Match report – – Video
One game to go. There is obviously a very big part of me that hopes that we don’t even have to worry about that game, but that’s how close we are now.
Last night’s 1-0 win over Burnley will hardly be seen as a classic, but it’s another one of those that felt very familiar for this season. Hard work, Arsenal a little profligate and unlucky in the first half, a touch fortunate in the second half in a key moment as the pressure mounted, but the Arsenal Industrial Complex ground out another important win.
I liked the team selection, with the midfield of Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze and Martin Odegaard, and there were a couple of times when those two, with Kai Havertz in front of them, combined well, and others where their lack of playing time together over the course of the season was obvious. I liked the intent however.
Leandro Trossard was lively, testing Kyle Walker down the left, and he was unlucky not to score with a shot that cracked off the post. Bukayo Saka had a floated cross which almost drifted in, and it looked he was fouled in the box as he was about to get a close range shot off. VAR checked, VAR decided it wasn’t a penalty. I’ve seen one replay, and you’ve seen those given – especially as it doesn’t look as if the Burnley player gets any of the ball and thus the foul prevents Saka from tucking home from a few yards out.
We fashioned a good chance for Odegaard which was blocked behind for a corner, but from that set-piece (again, OleOle), we took the lead. Saka delivered, Havertz rose highest to head home to make it 1-0. Saka had another effort which curled not too far wide, and I thought generally we played quite well in the first half and were worthy of the lead.
I was hoping for more in the second half, but it didn’t quite materialise. Our domination in the opening 45, with 72% possession, fell away after the break, and the visitors just edged it overall by the end of the game. There was a chance for Eze which he volleyed into the ground and onto the top of the crossbar via the keeper’s gloves, and Saka fired into the side netting.
Declan Rice began to make tackles and interceptions that were important and necessary, which told you something about the way the game was going, and then Havertz made a foul which looked bad in real time, even though it was down the other end from where we were sitting. VAR checked again for serious foul play, but eventually decided the referee’s yellow card was sufficient. I’ve seen the replays, I think he’s quite lucky, and in a counter-intuitive way, I wonder if the height of it saved him. If it had been studs first on the Achilles, perhaps it might have been seen as more potentially dangerous, but either way we were fortunate.
Arteta made changes with Viktor Gyokeres, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Piero Hincapie replacing Havertz, Eze and Calafiori. At one point the Ecuadorian went down in the box, the ref pointed, and I thought he’d given a penalty. In fact he was saying ‘Put that arse away’. Then the game entered the period I really didn’t enjoy too much. From the 70th minute to the final whistle (with way more than the 7 minutes added on due to a stoppage), Burnley had 67% possession. They didn’t do much with it, but it also doesn’t take much for a game to slip with just a one goal lead.
Rice seemed to be everywhere in those final stages, and the crowd really tried to get behind the team but whether it was a conscious decision or not, we played to protect the goal we had rather than find another one. Late on, Gyokeres chased a ball down the line and won a throw with some strong play, and the way that was celebrated was a real indicator of how the second half played out. Just get the ball as far away from our end as possible.
They had a late long throw, hurled in by Kyle Walker and I can’t lie and say I didn’t have 100 flashes of how that scenario might have hurt us, but eventually somebody booted the ball clear. We cheered. There were a series of throws in the Burnley half, and then the final whistle went at long last. More cheers. Arsenal had won, not convincingly, but what we needed above all else were three points and we got them.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta said:
I knew it was going to be tough. I think in the first half we played some of the best football we’ve played this season. We were very unfortunate not to score two or three goals, and then there was the story of the season as well, that we cannot do that. We have to make sure we are extremely efficient at defending certain moments, not giving anything away to the opponent and winning the three points.
We’ve done what is in our hands. Since the Man City away game, we said it is five games. We’ve done four, there is one to go, or something beautiful that happens tomorrow night.
I’ve said before that this season feels like a feat of endurance, and last night was another one of those. A 1-0 to the Arsenal, another clean sheet, and waves of relief at the final whistle, not because we were under any real threat, but when you play games on a knife-edge, as we do so often, there’s no way to relax. How can you with so much on the line? I know I can’t.
But now we have one game to go. Win it, and we win the league. If Bournemouth can get anything at all against Man City tonight, we win the league. I love a bit of drama, but I’ve had enough this season already. So if the universe would be so kind as to give us a final day where we can just have a nice kick-around with a Palace team who have a European final a few days later, I think we’d all feel like that was something we’d earned. I won’t be watching the game tonight, but I hope the way my phone lights up later on tells me the story.
Right, I’ve gotta leave it there because after a brilliant time in London, I have to go back to Dublin today. It’s been such a pleasure to spend time with my friends here, and thanks to so many people I met over the weekend for just being so nice, and for the kind words about what we do here on Arseblog. I always say it would be nothing without all of you, and it’s worth repeating.
In terms of the podcast schedule, we’re waiting until tomorrow for the Arsecast Extra, for fairly obvious reasons. Let’s hope it’s a very goodly morning.
For now, take it easy folks, have a good one.
