ARS 2-1 CHE: Excellent Game, Great Result. Plus, AMN!!

 Chelsea was a real test for the Gunners.  The Blues had five shots on target, and of course one of them went in 77 seconds into the game.  We don't have much experience at coming from behind, so it was great to see us do it today.  Both managers set up their teams to spring surprises and create overloads.  Defenders took advanced positions almost all game.  In the end, Arsenal's defensive stability was the difference.  All three goals were very good.  They hit the post once, and we had one ruled out (correctly) for offside.  Martinez and Raya were called into action quite a bit, and there were some top class saves for both.  On balance, I think we deserved the win.  The xG was heavily in our favor, but I don't believe you can say we were exactly comfortable.

Konsa was fine.  Our midfield was better than theirs but didn't dominate the way I hoped.  It was a really good day at the office, though.  It's a worrying sign that Gyokeres got on late again but was a total nonfactor, losing the ball a couple times when he shouldn't have.  Tzolis seems to have bounced back from his schooling from Matty Cash last week, but picked up a dumb yellow card, which I believe makes it two already.  Arteta made the same subs he did last week, except that Eze didn't get on the pitch.  He's going to have to rotate against teams that aren't as strong as Chelsea, or we'll burn out his first choice players.

Well, we and City are perfect so far, which is an early indication that these are the teams to beat if anyone else has hopes of winning the title.

Arsenal academy graduate Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored the goal of the season so far to steal a point at home for the Toffees against Man U.  It was only the second he'd scored in his career.  Everton grabbed him very late in the window for $6M.  He's earned it already.

The first half of that game was pretty bad, but it sprang into life early into the second half, after which it became a great watch.

No Striker for You, Mikel

 KSE just bought the Los Angeles Angels for a few billion dollars.  So Vinicius Jr was probably never a real possibility.  Stan Kroenke has built a real sporting powerhouse.

KSE’s full portfolio is wild: the Rams (NFL), Nuggets (NBA), Avalanche (NHL), Rapids (MLS), Mammoth (NLL), Arsenal (Premier League) and now the Angels (MLB). Add in Altitude Sports & Entertainment, Ball Arena, DICK’S Sporting Goods Park and Outdoor Sportsman Group, and you are looking at what Forbes has called the most valuable sports empire on the planet.

AVL 0-1 ARS: Just Enough to Win. Again. Dammit.

 Clean sheets are good.  They also seem to still be necessary, because we just can't score many goals.  The winner was slick and required the assister and the scorer to beat their defenders to the killing touch at full stretch.  Class all the way.  The rest of the game was something less than that, but the important thing is that we got the three points.

I don't know if a new marquee striker would mean more goals for Arsenal and easier viewing for me.  Maybe we were just a bit off in the attack, and subsequent weeks will bring better connections.  But this should have been more comfortable.

ARS 3-0 COV: Premier League Champions Overpower Championship Champions

Frank Lampard's Coventry did what they could, but integrating their new players probably cost them some fluidity.  They seldom threatened and the Gunners brushed them aside.  Our new man Tzolis was immense on the left wing.  He had lots of space--Calafiori's buccaneering approach helped with this--and was key on our first two goals, scored by Havertz and Saka.  Odegaard scuffed in the third, wrongfooting the keeper by hitting his shot off his standing foot.

Few of our games will be this easy, but it was a great way to kick off the season.  The drama was in team selection.  Martinelli and Jesus were not in the squad.  Neither were Guimaraes, who took a knock in the Community Shield, and Konsa, who was introduced to the cheering throng as our newest player.  Gyokeres, Dowman, and Nwaneri were unused subs.  

It seems to me that Madueke's function is simply to give Saka a break.  The stats say he created chances, but I saw just one.  Most of his possessions ended in our losing the ball.  Why not give Nwaneri a chance there?  A good showing might help him get a better loan move.

It's Villa in ten days.  Maybe Konsa will start against his former club.

ARS 3-0 MCI (Community Shield)

 The Gunners played well and deserved to win, but this was one of those games in which the keepers were decisive.  Donnaruma was poor for all three Arsenal goals, while Raya made two or three stellar saves.  However, our midfield overpowered the Citizens.  Odegaard was in World Cup form (he was great for Norway) with a very good goal, Guimares was strong, and MLS had a solid game (and a fine assist for Calafiori's opener).  The second half subs did well, too, especially Rice.  Defensively we did the business, but the absence of Timber and Saliba was felt.  Doku beat White a couple times, and Semenyo troubled Calafiori off and on.  Haaland got no service, though, which was the aim.  Gabriel and Mosquera marshaled him well.  Up front, Tzolis assisted twice--a header to Havertz and a delicate cross to Odegaard--and took care of the ball, Havertz scored and was an effective target man, and Madueke was threatening without quite finding the final ball (again).  When Saka came in for Noni, he sported a new hairdo.

