drop points for us to have a chance.  We shall see.

TOT 2-3 ARS: A Proper NLD

 We rode our luck, especially with referee decisions, but got the three points we absolutely needed.  We were flattered by the 0-3 halftime score.  An own goal on a corner, a breakaway after a missed penalty call for Spuds, and another goal off a corner gave us what should have been a platform for an easy 45-50 minutes after the break.  but when we were cruising comfortably, Raya presented a gift to them and suddenly they were in it.  As the minutes ticked down I got complacent again, but then Rice kicked one of their men in the area and Son blasted an unstoppable PK into the net and it's a one goal game with 5 minutes plus stoppage time (6 minutes as it turned out) to get through.  There were scares, but the men in white weren't able to push that tying goal into the net.  Massive relief.

I thought Tottenham played really well.  They outshot us and had more of the ball (not unusual when one team gets ahead early).  Some of our guys weren't up to their usual standards.  We got robbed of possession numerous times.  But the defending was excellent.  My view is that Havertz was exceptional for us, Saka very good, but Odegaard and Trossard not as impressive as they have been previously.  Partey was fine but did lose the ball a few times.  Rice had a good game (despite that pen).  Tomiyasu once again is not the slick passer that was required for us to keep moves down the left going.  Raya's error was a real howler.  He did claim pretty much every cross Tottenham floated in.  I'm hoping the Spuds play this well against City--better if possible.  They'll give them a game if they do.

April 28 is St. Totteringham's Day this year.

WOL 0-2 ARS and ARS 5-0 CHE: Two Clean Sheets

 The games are coming faster than my ability to blog about them, apparently.  We dominated Wolves, who had an xG of about .16.  Trossard's opener was unstoppable.  He was set up by Jesus in a remarkable demonstration of strength and determination.  He seems to be coming back into form, even if he's still carrying injuries.  It was nervy for us at 1-0, so it was with relief that I watched Odegaard pounce on a rebounded blocked pass to squeezed one between the keeper and the near post from a tight angle.

Speaking of which, that's what Trossard did for our very early opener against Chelsea.  They were playing without an ill Cole Palmer and seemed befuddled all game.  They tried hard and created a few good chances, but the Blues were overmatched and eventually cut to pieces in the second half, White and Havertz scoring two apiece in an 18 minute stretch.  It pads our considerable goal difference advantage should City drop points along the way.  We're now three points clear of Liverpool (who have a game in hand) and four clear of City (who have two games in hand).  It's a great place to be.

We take a team bus up Seven Sisters Road to Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Sunday for a serious test of our title challenge.  Then it's Bournemouth at home, a trip to Old Trafford, and Everton at the Emirates.  Not the easiest of run-ins, but the men will be up for it.

Arsenal has scored the most goals of any Premier League team, and allowed the fewest goals.  I believe that we've been lucky when it comes to injuries to key players, which helps.  In the back line, the left back position has been hit hard but the rest of the defenders have played almost every game.  Timber tore his ACL in the first game, though, and hasn't played since at the senior level.  Martinelli has been in and out.  Partey was out for most of the season in midfield, and of course Jesus has been hurt much of the season.  But Gabriel Magalhes, Saliba, Odegaard, Saka, White, Havertz, and Rice have been available pretty much throughout the season.  They look tired sometimes, but that's how it is for teams in multiple competitions.

BAY 1-0 ARS (3-2 agg): Out of Gas

 Since the Arsenal game was not carried free, I watched City lose to Real on PKs.  It was a very good game.  The Arseblog commentary, and their post-game posts, indicate that Bayern simply were better.  The Gunners did not threaten often, and our main men look very tired.  We could use some more quality depth, like any team.  We're still not out of the EPL title race, and got to the last eight in Europe's toughest competition.  

