Stoppage Time Drama Giveth & Taketh Away
Since we last talked, the men have played three times (League Cup, Premier League, and Champions League), and the women once. While the men’s League Cup and Champions League ties were pretty straightforward, the other two matches were alive with late drama that changed the outcome of the match.
First, the League Cup tie at Port Vale’s Vale Park. PVFC are currently sitting in 16th place in League One and, given Arsenal’s insane depth in quality, this was never going to be a particularly competitive match. Aside from Saka and Saliba returning from injury and rebuilding their edge, this was a reserve side. Nonetheless, it still featured:
- Kepa - the reigning most expensive goalkeeper transfer in the history of club football
- Cristhian Mosquera - can jump right in for Saliba against much better opposition than Port Vale despite his youth
- Ben White - an England international
- Myles Lewis-Skelly - England international and one of the top young players in world football
- Christian Norgaard - Danish international and former Brentford captain
- Ethan Nwaneri - England U21 international
- Eberechi Eze - England international and scorer of the FA Cup-winning goal last season
- Mikel Merino - Spain international and European Champion
- Gabriel Martinelli - Brazil international
To be clear, this was mostly the B team. You could make the argument that Eze will be a presumed starter for most of the season, but he’s hardly a lock when Odegaard and Madueke are both fully healthy.
Following an early goal from Eze and a late one from substitute Leandro Trossard, the 2-0 final determined that Arsenal’s next opponent would be always-difficult Brighton at the Emirates on October 29th.
Dropping Points Late
Chelsea have set an insane pace in the Women’s Super League in recent seasons and as crazy as it might sound, any points dropped are massively important even four matches into the season. Against this backdrop, the Arsenal women kicked off against Aston Villa on Saturday morning.
Unlike the first two matches of the season, the Arsenal women got off to a fast start behind Frida Maanum’s 9th minute goal. Unfortunately, from there, things sort of sputtered out. I was up early on Saturday for a 7 AM ET start, and I can’t say that there was much to justify my early rising after the goal.
Even the usual trick of bringing stars who would be starters on other teams off the bench for the final 20-30 minutes didn’t help. Not only wasn’t a second goal forthcoming, there weren’t many passable opportunities at all.
It was enough of a bummer to witness a listless attacking performance early on a Saturday morning, but the real downer happened in the 3rd minute of stoppage time when Aston Villa scored an equalizer that robbed the Gunners of two crucial points in the race for the WSL title.
If the goal is to beat Chelsea to the WSL title, every single point is critical. Through four matches, the Blues haven’t dropped a point and have only conceded two goals (vs. 10 scored), including their opening day match-up with title contender Manchester City.
Did I mention that Chelsea didn’t lose a single match last season and only tied three? You can see how I might be worried that Arsenal have already drawn two. It may be that over the course of a league season, Chelsea are just too good to beat and that tournaments like the Champions League or the FA Cup are a better chance for Arsenal to win trophies this season (and into the near future).
Two Rallies for the Ages
Speaking of the difficult task of keeping pace with a strong defending champion, the Arsenal men opened the Premier League weekend five points behind Liverpool and facing what has been a house of horrors for them at St. James Park on Sunday.
The good news is that Liverpool were similarly faced with a fixture that has been challenging for them (and everyone else) at Selhurst Park on Saturday. It is here that we start our story with Crystal Palace going up a goal in the 9th minute through Ismaila Sarr.
Now, we know the script that has repeated itself far too frequently this season–where Liverpool play poorly to mediocrely, only to save their unbeaten streak in stoppage time. Sure enough, stoppage time hero Federico Chiesa scored in the 87th minute to level the tie and set up the inevitable-feeling stoppage time winner.
Sure enough, there was a stoppage time winner. The twist was that Crystal Palace did the scoring in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Even sweeter, the goal came from Hale End Academy product Eddie Nketiah. (Perhaps the most important goal he scored for Arsenal came in another club’s jersey. Sometimes, the Premier League script writers have a sense of humor.)
With Liverpool dropping three points, it was over to Arsenal to capitalize against Newcastle. St. James Park has been a miserable place for the Gunners over Mikel Arteta’s tenure and it didn’t start out much differently with the Magpies playing their typical physical brand of soccer and preventing Arsenal from mounting a fluid attack. When Arsenal did get a good chance on goal, Nick Pope was on the spot with multiple goal-saving stops. A frustrating start to the match for sure.
Things went from bad to worse in the 34th minute when 6’6” summer signing Nick Woltemade beat Gabriel to the spot on a corner kick and headed home the opening goal of the match. The Brazilian defender misplayed the situation badly and, realizing he was beaten, went to the ground hoping to convince the referee that Woltemade had fouled him to gain position. The referee (correctly) wasn’t buying it, and the Magpies were up 1-0 and looking strong.
And so it went until the substitutes again changed the course of the match. Mikel Merino, often criticized as the “conservative” choice in midfield, played the key role. His deft header from a Declan Rice free kick equalized in the 84th minute. At the very least, it seemed as if Arsenal would rescue a point from a tricky fixture, as well as picking one up on the leaders, Liverpool.
As stoppage time wore on, the draw looked inevitable until Gabriel, at fault for Newcastle’s tally, rose above the crowd from a corner kick and drove home a winner in the 6th minute of stoppage time. For a side that has frequently been called out for not having the grit necessary for a title chase, it was the type of late winner that we associate with Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United title winners, or more recent vintage Liverpool sides under both Klopp and Slot. Does it mean Arsenal are title favorites? Certainly not. Does it represent something that they can look to when things aren’t going well? Absolutely.
Oh, the Champions League
In a pretty straightforward 2-0 win, the men bested Olympiokos on Wednesday in the Champions League to remain unbeaten and unscored upon in the competition. The final scoreline was a little misleading as Arsenal held a one goal advantage for much of the match and were fortunate that the visitor’s best attack ended in a goal disallowed for offsides. Bukayo Saka’s stoppage time goal sealed the match.
What’s Next?
The men host struggling West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday, while the women travel to Manchester to face Manchester City before a Champions League visit from FC Lyonnes on Tuesday.

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