It was a good day at the office for sure.  It ought to give us confidence and I hope it convinces Mikel that Myles has to be on our roster.  Zubimendi was immense for us last season, but I'd rather he were sold if someone has to be.  Nwaneri could use another loan; there's no room in midfield and there are three right wingers ahead of him in the pecking order.  

(Highlights)

Preseason Friendlies and Transfer Stuff

 The games with Girona, Betis, Dortmund, and Como weren't great and didn't tell us much.  Arteta got a look at some of the academy products and he introduced some of the regulars into competitive games.  Is the Community Shield the last preseason game or the start of our season?  Arteta will want to win it.

We acquired Tzolis early in the transfer window and he looked really good in preseason.  He'll have to be, because he's replacing Trossard, who was sold.  The Vinicius Junior saga ended fairly quickly, fortunately. Of course he's a wonderful player, but the price and the salary would have caused problems.  Buying Guimaraes was a shrewd move.  He's an expensive 28 year old, but he provides more bite in midfield and has an eye for the killer pass.  Our midfield is incredibly strong.  We have excellent players who will struggle to get minutes.  Zubimendi, Merino, Lewis-Skelly, and Eze will have to scrap for playing time, if we don't sell one or two of them.  Another crowded position is right wing, where Saka is first choice but Madueke, Nwaneri, and Dowman will all feel as though they should be used there.  I'd love to see some rotation to keep Saka fresh and healthy while giving Dowman a chance to develop with us.  Nwaneri should be loaned out.  

Saliba's bad back has us looking to buy a center back, and with Timber and White having their own fitness issues, that center back will probably be a right footer who can play at right back.  Konsa is the target.  Marli Salmon and Christian Mosquera are great prospects who can fill the bill, but who may be too young to entrust with that responsibility just yet.  Hincapie is ours permanently now, and let's hope Calafiori stays fit.  We even strengthened at GK, with Meslier coming in and looking more secure than Kepa, who is still ours for now.  Neither will challenge Raya, of course.

Even if we don't sign any other players, I like our chances to retain the title.  We'd have to be the favorites now, but every squad has strengthened and I expect a real dogfight for top spot all season.  I'll leave you with this fashion bulletin.

World Cup Rambling

 FIFA tries and tries to ruin this tournament, but the football always bails them out.  Ad breaks, expansion to 48 teams (another 40 games in which to sell ads that run in those breaks), ticket pricing nonsense, etc. are annoying and make a mockery of all the records being set.  We've got top teams playing the #83 nation, and an extra game for all the good teams; of course scoring records will fall.  But once past the mostly boring group stage (little was at stake for any of the teams with a shot at winning the cup), the round of 32 has served up some really good games, most of which were real nailbiters.  

The Arsenal players in the tournament have done their part.  I was very impressed with Trossard taking charge for Belgium, and even more impressed with Odegaard's running the show for Norway.  Martinelli got Brazil's winning goal against Japan, and Gabriel Magalhaes assisted the equalizer.  Declan Rice is England's most important player.  Madueke does not look great to me even if he is energetic; Saka is obviously injured.  Eze is a bit player but a useful sub.  Gyok never really hit top gear for Sweden.  Saliba is his usual magnificent self.  Our Spanish players may get a shot later.  Havertz has scored for Germany but he missed a pen that helped Paraguay oust them.  Hincapie covered his mouth instead of uncovering his butt, and the ref gave him a red card out of disappointment.  Former Gunners abound--Kolasinac shared a postgame chat with Flo Balogun after the USA's 2-0 win over Bosnia today.  I love our players and want them to be happy, but I also would like them to get some time off from crunching tackles, so I'm conflicted.

England-Mexico looks like a good game in the next round.  I like the USA's chances against Belgium.  But France will probably win it all.  Argentina is the only squad that might stop them.

Close But No ECL Trophy

 You know what happened.  Neither team created much, and the 1-1 score after extra time was a fair reflection of the game.  Arsenal had very little of the ball, but PSG's 77% possession did not result in an open play goal.  The relentless pressure did give us plenty of chances to concede a penalty, either through a foul or handball, and Mosquera (who had an excellent game) was the victim.  Raya saved a penalty in the shootout, but Safonov was spared having to make any saves due to two awful misses from Eze and Gabriel Magalhaes.

We lost, but I couldn't be prouder of the players.  The fans were magnificent this season.  Arteta has improved each season and has become a better tactician in the process.  He's always been a consummate man manager, and he communicates extremely well to the public.  I don't care that he's excitable on the touchline.  He's no worse than Klopp and is better behaved than Simeone or Mourinho.  What I love about Arteta is that he never criticizes his players, whatever the situation.  He praised them when they were finishing 8th.  If he doesn't think a player is going to help the team, that player will not get on the field.  It hurts, but it seems they all understand and have the proper professional attitude.  Norgaard played about 100 minutes in the league but never complained, for instance.

