After the frustration of the Liverpool game and the late concession against Slavia Prague, this match took on something of an end-of-season aura as Arsenal’s league season has been defined as one of mid-table mediocrity even as the opportunity remains for them to move up, with only two of the seven remaining fixtures against clubs (Everton and Chelsea) that are higher in the table. More importantly, it was necessary to put in a good performance to put the team into a better psychological place going into the away leg of their tie against Slavia Prague in midweek.
Mikel Arteta sent out a lineup that looked like a 4-3-3 based on the personnel selected. But as the game progressed I thought Arsenal played mostly in a 3-3-3-1 variation with a back three of Holding, Pablo Marí and Xhaka; Chambers, Thomas and Ceballos in midfield; and Pépé, Saka and Martinelli farther forward, with Lacazette spearheading the attack. Aubameyang being out with flu, Martinelli got his long-awaited starting chance and provided the breath of fresh air that would have been so welcome earlier in the season. Saka, Lacazette, Pépé and Martinelli all did a lot of interchanging in advanced positions, and even Chambers and Ceballos were able to get forward to aid in the Arsenal attack, so weak was the Blades’ own attacking threat.
Leno
Holding — Marí — Xhaka
Chambers — Partey — Ceballos
Pépé — Saka — Martinelli
Lacazette
Bench: Ryan, Bellerin, Cédric Soares, Gabriel, Elneny, Azeez, Willian, Nelson, Nketiah.
After a minute’s silence was observed upon the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh, Arsenal kicked off in their all-blue change strip, and looked lively from the start. In the second minute Saka was fed by Martinelli on the left but hit his shot was too high. A few minutes later Pépé fed Saka on the other side but the youngster’s cross was blocked before Bukayo’s poor touch outside the Blades area led to a good chance for McGoldrick who pulled his shot wide past the right upright. Was it a warning sign of danger to come?
Arsenal were dominating possession and looking the better side without creating clear chances but in the 24th minute Martinelli tested Ramsdale on the near post after a fluid break featuring a clever back heel by Ceballos started the move. On 30 minutes Saka fed Martinelli who stepped inside to hit a deflected right footed drive that the keeper gathered. Arsenal continued to dominate possession, and a couple of minutes later they broke through after a lovely central passing combination from Thomas to Lacazette to Saka to Ceballos, who touched it on for Lacazette who ran through the Blades defence to put Arsenal into the lead.
Sheffield United 0-1 Arsenal (Lacazette, 32 minutes)
Arsenal had another decent chance a minute later but Ramsdale gathered. Pépé won a corner in the 41st minute, took it himself, Laca nodded it on, and Martinelli drove a left footer into a mass of bodies in front of the net. It was blocked but Martinelli was looking dangerous, and certainly not afraid to shoot. Thomas Partey then lost it in midfield in the 43rd minute leading to a Sheffield United corner and a left footed volley by Egan that was straight at Leno. In stoppage time Laca centered for Martinelli but Sheffield put it out for a corner. Pépé sent it in and a VAR shout for handball was denied before the half ended with Arsenal in a deserved lead against clearly inferior opposition. Could they sustain a performance for the full ninety, and put a teetering opponent to the sword rather than let them back in the game? A least it was a good feeling to know the players had responded well after the disappointments earlier in the week.
Halftime: Sheffield United 0-1 Arsenal
No changes were made at halftime. McGoldrick tested Leno and won a corner seconds into the half, but after ten-odd minutes of Blades ascendancy (if not sustained pressure), Arsenal regained the initiative and had a good chance in the 56th minute when Lacazette sent his shot too high.
Martinelli went down as he was chasing a ball in midfield in the 64th minute, and looked in danger of serious injury until Trev popped up on my screen saying it was only a mild ankle inversion and, surely enough, our young Brazilian was up and running in no time. The Blades made a double substitution in their front line a minute later, but when Saka went down with injury he had to go off to be replaced by Willian.
In the 71st minute Pépé broke on the right after intercepting a poor pass near the Sheffield box, and he sent in a left footed shot that Ramsdale parried into the path of Martinelli who doubled Arsenal’s lead with a calmly executed tap-in on the rebound.
Sheffield United 0-2 Arsenal (Martinelli, 71 minutes)
In the 75th minute Lacazette won a free kick just outside the box after a give and go with Ceballos, but Willian sent it harmlessly off the wall. The Gunners were totally in control of the match and increased their advantage in the 85th minute when Thomas took the ball at the halfway line and angled a sumptuous through ball that only Lacazette could reach. He darted behind the last defender and finished powerfully past the keeper, completing his satisfying Sunday before being substituted by Nketiah.