ARS 0-2 AVL: A Costly Off-Day

 Villa deserved the three points today.  The Gunners had a good first half but could not cash in on their opportunities.  The Villans owned us in the second half and the goals were coming.  It could have been worse.  I thought Zinchenko was a weak link today.  But it was a case of "not good enough" for Arsenal, who joined Liverpool in the bottling works as City has a clear field to a fourth straight title.  

Can I wonder out loud why Everton has been deducted points twice this season for dodgy financial transactions, but City has been charged with 115 violations of the same rules over a year ago but nothing has happened?  

ARS 2-2 BAY: Naive Again From the Gunners

 Kiwior was not anyone's first choice for left back except Arteta's, and he made a crucial error for Bayern's second.  Raya came too far out of goal to set up Bayern's first.  This is so un-Arsenal.  Credit to Bayern for taking full advantage of our screwups (though they could have had a third). 

Arteta's personnel change at the break was Zinchenko for Kiwior.  It almost backfired immediately as Sane got the better of our diminutive fullback, but we survived.  The tying goal came from some brilliant close work from Jesus at the edge of the box, who slipped it to Trossard for an assured finish.  Both players had been brought on a few minutes previous.  The last sub was Thomas Partey, who did not look good.  There was a penalty shout in the dying seconds when Saka went down after having pushed the ball past Neuer, but no referee is going to call it unless it's more clear-cut.  Saka probably should have taken the shot.

This game reminded me of the first Porto match, in that Arsenal pushed so hard for goals that they left themselves vulnerable.  It's not like them.  Saliba was carrying the ball into the final third; that's something that should be reserved for games when we're either three up or two down.  Arteta has to be furious about the yellow cards not taken which would have prevented Bayern's goals.

Well, now we have to win in Munich.  I'm confident, if we stay focused and don't leave a lot of space behind.

It finished 3-3 in Madrid.  Both ties are finely poised.

BHA 0-3 ARS: Impressive

 Coming before the Bayern game, this fixture rated to be a tough one for us.  Brighton had not lost at home since August.  But the Gunners were on top all game, until 2-0 anyway, and it was clear from the off that an Arsenal win was in the cards.  A Saka PK was the lone first half goal, then Havertz slotted home from close range, and late on Trossard dinked the excellent Seagull keeper on a breakaway.  Brighton was tough, but we were just too good.  Arsenal tops the table, at least until Liverpool plays tomorrow.

The USWNT had a good outing against Japan, winning 2-1.

ARS 2-0 LUT: Cruise Control

 A much-changed side outclassed Luton at the Emirates today.  The Hatters are injury-ravaged, but always give a good ccount of themselves.  They had the longest EPL streak of games in which they scored at least once.  The Gunners started five players who didn't start Sunday, and they didn't click as well as hoped, but it was enough.  It may be very useful to have given important minutes to some of the men out there, especially Emile Smith-Rowe and Thomas Partey.  They did pretty well.  I wish Arteta would give Odegaard a break, though.

City beat Villa comfortably; Liverpool hosts Sheffield United tomorrow.

MCI 0-0 ARS: I'll Take It

 Neither team played well enough to win today, or poorly enough to lose.  This was the first home game in 57 that Chelsea failed to score.  Arsenal lost the last seven at the Etihad.  This point is great.  Liverpool's earlier win means they're two up on us and three on City.  Well, the job is still the same:  win every game and hope the competition doesn't.

Arsenal Women Win Conti Cup 1-0 Over Chelsea

 Emma Hayes (Chelsea coach) was sad after 120 minutes today at Molineux as Arsenal women got their bit of silverware.  Aww.  Maybe it'll make her hungry for US glory when she takes over the USWNT job this summer.  Stina Blackstenius powered the winner in after 116 minutes.  Congratulations to them.  They're out of the other cup competitions and can't catch Man City and Chelsea at the top of the WSL.