The stupid World Cup worries me.  The expanded format means more games (i.e. more money for FIFA) and our players who are participating may go deep into this thing.  Rice has played an insane amount of minutes and will surely start every England game.  Saka is just recovering from whatever was keeping him out.  I read that Saliba has a back problem.  I hope Timber can get through without getting hurt again.  At least Calafiori gets the summer off.  Here's an SI article on the Arsenal players in the Cup.

Will Hincapie do this on the world stage?  It went over big a few weeks ago.

Conference Final Tomorrow

 This is interesting.

Mismatch?

Random Comments

 Lewis Ambrose on Arseblog has a good article on how Arsenal won the league.  It's worth a look.

Speaking of winning the league, Celtic has done it again, but in very controversial fashion.  I'm a Celtic fan in the SPL, but calls the Scottish FA agreed were incorrect were pivotal in their doing it.  Hearts had led the league all season, but were beaten to the title on the final day by Celtic, who deserved their 3-1 victory.  However, Hearts lost two points when not awarded a pen against Motherwell, and then Celtic gained two points when they were awarded a penalty against Motherwell that even this Hoops fan thought was wrongly decided after VAR intervention.  Celtic won the Scottish Cup today for the domestic double.

In the aftermath of Arsenal's league championship, it's nearly forgotten that City won a domestic cup double.  For any other club, that would have been a rare, towering achievement.  But such has been their recent history that Pep is disappointed.  Whatever one thinks of their nation-state money and 115 violations of FA rules, they won all that silverware on the pitch, and looked stylish doing it.

Palace and the USMNT suffered a big blow last match day when Chris Richards had a serious knee injury.  Arsenal is the healthiest it's been since January, but Ben White, Jurrien Timber, and Mikel Merino are unavailable.  Both clubs will probably dial back the physicality to prepare for their European final the following week.

Champions!

 

City's draw with an excellent Bournemouth handed Arsenal the title. The scenes in the area around Emirates Stadium reflected the joy of the Arsenal fan base.  It's been twenty two years since the last time we won the top division (the Invincibles) and after three straight second place finishes (we also finished second to Leicester in 2017) it seemed as though this day would never come.  But the owners kept faith with Arteta's project, funded it well, and he delivered.  This is a squad built to withstand injury crises.  There's quality backup for every position.  It's unusual for a team to win the league without a big scorer (or two), but Gyokeres was our top scorer with 14 PL goals (tied for 5th on the list with 14--Haaland had 27) and or second highest were Saka and Eze with seven each, tied for 34th.  Our strength was defense.  Raya was superb all season, winning the gold glove for the third straight year, and he had Saliba, Gabriel, and Rice in front of him.  We allowed 26 goals so far, seven fewer than the next meanest defense (City's).  I think we've had eight 1-0 wins.

On Sunday, we play a meaningless game against Palace, another team with a European final in their immediate future, and it will be interesting to see how the managers deal with it.  The trophy will be hoisted there, and Palace fans will see their former star Eze holding it.  He won the FA Cup for them last season, which earned them a shot at the Conference League, and if they win that final they'll be in Europa League, so they owe him a lot--and they made about 60M pounds by selling him to the Gunners.  I expect they'll show him a lot of love at Selhurst.

The following Saturday is the Champions' League final in Budapest vs PSG.  I really don't know what to expect.  It will be very difficult to shut out the Parisians, but if any team can, it's us.

ARS 1-0 BUR: Just Enough to Win

 Although Burnley did not have a shot on target, it was impossible to remain calm through this game.  The Gunners had a good first half but were flat after the interval, and it would have taken very little--a handball or foul in the area, for instance--to create disaster.  But the job was done thanks to a firm defensive foundation.

WHU 0-1 ARS: Too Much Drama, Not Enough Goals

 This game is a good illustration of why we are not going to get a better goal difference than City (so let's hope it doesn't come to that).  We just find it absurdly difficult to put the ball in the net.  I figured this would be a tough game, at their place and with them desperate to get points to avoid relegation.  I was still confident we'd win, but that confidence ebbed as the clock wound down.  But the breakthrough came, it held up (the Hammers had a stoppage time goal disallowed for mugging Raya), and we're still in control of the race.

The Everton-City game handed us control of our destiny.  We have to beat Burnley at the Emirates and Palace at Selhurst.  If City drops points against Palace, Bournemouth, or Villa, the task becomes easier for us.  City has the FA Cup final vs Chelsea to play next Saturday as well.

ARS 1-0 ATL: We're in the Final

 It wasn't easy but the Gunners got the job done with a workmanlike performance.  Saka put in the game's only goal off a rebound from a saved Trossard effort.