Sheffield United 0-3 Arsenal (Lacazette, 85 minutes)
Pépé wasted another chance when he passed poorly instead of shooting, but the Arsenal defence saw out the remaining minutes to ensure the clean sheet, and three shiny goals remained as reminders of a job well done. Yes, it was only Sheffield United, but I have a feeling Mikel Arteta will be pleased with this performance going into the defining match of Arsenal’s season in the away leg of their Europa League quarterfinal at Slavia Prague before they host Fulham next Sunday.
Dates for your diary. Coming soon on Goonerholics Forever…
Bang. Get in.
As deadly as Laca in a non European game.
Thanks bt8,
fair and enjoyable report!
I am glad we won.
Thinking about next Thursday I am still nerves though.
A starting Willian not a prospect I would like.
Well done Bt8, a thorough and interesting account of a match that we won comfortably. I’m interested in your take on the formation. I assumed we had four at the back but the positioning of Chambers ( who again outperformed Bellerin) was very advanced and emphasised the fluidity that Arteta craves .
I thought we dealt with a poor side very competently and our formation was imaginative . I’m quite a big Marí fan and he should start on Thursday . Xhaka was fine defensively but clearly he’s not KT3 going forward so we need to compensate . Ceballos was also much better than for months. The big plus was Martinelli who brings pace and desire , just what Willian doesn’t .
Let’s hope Saka did only have a dead leg . Trev do you have thoughts on this?
Thanks bt8 for an enjoyable and succinct report on a good day out. A bemusing selection and an even more bemusing formation produced as good a performance as we’ve seen in many a long few weeks.
While it was ‘only Sheffield United’, Xhaka looked solid in the LB position and Ceballos was a revelation as a mobile left sided midfielder, Martinelli as expected provided pace, thrust and directness and Saka was superb at ’10’ – is there a position in which that lad can’t excel? As already noted, Partey had his best game in ages and Marì adds calmness to the back four in the manner that Per once did.
The pace, movement and intent from Arsenal when in possession was a tonic for tired old Gooners and it would be very nice if we could reproduce that on Thursday.
I forgot to add that Lacazette showed his qualities both in and out of possession. His link play was superb and it’s good to see his eye for goal has lost its astigmatism.
Hello Las. Welcome to the bar. Please order a drink of your choice from the barman and charge it to me.
Don’t be a stranger!
COYG
Thanks bt8, a fine report of as easy game as we could want at this stage of the season. Hopefully we remember how to dominate come Thursday. The side played well though
some of them won’t start in the EL. Onwards in better heart then (haha me I mean but hopefully the team too) 😁
Welcome, Las.
A succinct and cheering report, bt8, and the more welcome as I didn’t see more of the game than I saw because of lost internet access.
Four points off the neighbours now. Is that the advancing footsteps of St Totteringham I hear beneath the deflections of the Special One?
Welcome Las. Agreed on both Thursday and Willian.
AMN seems to be getting good notices for his performances at WBA. I wonder if there is a place for him in Artetaball, possibly as Partey’s understudy.
I meant to say earlier, bt8, that I thought your notion of us playing 3-3-3-1 was spot on for when we were in possession, with Chambers dropping back into a conventional right-back role when we didn’t have the ball. When we did have the ball, Chambers played like Tierney does on the other wing, high and wide, with, in KT3’s case, Xhaka staying deep to cover and the right-back (Bellerin or Cedric) starting deeper. Against, Sheffield United, Holding did that, letting Chambers get forward with Xhaka at left-back holding back (not that I see him flying up the wing on the overlap, anyway :)). The other bit of mirroring of our usual play was Dani dropping in line with Partey as we made the transition to attack as Ødegaard had started doing more and more in his last couple of outings. But Dani was doing it on the left rather than the right, so we didn’t need our left-back for the day to push well forward.
It’s almost as if you’re saying there was a plan and the players executed it well Ned😀 I must say that’s better than shooting ourselves in the foot
I have watched AMN a couple of times Ned, and he is playing fine at CM. Though I like him I still think it would be better for him to move on this summer if he wants to play regularly.
Joe W on the other hand hasn’t started the last two for Newcastle and despite getting the equalizer against the spuds didn’t get off the bench vs Burnley. AMN would seem the better loan as he seems more suitable for a relegation battle than Joe, I think.
Thanks OM for your acknowledgement of my 3-0 prediction in the last drinks.
3-0 to the Arsenal has a nice updated ring to it – I think I’ll stick with it.
UTA
OM@12: I, too, like AMN. Difficult to see him holding down a starting position with us, but the sort of versatile midfielder you need in a squad, off the bench or as an understudy. Somewhat similar to Elneny in that regard. However, he could start in plenty of Premiership teams, so he may think moving on is his best move. We’d probably get a bit north of £20 million for him.