Mexico 0-2 USMNT: Dos a Cero de Nuevo

 The semifinal against Jamaica was the US team at its worst:  toothless and sloppy.  After allowing a goal within 40 seconds due to inattention, we failed to score for the next 95 minutes, when we got an own-goal to send the game into extra time.  Then the Americans kicked into gear and put two past the Reggae Boyz keeper, thanks to incisive passes from Gio Reyna.  Jamaica was without several of its most dangerous players, so this result was worrisome.

But in the final, Mexico was not particularly scary, and the US had the better chances, putting two past the 38 year old Ochoa (who is now slow as well as short, a bad combination in goal) and forcing him into a couple of sharp reaction saves too.  Matt Turner didn't have to do anything difficult all game.  This makes it three out of three CONCACAF Nations League championships in the tournament's short history.  It bodes well for the World Cup two years hence, when we share hosting duties with Mexico and Canada.  Dream big!

ARS* 1-0 POR (1-1 agg., 4-2 pens): This Club Needed That

 Arsenal has been a Champions' League also-ran for that contest's existence.  We did get to the final in 2005, but lost to Barca.  We've never won it, and often go out in the first knockout round. Our Europa League record isn't spectacular, either.  For the stature of the club, a good European showing is something the Arsenal need to do every year, and win a cup some time.  This is big.

Porto was really tough.  They're third in the Primeira and in good recent form.  They knew what they wanted to do and executed very well.  The third-country refereeing was not great, especially in the first game, so they cooperated with Porto's time-wasting, play-acting, and constant fouling.  The Gunners did not play well against Porto's dogged defense and lightning counters.  So 1-1 after 210+ minutes seemed about right.  All four Arsenal penalty kickers in the shootout scored; Raya saved two Porto attempts to win this knockout round.

Whew.  Let's hope we play better in the next round.

SHU 0-6 ARS and ARS 2-1 BRE: The Ecstasy and the Agony, and then More Ecstasy

 Well.  The Gunners had more than their fair share of good fortune to add to their great play at Bramall Lane, padding the score via a couple of deflections.  The Blades were never in the game.  Six scorers...that's the Arsenal way this season.  Brentford gave us all we could handle on our ground yesterday, but we overcame an amazingly dumb gift goal from our former regular GK to get three necessary points in what is a fabulous title race.  In fairness, Ramsdale made two spectacular saves in the second half that I don't think Raya would have made.  In the end, two more headed goals, from Rice and Havertz, both from Ben White crosses, were just enough to overcome the feisty Bees.  

Ramsdale's evening was a perfect demonstration of why he was fine for us last season but not for this one.  There's no better shot stopper, but he still isn't good enough with the ball at his feet to fit in with Arteta's total control philosophy.  If he plays for us again, it will be because of injury or suspension to Raya, though I'd make him a last minute substitution* for Raya if a Champions' League game is about to go to penalties.  I expect a team will buy him off us.  He's good on a team where he'll be called on repeatedly to bail out his defense.  He'd be an upgrade on many EPL keepers, I think.  But he's not going to spend time as a backup for Arsenal.

Havertz has silenced the doubters and has a great chant now:  "Sixty million down the drain, Kai Havertz scores again!"  Arteta gave him every chance to integrate with the squad and boy has he ever.  I still think he can improve his finishing.  He's keeping Jesus off the team.  

The focus has to be on Porto now.  To be eliminated from the ECL now would be big failure.  At the end of the month, of course, there's the showdown with Man City.  Their draw with Liverpool at Anfield today leaves us in first place on goal difference against the Reds and one point better than City.  The pressure on all three contenders to win every game is enormous.

*  Boy was I wrong about that!  Raya was great in the shootout against Porto.

How many times

 Can a team blow a won game in the last seconds? 

Crystal Palace 1 Luton 1  

A team that can do that, so many times, deserves to be relegated

   

ARS 4-1 NEW: Total Dominance

 I didn't watch the Porto game.  I hope that our last-minute errors don't doom our Champions League quest.