PSG dealt with Bayern in Munich, scoring early to put Bayern two down in the tie, and holding on until a very late Kane goal.  They're a powerhouse, but I think we can take them.  For one thing, their keeper isn't as good as Donnaruma.

ARS 3-0 FUL: Finally, a Complete Performance

 As in the Newcastle game, we got an early goal.  But whereas we could not put the Magpies to the sword, we put two more past the Cottagers in the first half to make the game safe (and add to the goal difference).  We had additional chances too, but offsides and lucky blocks kept us from scoring more.  Hey, I'd have taken 3-0 before the game started.  Calafiori started and was very good.  MLS started in midfield and was fine.  Eze was great in the first half but faded in the second.  Saka started and was magnificent, assisting on the first goal and scoring the second.  Gyokeres scored twice and assisted Saka on his goal, bringing his goal scoring tally in all competitions to 21.  Madueke came in for Saka for the second half and was lively.  Zubimendi was on the bench until minute 64.  Trossard played the whole game, which suggests he won't be starting Tuesday.  We got some Max Dowman in the second half and he supplied some danger from midfield, coming in for Eze.

Arteta's team selection was spot on, and his tactics very effective.  Calafiori was obviously told to get forward and had the ball in the net (chalked off for offside) once.  Saka was the key, breaking the game open with his brilliant cross to assist Gyok (see photo for goal) and fantastic finish when Gyok found him beautifully.  Trossard had the assist on Gyok's second (Arsenal's third), an excellent header.

The squad should be confident and sharp for our game with Atletico.  It better be, because they're very tough in cup competitions.

OL 3-1 ARS Women (4-3 aggregate): Lyon Just Too Good

 The Gunners gave a good account of themselves, but both individually and as a team, we were outplayed today to lose our semifinal with a very impressive Lyon.  We dodged a bullet when Lyon's first goal, off a corner (they looked like scoring on every one), was chalked off for an offside (wrongly in my opinion).  We looked to have dodged another bullet when von Domsselar saved a Renard penalty, but she'd come off her line before the save.  It was retaken and the tie was all square.  Then, off a corner, a back post shot beat our keeper (she should have done better) and we were behind in the tie.  In the second half, Arsenal looked more dangerous.  We hit the woodwork twice, and the ball beat their keeper (an OG I think) off a dangerous cross, and we were all square again.  But one last superb play from Lyon won it for them, as their scorer was (after a ridiculously long delay) been adjudged to have been onside, despite the on-field offside call.  It was very close.

I think the better team went to the final, but I'm obviously disappointed.  VAR got most of the calls right in the end, but it took forever.  The Gunners should feel good about their effort, I think.

ATL 1-1 ARS: No Open Play Goals in Tense First Leg

 Three penalties were called on the field, all of them soft in my opinion, and two were awarded, both converted.  There were chances at both ends, though.  Atleti had the better ones on balance, and I thought we were fortunate to escape with a draw.  Eze and Saka were fit enough to come in as second half subs, which is good news.  Saka is still off the pace, but Eze looks to be close to fully fit.  For me, Rice was our MOTM, but Raya was also excellent.  I expect us to play with more intent in London.

ARS 1-0 NEW: Too Close for Comfort

 We're in first place again, since City was engaged with a stubborn Southampton, City winning late to put themselves into the FA Cup final.  But it was not a smooth ride.  Eze blasted one past Pope in the seventh minute off a corner routine, but that was it for the scoring despite a few half chances for each team.  I wanted a bigger win, of course, but the major worry is the injuries to Havertz and Eze.  Gyokeres actually did well in his hour+ up front after Havertz's exit.  Saka played the last ten minutes plus the seven minutes of stoppage time, and looked lively.  Newcastle has lost their last six by one goal; they are a tougher opponent than their recent form suggests.  But we really should have been more dominant.

MCI 2-1 ARS: The Nearly Men Fall Short Again

 This was an excellent game.  The highlights will probably run fifteen minutes.  Both sides had shots carom off the inside of the post but fail to go in.  City's first goal from Cherki was lovely; Havertz's equalizer came from an ugly Donnaruma mistake.  There were plenty of chances for both teams but Haaland swept in a loose ball at 65 minutes for the final score, though there was lots of drama afterwards.

So, City now has an edge.  If they and we win the rest of oiur games, it'll come down to goal difference, and City's been firing better lately.  They're just one back of us on GD currently, but that'll change in midweek when they play lowly Burnley.  Neither team can afford to drop points.  They have the FA Cup to deal with, and we have Champions' League.  Down to the wire.

English Clubs in Europe

 Arsenal is in the last four of the Champions' League, Villa and Forrest are in the semis of Europa League, and Palace is three games away from a European trophy.  All got there fairly comfortably, beating quality opposition.