The games are now coming thick, and fast… and with barely time to catch breath, we’re back to Premier League business.
Away from home again, The Gunners are hosted by The Black Cats, at the Stadium of Light. The 2 points we dropped there last season, are now in the forefront of my mind.
A Brian Brobbey injury time equaliser, gave Sunderland a hard fought draw, instead of an Arsenal, hard fought win.
The form we’ve shown so far this season, fills me with optimism… and I can see us giving Sunderland a real good hiding.
I’m not writing them off completely, as this is still the Premier League, and anything can happen… so we need to be ready for their aerial assault in this game, and prevent them from constantly putting balls into the box.
We need a fine balance between focus, and ferocity… as The Black Cats like to impose their physicality on opponents.
Sunderland have had a mixed start to the season… with 1 defeat, 1 win, and a draw… so they’ll come into the game maybe feeling a little less confident, maybe a little apprehensive.
They’ll maybe start to over think the things, that usually come naturally to them… and HOPEFULLY, this comes at a detriment to their game.
The Arsenal in contrast, have won all the games they’ve played so far this season, so you could say we’ve won five games in-a-row if you include the Community Shield.
There’s wins against Mancheatster City, Villa away, and Cheating Chelsea… in that winning run too. We’ve been showing some sparkling form, and our football has been mesmeric at times. The Gunners will need to be firing on all cylinders, once more… to get all 3 points.
So, in our usual 4-2-3-1 formation… the starting line-up was Raya in goal, Calafiori at left-back, Gabriel and Konsa, central… and Benny Blanco at right-back.
Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Declan Rice, in the centre of midfield… and just in front of them, was Tzolis on the left, Odegaard in the No.10 role, and Bukayo Saka on the right.
Leading the attack, was Kai Havertz… who was up top on his own.
As expected, there was a rowdy atmosphere, created by the home fans… and the Sunderland players responded to the deafening support, and started quickly. They were playing some direct, ariel balls… trying to catch us off guard, and get an early lead.
The Gunners were unphased, and were eager to get the ball down, and play.
The Black Cats however, were eager to make the game a physical one. A grappling, grabbing, tough tackling, tussling one.
We were more than happy to oblige, and more than happy to remind the football world… that we can win matches by playing good football, by battling, and scrapping… and by flexing our set-piece muscles.
As both teams leaned on their physicality, there were A LOT of breaks in play, due to free-kicks being awarded.
MOST OF WHICH, were being awarded to Sunderland.
The referee was awful. He was out of his depth, and clearly had no idea what officiating a football match means.
In the 26th minute, Angulo should’ve been booked, and could’ve been sent off… after a DELIBERATE stamp on Odegaard’s foot, but the referee ignored the incident, and so did VAR.
This pernickety plonker, even booked Mikel Arteta, for venturing outside his technical area… which is something that ALL managers do, but rarely get booked for it.
He loved his whistle like a high-school crush, but he loved making terrible decisions, even more.
I knew this referee wasn’t done with his idiocy, and that meant more frustration, and feelings of injustice, for the Arsenal faithful.
The match began to unfold in a familiar way, with us dominating the possession, the opposition sitting deep, and us unable to break them down.
In the 34th minute, Havertz almost got us off the mark, with a spectacular effort.
The ball was played into him, and he chested it, and then volleyed it on the turn… which forced a good save from their keeper. (Unfortunately)
Neither team managed to break the deadlock, so the first half ended 0-0.
Changes were made at the interval.
Ben White picked up a knock, and was replaced by Jurrien Timber… and Bruno Guimaraes, came on for Myles Lewis-Skelly.
The second half started, the way the first half ended… except the possession was more evenly balanced, as Sunderland began to impose themselves more in the game… and created some dangerous attacks of their own.
In the 54th minute, the referee awarded a penalty to The Black Cats, that was NEVER a penalty… but the ludicrous decision, was very on-brand for this referee, and the rest of his officiating team.
Ballard dragged Konsa to ground, via a hip toss, which is an OBVIOUS foul on Konsa… and the referee saw THAT, and thought… “Ooooh, good mixed martial arts there Ballard. Let me give you a penalty for that.”
I was incandescent, to say the least.
Up stepped Le Fee to take the penalty, and I had already resigned myself to the fact that we’d have to now come back from a goal down… but David Raya had foreseen a very different outcome.
The penalty was struck well by Le Fee, toward the bottom right corner… and with superhuman speed, and agility, David Raya dived… and his outstretched arm seemed to double in length, and he got a hand to it, and tipped the ball onto the post.
It was a world class save!! Justice was done!! I could’ve sworn that I saw a look of disappointment, of the referee’s face… but I could also be making that up. (HAHAHA)
Nope… I saw it!
Raya’s magnificent save galvanised the team, it re-energised the team, and made the outfield players almost want to pay Raya back for his heroics. They just couldn’t allow his brilliance to become an insignificant stat… it HAD TO mean something.
In the 58th minute Bruno Guimaraes received a ball from Declan Rice, outside the box… he took a touch, and hit a magnificent strike… which flew into the top right corner, off the underside of the crossbar.
It was a superb strike! A strike that plunged a dagger, deep into Sunderland fans’ hearts.
Bruno ran over to the Sunderland fans, and cupped his ears… which infuriated them even more, because he’s the ex-Newcastle captain. It was just poetic, that he had to be the one to break the deadlock, at the Stadium of Light. The part of the world where he is hated the most.
It was like Bruno had written the script himself… and I wanted him to keep on writing.
1-0 to The Arsenal!!
The Black Cats responded, and pushed for an equaliser… but we managed to keep them at bay, with our tenacious defending.
In the 81st minute, Arteta made further changes.
Tzolis was replaced by Eze, and Zubimendi was introduced, for Declan Rice.
Odegaard made way for Mikel Merino… as Arteta tried to sure things up, and prevent even the possibility, of any late drama.
Oh, but there WAS some late drama, and unbelievably… it came in the shape of a penalty to Arsenal… deep into injury time.
Saka made a run towards the Sunderland box, and his shirt was being pulled repeatedly on the way. The infringement continued inside the box, and the pernickety plonker… awarded the penalty.
Bukayo Saka stepped up, and tucked away the penalty! The keeper got a hand to it, but was unable to keep it out. 2-0 to The Arsenal!! Game over.
A hard fought, 3 points gained… and our sixth straight win, in all competitions. We won ugly, just like champions do.
Next up, we have a Carabao Cup match against Ipswich Town, at Portman Road.
They’ll be wholesale changes for that game, and I’m looking forward to seeing some fringe players, and some of our youngsters, get a runout.
Who would be in your starting 11 for the Ipswich game?
Do you agree that our games are officiated differently?
Should referees receive more severe punishment, when they make terrible decisions in a game?
Let me know in the comments, as usual… and thanks for reading. COYG!!
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