The Premier League dream is still alive after the Gunners' 4-1 thrashing of the Magpies.  I like their manager and there's talent in their team, but they looked pathetic yesterday.  Joe Willock, an Arsenal product who became a hero at St James's Park when we loaned him there and was subsequently bought by them for about $33M, scored their goal late on a great running header.  (Another former Gunner from the academy, Alex Iwobi, scored the winning goal for Fulham yesterday against Man U.)  The first half saw Arsenal throttle Newcastle, and the second half wasn't a whole lot better for the Toon.  Arsenal became the first Premier League team to score multiple goals in seven consecutive halves, for what that's worth.  Jorginho was named man of the match.  He managed the defensive midfield duties (there wasn't a lot to deal with) and provided some penetrating passes.  Really, everyone in red played well.  

We don't control our destiny in the league.  We play City and can pass them by beating them, but Liverpool has only to win their last 12 games (!) to ensure the title.  They just won the League Cup today.

BUR 0-5 ARS: Good Day at the Office for Arteta

 Liverpool had won the early game 4-1 over Brentford, so we had to win to stay in touch with them at two points back, which we did, passing their goal differential in the process.  Spuds lost at home to Wolves in the same time slot, so there's an 8 point gap now, bringing St Totteringham's Day closer.  And in the game of the week, Chelsea managed a draw with Man City at the Etihad, meaning that if City win their game in hand, they're only one point better than us with a worse GD.  There's a long way to go (13 games), but this is shaping up to be a great title race.  All three are in cup competitions, and injuries are thinning their squads.  Arsenal plays City away and City plays Liverpool; those are crucial contests.  In the EPL, upsets are a regular occurrence.  

Well, back to the Arsenal win.  Burnley tried very hard all game, but were outclassed.  A fine strike from Odegaard sent us ahead, and a few minutes before the break Trossard went down in the box (too easily, I think) and we were awarded a PK, which Saka dispatched.  In the second half, Saka blasted into the roof of the net with his right foot (they never expect that from him), Trossard curled a loose ball past the keeper, and finally Havertz nutmegged a defender and netted with only the keeper to beat.  Burnley had just 34% possession and no shots on target.  The effort was there from the Clarets but the skill to stay with the Gunners was not.  The scoreline did not flatter us; Arsenal really was that much better.  We could use Jesus, Tomiyasu, and Zinchenko, but are managing fine without them for now.  (Vieira and Timber are probably unavailable for most of the rest of the season.)  Smith-Rowe subbed in and seems fit, if a bit rusty.  Kiwior slotted in as left back again and was fine.  Up front, Trossard was the false 9.

Notts County lost to Wrexham, Arsenal Women beat Man U, and Juve drew against relegation threatened Verona.  And Wellington Phoenix is top of the A-League!

CRY 1-3 CHE: Not Again!

 It's getting ridiculous.  Without Eze and Olise, the Eagles managed a 1-0 halftime lead courtesy of a fine strike from Lerma.  But Gallagher leveled soon after the restart, and just when it seemed Crystal Palace might get a point, Gallagher struck again.  There was another goal late in injury time to make it look easier for the Blues than it was, though in truth they were the better team on the night.

Injuries are making it a tough slog in Palace's struggle to escape relegation.  With their current form, it is very plausible that they'll drop to the Championship.

If that happens, they may have to sell their prize assets.  They'll be desperate to stay up.

WHU 0-6 ARS: Keeping Pace

 The Hammers had beaten us twice this season despite being outshot by a wide margin, but today they were off color and got beaten easily on set plays to go behind, then were picked apart in open play while chasing the game.  We were very good, but West Ham were poor.  It could have been 7-0 or 8-0 but for some smart saves from Areola and wayward finishing from a couple Gunners.  A good day at the office, and a boost for goal differential.

The other teams in the race won yesterday, with Villa and Man U (5th and 6th place) playing in a few minutes.  It stays tight.  We play at the Etihad later in the season, and City plays Liverpool, so there's some direct combat.  But it looks as though to win the league the top teams will have to win the games they're supposed to win.

