Catching Up with the Gunners
It has been a crazy couple of weeks here at Loudoun Arsenal-watching headquarters (also known as our house). At our house, that means travel baseball and Challenge soccer are peaking. Fortunately, almost all of what has happened over the past week and a half has been great news, and there hasn’t been as much to cover as the men have come off of an international break and the women are heading into one.
Women Rebound
We’re going to start with the women who, if you’ll recall from the last post, were struggling a bit after dropping points to Manchester United (draw), Aston Villa (draw), and Manchester City (loss) in the WSL and then FC Lyonnes in the Champions League. Not a great second half of September and first half of October.
The rebound has consisted of a win in both the Champions League (Benfica) and WSL (Brighton) going into the international break. Of the two, the Champions League win over Benfica, a 2-0 victory with goals from Beth Mead and Alessia Russo, was the more impressive, as Arsenal beat Benfica decisively, while their win over Brighton came by a 1-0 margin with the lone goal coming from a Brighton own goal.
So, where do the Arsenal women stand? It was imperative that they get some momentum heading into the international break so, mission accomplished. With Leicester City (currently 9th out of 12 in the WSL) on tap for their first match back in November, there should be a runway to be feeling good about themselves come the two massive match-ups that follow. On November 8th, Arsenal face Chelsea in the WSL in a crucial match to stay in the title race. While it may seem hyperbolic to call any match a must-win this early in the season, Chelsea are already five points ahead of Arsenal and are setting a blistering pace, with only a single draw blemishing their otherwise-flawless record. Going down by 8 points, even this early, would start to feel insurmountable, to say nothing of the other three opponents -- Manchester City, Manchester United, and Spurs -- sitting between them and the leaders.
On the Champions League front, the win over Benfica was nice but it hardly seemed as important, as the group stage of the event seems to be largely a formality for a side of Arsenal’s quality. Their next match-up, with German champions Bayern Munich, will be a tough test but the rest of the group matches – Real Madrid (not quite of the quality of their men’s side), FC Twente, and OH Leuven should put their worst outcome at 4-2 in the group with a reasonable chance of 5-1 or at least 4-1-1. Any of those outcomes should earn them a nice seeding for the knockout stages when the stakes get higher.
Men Step on the Gas
It is always frustrating when an international break interrupts a strong run of form. In this case, Arsenal went into the break with four consecutive wins across all competitions and unbeaten since the calendar turned to September. Would the break somehow mess with that momentum? As it turns out, the answer was a pretty definitive “no”.
A trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham may not seem like the trickiest fixture to face when returning to Premier League play but it is worth remembering that Arsenal played to a very frustrating draw in the corresponding fixture last season. It was the type of very winnable fixture that Arsenal was not clinical enough in last season on route to a third consecutive 2nd place finish.
One thing remained constant between the two, Fulham did not roll over for their more talented London rivals. It was a hard fought battle throughout but it was Leandro Trossard to the rescue in the 58th minute with the only goal of the match and then to the defense to lock things down and ensure that they Gunners secured all three points.
The hard fought victory was made even sweeter when, the next day, Liverpool hosted struggling Manchester United and contrived to lose 2-1. The match was a chaotic, wide open affair that, in addition to the three goals, saw Cody Gakpo hit the post three times and miss an easy header. Unlike other matches that have seen them struggle recently, the Reds had the better chances but still managed to lose a rare match at Fortress Anfield.
The two outcomes left Arsenal three points clear of second place Manchester City and four points clear of the defending champions, Liverpool, with all of the momentum in their favor.
With all of that positivity in their favor, Arsenal welcomed Atletico Madrid to the Emirates in what was billed as one of their tougher Champions League group stage matches. For those who don’t follow La Liga, Diego Simione’s Atletico are famous for their no-holds-barred defensive style and physical play.
Despite their reputation, Arsenal were very much in control of the match from the start. The first half didn’t yield any goals but they were threatening consistently with Bukayo Saka frequently going past Atletico left back Hancko like he was a traffic cone. Between some last ditch defending and nice work from Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak, the visitors held their hosts scoreless through the intermission. After the break, though, all hell broke loose.
For those who associate Arsenal with the high-scoring, elegant passing days of Arsene Wenger, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, and Patrick Vieira, Mikel Arteta’s side have been more pragmatic. The defense has been one of the best, if not the best, in Europe for a couple of seasons but the attack has rarely been as prolific despite their talent. Some of Arteta’s summer additions - specifically Eze and Gyokeres - were supposed to help add more flair to the bedrock defense. In the second half on Tuesday, the eruption finally happened.
In a thirteen minute span starting in the 57th minute, the Gunners struck four times leaving Atletico stunned and the Gunners at the top of the Champions League group standings. As it tends to under Arteta’s reign, it started with a set piece goal. Declan Rice, who has raised himself to Beckham-like levels as a free kick taker, found Gabriel in what is becoming one of the most potent routes to goal for the Gunners.
The second goal came seven minutes later and came from a slightly less frequent collaborators. Myles Lewis-Skelly, getting a rare start over Ricardo Calafiori, rampages from his left back spot through the center of the midfield. His dribbling left four or five Atletico players in his wake before he threaded a wonderful pass to Gabriel Martinelli who curled a one-time shot from the top left of the box into the far corner of the Atleti net. Arsenal haven’t scored many goals that one would consider pretty this season but this was definitely in that category.
If you sensed the weight of the world being lifted from a player’s shoulders this week, then it was probably the result of Viktor Gyokeres scoring Arsenal’s third and fourth goals to put the match away. Neither were works of art but for a forward who has been putting in a ton of work but not being rewarded with goals, these were hugely important. The first saw the Swedish international, positioned just inside the penalty spot, fire off a defender with the corresponding ricochet squirting past a wrong-footed Jan Oblak. The second was a repeat of the Rice-to-Gabriel set piece routine with the Brazilian center back’s resulting header coming across goal for Gyokeres to direct into the goal with his thigh.
After going down 2-0, Atletico weren’t going to get back into the match so the two Gyokeres goals were far more impactful for the player than the outcome of the match. That said, if the two less-than-artful goals are what boost his confidence and set him on a hot streak, it will give Arteta’s side the final piece of the attack they were looking for when they spent big to sign the Swede.
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Arsenal Watch Party!
For the first time since the opening weekend of the season, Loudoun Soccer and Anchor Bar are teaming up to throw another Arsenal watch party! Join us at 11:30 AM on Sunday, November 23rd at Anchor Bar Leesburg (609 Village Market Blvd SE, Leesburg, VA) as Arsenal face arch rivals Tottenham.
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