match report – player ratings – arteta reaction – Video
Gabriel Martinelli’s goal early in the second half was enough to give Arsenal a second successive away win, on a day when we more or less dominated Leicester.
After last week at Villa Park the keyword for this one was ‘control’, and with Gabriel Martinelli recalled and Leandro Trossard starting top ahead of Eddie Nketiah, we exercised that immediately. Leicester barely had a kick as we played most of the game with the ball in their half. It wasn’t circumstantial either, in minute 26 we had five attempts from them and none, with 75% possession as well.
“GET IN IT TETE, DO SOMETHING!!!” a local fan yelled, clearly audible on the television coverage.
Then, from a corner, it looked like we had gotten ahead of ourselves. Danny Ward’s punch landed on Granit Xhaka, she fed it back to Trossard, who came in and fired a beautiful punch into the top corner. As we now know, it was ruled out by VAR and Ben White was deemed to have fouled the Leicester goalkeeper.
I guess technically you can say it was a foul, but if you’re going to disallow goals for holding and shooting in the box, we’ll see a lot of disallowed goals. Well we’re not because you’ll never see one like this again. Is this really the threshold for a VAR intervention? Especially since there was not a single appeal from any Leicester player before the ball hit the net. Usually, a goalie will make it clear that he has been fouled as the game progresses.
Arsenal fans will clearly remember that earlier this season a goal was allowed during our match against Aston Villa when Aaron Ramsdale was much more obstructed, allowing Douglas Luiz to score straight from a corner. If that was allowed, why the change for this? The constant switching of the goalposts between what is allowed and what is not, the ambiguity of ‘let it flow’ and all the rest, drives football fans crazy. I think it’s soft, and a shame for Trossard, and the game itself, that such a good goal was scored by so little.
However, as I said, technically it could be seen as the correct call, which makes the foul on Bukayo Saka all the more ridiculous. If Ben White is penalized for holding hands with the goalie, who by the way managed to hit the ball well, then what is he like? harry souttar echoing through Saka’s back, then falling on him like some kind of felled tree, isn’t that a foul? I can not explain it. Anywhere else on the pitch the referee instantly takes a free kick, so why not in the box?
I’m glad we can ask these questions after a match we’ve won, because soccer matches are usually very close. Even yesterday, when we were so high up, we struggled to create the quality chances we needed to score goals. So credit to Trossard for an absolutely obscene nutmeg assist for Martinelli, whose run from deep between two defenders allowed him to spike past the keeper and into the net for 1-0.
Wilfred Ndidi caught him on the knee so he couldn’t celebrate the goal at the time, but it was a telling contribution from a player who had had a difficult first half. A second Arsenal goal was disallowed for offside. We didn’t get any lines in the coverage here, and I was about to say we have to trust the right decision was made, but that sounds absurdly naive, to say the least. At least they made up their mind quickly I guess. That’s all I can give you.
Here’s the weird thing about yesterday – usually when you’re so dominant and on top you’re performing 8 or 9 out of 10. I’d say we almost hit 7 out of 10 but that was enough because Leicester were so abject that day. Ramsdale didn’t have to make a save, there was a flash or two of danger, but that was it. The tension came from the score, because the 1-0 can change in a second, not from Leicester’s performance.
Leicester created 0.01 (xG) against Arsenal today, the lowest xG in a Premier League game since we started this tally.
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) February 25, 2023
We all know how dangerous 1-0 can be. A player has a moment of inspiration, a corner kick, something ridiculous that makes you say ‘Football is crazy, how did Leicester get anything out of it?’ I felt we needed a bit more control in midfield as the game reached its closing stages. Thomas Partey replaced Martin Odegaard, and when we took a corner in the last few minutes and we just needed to keep the ball, I almost went crazy when he, one of our more experienced players, gave them the ball back.
In the end, however, the one goal was enough. The three points were the most important thing, and now not even the VAR can take them away from us.
Subsequently, Mikel Arteta said:
We were a little short of that last pass to score more or create more chances, I think we didn’t miss the decision with the goal disallowed, which was difficult to take, but to stay really focused and determined to do it, I think. Defensively we were amazing because we restricted Leicester to one shot on goal in the whole game at home, that’s a tough thing to do. The players did very well.
It’s a good point about defensive effort, because Leicester have good attacking players. They started with a few of them, then brought the rest in as submarines, but nothing changed in terms of their threat level. So kudos to the team for stifling life from the opposition, but ideally you would have wanted another goal to make life a bit more comfortable.
Sometimes, however, you have to grind the results. Go back and watch any of our title-winning seasons and you’ll see results exactly like this: a victory by the smallest possible margin. They are the bread and butter of whatever season you challenge at the top of the table. This is done, we moved to Everton in the middle of the week and left to take revenge for the game at Goodison just a few weeks ago.
Finally, a shout out to the away fans who had an incredible voice throughout the day, and the connection between them, the team and the manager was almost visceral at the final whistle. I enjoyed Mikel Arteta going to applaud the fans, then finding the rhythm of his song and clapping along with it.
Healthy fun, and three very important points. Right, that’s all for now. Join us for an Arsecast Extra tomorrow.
In the meantime, have a great Sunday.
