Early Match Drama and Midfield Battle
The match starts with Saliba on the bench. Mikel went with Trossard and Mosquera on the left and center back, respectively, which was odd. Arsenal went full flow and got a penalty in the 14th minute, or so we thought. The change in that decision still remains a head scratcher, PGMOL, we are looking at you! Anyway, the team switched through the gears after being wrongfully denied the pen, Eze was having a game against Pope with quickfire shots off in the first 15 minutes—good job Pope, but only just. Trossard was almost crashing the post after a slick counter move, then found himself free at the back post from a Saka corner, but he should have done better to nod it to Calafiori. Arsenal was playing their best football since this season. Then, Mosquera had one of those moments, a miscued ball for a corner and Newcastle scored against the run of play
Newcastle worked the corner short and beautiful, with Tonali delivering a peach-perfect cross to give Woltermade a free header. Gabby was too soft on that—no complaints about the goal. Despite all our dominance, we were looking at 1-0 down. Deja vu at Saint James's Park all over again or not? Nope, not this time, the team picked themselves up to show that this Arsenal landed at SJP with a bit between their teeth, especially since Liverpool had slipped at Palace. Gyökeres looked up for it (more on him later), the team put in a wonderful shift—not fazed by the atmosphere or physicality of Newcastle’s midfield, Joelinton and Bruno at the heart of it. Big ups to Zubi, Rice, and Eze in the middle of the park. I wanted to see Nørgaard, but Zubi did very well—intercepting, winning headers against Dan Burn (imagine that), popping balls to the right flank of Saka, and that ball to Timber—how Pope saved that was unbelievable. Rice, though, what a machine in the middle—assist, chasing down Murphy, the Newcastle right back to block shots. Now, that’s the Rice we want, and he showed it.
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| Gabby Wins It Late For The Gunners |
We battled the Geordies until the breakthrough came in the 86th minute with that sumptuous cross from Rice for Merino to deftly head in off the post for the equalizer. The gunners weren't done though. Gabby turned his would have been 5.0 rating to an 8.0 game rating by doing what he does best in the opposition box, he scores the winner, breaking hearts across St James Park with that header. Massive shout-out to Odegard for the assist and pre-assist. Eddie Howie singled him out as the one who changed the game for Arsenal. That picture above tells you what that win meant to the lads, long may that hunger to win continue.
Key Moments, Mistakes, and Gabby’s Role
Typical Arsenal, most gooners would say. Big Gabby—what was that? Was the referee supposed to blow a foul for that? C’mon? Anyway, we went into the break 1-0 down, but the team was playing well. Saka was good, still not best electric. Timber was showing himself to be quite an attacking fullback—taking notes from Benny Blanco, it seems. It was a big game performance from the boys.
All the positive stuff being rightfully said about the team, I want to mention some defining moments that could have cost us. Our hero of the day, Gabby, was at the heart of it all. First, his lack of effort for the goal we conceded—I mean, really? Then Gabby had the nerve to appeal for a foul on Woltermade, like double, really? He didn’t even try to jump for the header, very, very unlike Gabriel Meghales.
The other moment was Gabby’s shove on Woltermade, making things personal, it seemed. I’d say he was mega lucky on that one, knowing how itchy-fingered refs appear to be against Arsenal in big games—that could have been costly. The last incident, which might seem harsh to criticize him for, was the last-ditch tackle he had against Malanga... on another day, that would have been inexplicably given against us as a penalty, but not today, I guess.
I won’t want to be negative, but we got lucky on those potentially bad situations Gabby put us in. Anyway, I thought I’d put that out there because those were some ''in the balance'' moments which I expect Arteta, on replay, should call Gabby and say, “Hey, you are one of my leaders on the pitch, I expect better, do better so we can win the league, especially after dropping silly points last season due to similar type of silly mistakes.”
Graft, Grit & Gyökeres; What Lies Ahead
Lastly, to Gyökeres—he played his best game so far for Arsenal, battling away with the Geordies and their physicality, but he wasn’t fazed. Holding up the ball, bringing other players into the game, he was much, much better.
The next five games are key for Arsenal: West Ham at home, Fulham away, Palace at home, Burnley away, and Sunderland away. Liverpool play Chelsea, United, Brentford, Villa, and City in their next five. While it's important to note that we can't get too far ahead of ourselves, there is still an opportunity to build some momentum with Wins. On the flipside, things could get tricky if the team gets carried away by this win, so interesting times lie ahead. Up next is Olympiakos at the Emirates on Wednesday for a Champions League night.
Olympiakos Game Preview
The action returns to the Champions League on Wednesday night as the gunners welcome perennial Greek champions Olympiakos to the Emirates in game 2 of this season's league phase. Having started with an away Win at Bilbao, I am sure Mikel would want to bank the home games as wins to give the team a great chance of finishing as high as possible in the group. I wouldn't say one knows much about the Greek side but, they are in the Champions League for a reason. Besides, they did knock Arsenal out of Europe a couple of seasons ago, although Mikel repaid them in kind two seasons later. In all, Arsenal has met the Greek champions twelve times in history, and it's even stevens between us both, 6 W apiece for both teams, no draws, pretty odd if you ask me. Now, I would also be keen to see a bit of rotation. Defensively, Arsenal must be wary of set-pieces. Olympiakos have a history of scoring from corners and free kicks, so concentration from midfield to the backline will be essential to avoid the kind of costly mistakes we saw against Newcastle.
Overall, this is a game where Arsenal’s quality and experience should shine through, but complacency is not an option. Calafiori and Timber are due a breather, yeah, they rested for Port Vale, but they have been racking up the minutes lately while still prone to an odd injury, let's avoid it. Saka still needs minutes to get up to speed, as does Nwaneri. I may give Gyökeres a rest, please don't sh**t me, let's see Martinelli down the middle for a bit then Gyökeres can finish the match. Truth is, there are loads of games to go around and everyone would get a piece of the action. Here is my team selection below.
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| #ArsOly |
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