Aaaaah yes… back at the Emirates Stadium. Back to our fortress… back to the opportunity, of protecting our proud home record… and hopefully, back to winning ways in the Premier League.
The Arsenal host Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C… a team who are winless this season, and sit rock bottom of the Premier League, with only 2 points to their name.
Yes, their name… Wolverhampton Wanderers. They’ve left their fans wondering, where the team that showed great form last season… has disappeared to. Where are Wolves? “Wherewolves” if you will. Only when it’s a full moon, they transform into capitulation, cluelessness, and devoid of all creativity.
Let’s face it, the “Wherewolves” have been awful this season, and I expect us to reach into our Arsenal, load up the silver bullets, and finish them off, mercilessly. That’s what I expect.
However, football doesn’t always live up to expectations… so Arsenal must be ready… we must be professional, we must be aggressive, and we must be ruthless… to take all 3 points. We’ll still have to work for the win, is my point.
We lost our last Premier League game, to Aston Villa… and the only way to completely expel the pain of that defeat, is to get a victory against Wolves.
The starting lineup was… David Raya in goal, Hincapie at left-back, Saliba, and Timber, in central defence… and Ben White (Benny Blanco) continued at right-back.
The midfield was Rice, Zubimendi, and Eze… and up top, was Martinelli, Gyokeres, and Saka.
Injuries still haunt us, like a trapped spirit, in a remote, derelict house… denied it’s final resting place… BUT, this team was still more than good enough to beat Wolves.
Unsurprisingly, the “Wherewolves” set up in a low block, absorbing pressure, and looking to sink their teeth into us, on the counter-attack.
Surprisingly though, The Arsenal started the game at a slow tempo. Passes were passive, and predictable… and we had the movement, of a cluster of statues.
Where were Arsenal? Where’s the Arsenal that put these teams to the sword? WHERE?!?
“Wherearsenal” doesn’t have a nice ring to it, and it’s most certainly, not as funny as “Wherewolves”
As I said earlier, football doesn’t always live up to expectations… and it’s the unpredictability of the beautiful game, which makes us both love it…AND… loathe it.
As the Arsenal crowd got anxious, knowledge of the basics, seemed to of eluded us.
We struggled in the final third, and looked about as sharp, as a wooden spoon.
Saka beat his man multiple times, and tried to make things happen, but all that came of it, were nearly moments.
The game got scrappy, and we got sucked into the exact type of game, that Wolves wanted to play… and credit to them, because it was working.
To add insult to injury… we got ANOTHER INJURY!! This time, the fallen… was Ben White. He was forced off in the 31st minute, with a suspected hamstring injury.
I have to believe we’ve been cursed, at this point. (Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhh)
Benny Blanco was replaced by Myles Lewis-Skelly. Good to see him get some more minutes, but I just wish it was under more positive circumstances.
Aaaaaanywhoooo…
The curtain closed on the first half, and unbelievably… the scoreline was 0-0.
It was a good defensive display from Wolves, and a woeful display, from The Gunners.
Much needed improvement in the second half, because the first half… made for painful viewing. It was excruciatingly bad.
Unfortunately, there was no improvement in the early stages of the second half. Arteta had seen enough, in the 57th minute… and made changes.
Odegaard was on for Eze, Trossard replaced Martinelli, and Merino was introduced, for Zubimendi.
It was just one of those days, games, matches, performances, displays… whatever you want to call it, it was one of them. We still struggled to break down this Wolves side, and were still unable to recollect, how good we actually are.
Saka though, has an excellent memory… and he took a superb corner, in the 70th minute… that was curling straight in, but instead… it hit the post, hit the keepers back, and went in. It goes down as a Johnstone own goal. 1-0 to the Arsenal… Just about.
Our Starboy, doing Starboy things.
Ok, we finally got the goal, so we’re going to build on it, right?… WRONG!
We sat back, and got deeper, and deeper, inside our own half… inviting pressure, looking nervous, and riddled with uncertainty. This just wasn’t sustainable… not with how badly we’d been playing.
In the 81st minute, Gabriel Jesus came on, for Viktor Gyokeres. We needed something, anything… to kill this game off.
With the game seemingly, immortal… the unthinkable, then happened… in the 90th minute.
Mane put a dangerous ball into our box, and completely unmarked, Arokodare headed the ball in. Wolves had equalised. Wolves… had… equalised. WOOOLVES… HAD… EQUALIIIISED, IN THE 90TH MINUTE!!!
Frustration leaned on one shoulder, despair on the other, anger was poking me in the eye, and disbelief had it’s knee in my back.
In the 94th minute, Saka picked the ball up on the right, and played a lovely ball in… which initially looked like it was headed in, emphatically, by Gabriel Jesus… but upon closer inspection, it was deemed to be ANOTHER own goal… this time, by the Wolves defender, Yerson Mosquera. They all count! We’ll take it! 2-1 to the Arsenal! Juuuussst about.
The match finished 2-1, and Arsenal THANKFULLY… took the 3 points.
It was a dismal performance, but we still found a way to win the game. No league titles are won without a bit of luck… and if you look at all our injuries, you know we’ve had ALL the bad luck. Maybe our luck is changing. Maybe.
We’re not consistent in our performances at the moment, but I don’t believe we’re quite at “Panic Stations”. We can resolve the issues, and regain our good form, by learning from games like this.
Every team can have a bad day at the office, or a bad run of games… but it’s how we react that really counts.
We’ve dealt with adversity fantastically well, throughout the season… and I’m sure we’ll continue to do so.
We’re away to Everton next, and I’m expecting an incredibly difficult game… Hopefully, I’m waaaay off, and we cruise to victory, winning at a canter. New found good luck, and all that. HAHAHA!!
Was my criticism of the team too harsh?
Did some of our “Big players” go missing, in this match?
Are you confident we’ll regain the sort of form, that took us top of the league?
What do you think Arteta will do, regarding our right-back problem?… because Timber cannot play every game.
Do you get battered everywhere you go?
Are you Tottenham in disguise?
Let me know in the comments people. Don’t be shy!
COYG!
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