ARS 3-1 LIV: We're Not Out of the Race

 To be honest, I was not optimistic about today's game.  Liverpool has been very good lately, us not so much.  And they beat us at the Emirates 2-0 in the FA Cup not long ago.  So it was great to see Arsenal impose its will on Liverpool for long periods in the first half.  There was a touch of fortune about both goals in the 1-1 half, but while the Reds had their nearly moments, the Gunners had the better chances and most of the play.  In the second, Arsenal still looked the better side, but got their goal on a dreadful mixup between van Dyke and Allison, who presented the ball to Martinelli to roll into the net.  To give our speedy Brazilian credit, he was so strong resisting VVD's charging shoulder that the big defender's momentum carried him into contact with the onrushing keeper.  Martinelli was a threat until he was subbed out for Trossard, who justified this move by turning magnificently at the byline near the halfway mark and racing onto the keeper.  Once again, it was VVD to the rescue to deflect Trossard's angled shot (aimed for the back post) through Allison's legs for our third, in injury time.  Oh, and Konate picked up two (borderline) yellows and was sent off somewhere in there.  Happy days.

We're still trailing Liverpool by two points, and if City wins their two games in hand, they'll be three better than us.  But we still play Man City, and City has to play Liverpool yet.  It could get tangled.  Villa is just three points back of us, and Spuds only two back of Villa, then it's a six point gap to United.  An intriguing race to be sure.

It's a potential relegation scrap, though it appears only 18th place is in doubt, Burnley and Sheffield United both appearing to have accepted their fate.  Everton is likely to move out of 18th, with Luton a point ahead at 20 points, Forest at 21, Brentford at 22, and Palace at 24.  None is safe.

NFO 1-2 ARS: Just Enough to Win

 We thoroughly dominated Forest, but it took a horrendous goalkeeping error from former Gunner (and US #1) Matt Turner to break the deadlock in the second half.  Then naive play from Forest allowed a 4 on 3 which Saka finished off.  Arsenal was cruising until an 89th minute scrappy goal from Awoniyi jangled nerves.  But Forest could not get a second, and we took three points ahead of the showdown with Liverpool on the weekend.  We will have to play much better than this to beat them.  This was our first league double over them in 25 years, and we'd lost the last three at the City Ground.

Villa was soundly beaten at home by Newcastle, a shock result since the Magpies had lost four in a row and Villa hadn't lost at home for nearly a year.  I expect the Villans will not be able to compete for the league, but they'll give the ECL slots a go.  The game of the day was at Selhurst, where Palace came back from deficits (to Sheffield United) twice and grabbed the points off two goals from Eze, both assisted by Olise, who scored the winner.  I don't know what their contract situations are, but every top club in the world could use either of them--and Palace needs them both.  Luton pounded Brighton and seems capable of climbing out of trouble, Everton may get out of the relegation zone.  There are so many bad teams that the relegation fight could get confusing.  The Blades and Clarets are still favorites to drop, but there's room for one more in the Championship next season.

ARS 5 - 0 CP: A Sad End to Roy Hodgson's Career?

 The Gunners did not have to do anything special to beat Palace soundly.  Goals from a couple of well-worked corners in the first half provided the platform to open up the visitors.  A breakaway goal by Trossard sealed the points, then in injury time the Palace substitutes naively left it too open in the back and Martinelli twice found himself with only the keeper to beat, and did so in Henryesque style (that trademark curl into the far bottom corner).  It could have been worse, too, but for some desperate defending at times.  Interestingly, there were no yellow cards issued in this game.  That's rare.

Graham Potter was spotted attending this game, a sure sign that he's being tapped up by the Palace management as a replacement for Hodgson, who today was recognized by the announcers as the oldest ever manager of an English top flight team at 76.  It's a cruel fate for a widely respected man in the game.