NG@14: Good call on the 3-0. Seven more of those this season, and things would look a lot rosier, not least our goal difference which might well be worth a place up or down come the end of May.
I just wanted to say hello cos i read here every morning
I hope you are all doing well. Best wishes from cba land
Hi Brendan. Lovely to hear from you. Delighted you are still with the blog.
Hi Brendan. 🥸
Thanks to all who commented, and welcome to Las @2. No relation to Lars, I presume?
Comprehensive and enjoyable review bt8, as always!
We played well enough. I think this should be the minimal consistency level of performance in every match, simply by the virtue of the fact that the team individually and collectively good enough to have to be able to produce this level of competence. In matches against greater oppositions the game of course will need to be raised higher to be able to compete, but this performance should be the very minimum in terms of maturity, commitment, focus, and positivity.
I really like Mari as a calm presence in the defense. Gabriel is an overall better player and with a much higher ceiling that he will fulfill in the coming years. But right now I think a few uncertainties have crept in his game — he must also be tired by now in his first season in English football, more mentally than physically perhaps — and in the next few matches bringing Mari in to better secure that left side especially in absence of KT makes sense to me.
For the rest of the season unless injury forces his hand Mikel I hope sticks to choosing his starting front three — two on the flanks/inverted winger and one behind in the number 10-esque position — around the main striker (either Lacazette or Aubameynag, but not both of them) from this group only: Ødegaard, Saka, ESR, Martinelli, Pépé . Their Pace and purposefulness make so much difference when combined with their ability to be dangerous in the final third.
Thanks for a very fine match review bt8. I think we all saw the same game with a good team performance, though that must be tempered it was against very limited opponents.
If the team can repeat that showing against more difficult teams then we can look forward to much less gnashing of the teeth. It was a very fluid formation played with pace in certain areas – something we have been missing far too often under the tutelage of MA8.
A repeat of such positivity on thurs in Prague will reap its rewards.
Uply@22: My 2-cents would be that moving Xhaka to left-back helped us play out of midfield with more pace.
Thanks for your kind message Brendan . Warm greetings to you .
Ned ,
Your point re Xhaka is a very pertinent one . He played five or six superb left to right cross field balls which I’ve not seen him do before in the same way , almost a la Luiz. ( Chambers controlled them very well I thought and had space to move into ) . Xhaka gives you a very different player to KT3. He won’t get to the byline very often and he may struggle against a very quick winger but his natural left sidedness was well supported by Ceballos who dropped into a different left-sided role and we looked very balanced . If we played Odegaard and ESR I’m not sure where we’d use Saka most effectively ( but what a tribute that he gives you about five options !) . I think he might nudge out Pepe but Pepe does give us some interesting and unpredictable qualities and he is looking much stronger .
Arteta has options if most players are fit…but will he choose the right ones ?
Brendan: Let me echo TTG’s words. Always good to see you here.
TTG: Those long diagonal balls to the high, wide (and open) full-back on the opposite side of the pitch is textbook Artetaball straight out of the Guardiola playbook.
@21
Several good points and agree with
you on Mari just now.
Hope Willian isn’t reading though, he’s
just not gonna be feeling the love😁
And Good morning to you Brendan
👋☕️
Just realised that I celebrated a significant anniversary last week. My first visit to Highbury was on 8th April 1961 , sixty years ago . ( v Blackpool) . So if you can get an Arsenal supporter’s pension I’m eligible ! I’ve paid quite a lo5 of contributions !
surely a nice diamond from The Arsenal
is winging its way to you TTG!
OM
That would be nice but exceedingly unlikely!
Article of interest about Balogun
http://m.email3.telegraph.co.uk/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40sFgp2qtIG5Ae4NXM7GsafMWddIg6DsYwUjxhbbnzKg4%3D&WT.mc_id=e_DM1386624&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_Ars_New&utmsource=email&utm_medium=Edi_Ars_New20210414&utm_campaign=DM1386624
Thanks for the link TTG – all true enough, Balogun could be anything at this stage. Stapleton was the first striker I saw come through the ranks at The Arsenal and there have been precious few since. Sadly I agree with the writer that Eddie is not going to be quite good enough though I love his attitude.
Thanks for the link to the article on Balogun, TTG. We won’t know how good he is until he plays a few times against good teams but it is clear for some time that Nketiah won’t make it.
Saw the PSG vs Bayern game and the difference in standards between those teams and us is unbelievable. Can see why we are a mid table team.
Many happy returns TTG on your big 60th anniversary. And a tip of the 🎩
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