He has managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstad in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup and qualification for Euro 1996; Switzerland had not qualified for a major tournament since the 1960s. From 2006 to 2007, he managed the Finland national team, guiding them to their highest-ever FIFA ranking of 33rd place and coming close to qualifying for a major tournament for the first time in their history. He managed the England national team from May 2012 to June 2016. Other clubs that Hodgson has managed include Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, Malmö, Grasshoppers, Copenhagen, Udinese, Fulham, Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Watford.

Arsenal has a lot of work to do if they expect to challenge for the Premier League title this season.  I think it's not a likely prospect now, but the players are good and maybe things will come together.  I thought Smith-Rowe looked sharp today when he was brought on, and he could lift us.

Palace needs to get points soon to stop the rot.  They're just five points above the drop zone, but four three teams would have to pass them in the standings for them to be relegated.  On the basis of today's performance, I could believe that can happen.  They need Olise back at least.  I will say that their away kit today was very classy.

 

ARS 0-2 LIV (FA Cup)

 Fortunately, I didn't watch this one.  From what I can see, the Gunners created numerous first half chances but couldn't score.  Then we chucked one into our own goal late on.  Arteta is going to have to change something up, because with current form we might not even get top six.

FUL 2-1 ARS: Gunners Not Trophy-Ready

 As the game wound down yesterday, the phrase "easy to play against" kept running through my head.  That was what they used to say about us in the late Wenger era.  Everyone knew what we were going to try to do and they'd made plans to counter it, and knew we'd give them a few chances.  Fulham just did everything they planned better than we did, and Arteta had no adjustments.  When I saw Kiwior get a start, I was glad, because we need a left fullback to do the defensive job.  But Arteta wanted Kiwior to invert into midfield like Zinchenko, which is just dumb.  The Cottagers set up to frustrate our attack, and then take advantage of our attacking commitment to counter.  Long story short, they did that and more.  We were second best again in a London derby we needed to win to maintain any pretense of challenging for the title.

I have criticisms of Arsenal players, but I'm not going to make them in this post.  This was another of Arteta's losses.  He simply won't admit that everyone in the league has figured out how to negate his setup.  Teams that try to play an open style will be sliced open by Arsenal, but if they organize their low block properly we aren't versatile enough to score.  To be honest, Arsenal had been lucky in quite a few games.  This dreadful stretch has been coming for a while.  Our roster is stacked with great players in most positions.  Saliba and Gabriel may be the best center back pairing in the world.  Rice may be the best holding midfielder.  We have two top goalkeepers.  The fullbacks are fine though not top class.  Saka and Martinelli are very good wingers; Odegaard is a world class attacking midfielder.  The glaring weakness is at center forward.  We don't really have one when Jesus plays--he operates like a third winger--and we don't have a good one when Nketieh plays.  We also downgraded at the position ("left 8") that Xhaka played last season, with Havertz.  What would ten Hag give to trade squads?  Answer:  a lot.  It's not personnel, it's how they're prepared, selected, and organized.

I don't have the heart to go into the way we've collapsed on set piece play, from Trossard's awful corner kicks to sloppy defending on their corners, or on our increasingly impotent offense.  The players are losing faith in the Arteta Way, and why shouldn't they?  We're good, but not good enough to tell everyone exactly what we're going to do and then keep doing it whether it works or not.  I know it seems crazy, but maybe Arteta did his best work in assembling this group, and is not the guy to get the best out of them.  He deserves the rest of the season to try to put things right, but frankly I don't think he has it in him to admit that he needs to do something different to have a chance at top four.  (Forget winning the league.)  I hope I'm wrong, but based on our recent form I expect we'll be out of the FA Cup and in fifth or sixth place by February.  

There's no point splashing cash in January; it won't work.  Let's take stock in June, either basking in the glory of a major trophy or ruing a drop into Europa Conference League territory.  If Arteta needs to go, there will be plenty of applicants.  This is a group of players that can do great things with great management.