Goonerholics Forever

Our second visit to Anfield repeated two sequential matches at that recently inauspicious venue within 4 days that last took place in January 2007 when we played an FA Cup tie and a League Cup quarter final winning the former 3-1 and the latter 6-3 during an era when the relative relationship between the two clubs was quite different to today’s.

Off the back of our 1-3 reverse on Monday in a PL match in which our hard-working team were given a clear demonstration of the gap in class with the champions, we returned to Liverpool hoping for a better performance and a better result in this Carabao-sponsored League Cup 4^th round tie. As in 2007 and in our usual approach to the early rounds of this competition, the team for the second of our Anfield challenges saw significant alterations from the earlier game. In his fine preview, bt8 outlined our schizophrenic relationship with this competition which we have only won twice and not since 1993 when Tony Adams dropped our match-winner Steve Morrow fracturing his arm. We have, however, reached two finals in the interim but failed to shine in both.

As predicted, Mikel selected a mixture of youth and experience, sticking with his first-choice keeper, Bernd Leno but pulled a surprise with a back four of Cedric (first start of the season), Holding (perhaps to lay the ghosts of the Mane-induced trauma last Monday), Gabriel and Kolasinac (shudder, I thought he was on his way to Germany). However, it gave the option of playing a back three with Cedric and Saka as wing backs. Or indeed both, our Mikel does love in-match metamorphoses. This time, he elected to match up to Liverpool’s customary midfield three with Willock, Ceballos, Xhaka and Saka. Pepe and Nketiah were hopefully going to offer a dynamic duo up front. The big question pre-match was where Saka, on the day he received his first international call-up, was going to play – wing back, midfield or wide left attacker – or all three?

Klopp selected Salah, van Dijk, Jota and Milner along with fringe players. Nonetheless, both teams predominantly comprised the players who had played in the previous round. Could we repeat the high scoring performance we produced at Anfield at the same stage of this competition last season?

Xhaka’s complete redemption was confirmed as he led the team out as captain. The Arsenal started with four at the back with Kolasinac at left back facing Salah (horrors!), Saka on the left of midfield, Willock on the right of midfield, both driving forward when in possession and Pepe to the left of Nketiah up front. 4-4-2! Liverpool lined up in their usual 4-3-3.

Early knockings saw much energy from both sides but little in the way of constructive passages of play until the seventh minute when we should have scored! Pepe penetrating Liverpool’s high line cut the ball back to Willock who touched it on to Nketiah on the right of the Liverpool 6-yard box. Sadly, his first touch was poor allowing the diving keeper to push the ball away and the chance was gone. Nketiah should just have hit the damn thing! A minute later Saka and Willock created an overlap in the box for Cedric but his touch back to Willock was poor and was cut out.

After that early Arsenal flurry, Liverpool then had a brace of corners that led to a free run into the box for Jota. Jota’s cut back reached a Scouser who fired the ball wide of Leno’s right-hand post. Jota then floored Ceballos with a push to the back of his head (no card) then Pepe was brought down as he broke through by Minamino who was carded.  From the free-kick Holding bundled the ball into the opposition net but the ref had already blown for a push. A multiplayer Liverpool drive on the right was nicely snuffed out by Gabriel, Kolasinac and Xhaka.

As the first quarter ended, Saka, Willock and our forwards were doing a great job harrying the Liverpool back-line. Saka and Willock were prominent in driving at the opposition defence. The former in particular was forcing Liverpool defenders to resort to fouls, not always registered by Kevin Friend – never a friend of ours. We looked compact when Liverpool had possession with everyone behind the ball, pressing the ball carrier and closing down options and channels. The Arsenal were generally playing out of Liverpool’s high press well, releasing runners on the break and were clearly the better side at this stage looking much more dangerous. Yet there is always scope for individual error. Just after Carragher had praised The Arsenal passing out from the back, in the 33^rd minute as we passed our way forward on our left Liverpool’s press caused Xhaka to loft a ball towards Kolasinac who headed the ball straight to Jota inside our box. Fortunately Holding swiftly got a foot in to dispossess him.

As the half came towards its last five minutes, Liverpool had been the more dominant and pushed us back for five minutes but a sweet ball from Ceballos from just inside our half, found Saka running through. Sadly, he was just offside. One hoped that sooner or later one of those through balls to runners would come off.  49% of our attacks were on our left and 33% on our right.

As the half drew to a close Ceballos brought Jota down outside the right edge of our box. Of course, Jota fell into the area and a posse of Scousers tried to confuse the ref with deviant geometry. Gabriel headed the free kick clear only for it to be lobbed back in by Williams. Jota headed the cross goal-wards from our right prompting a full-stretch save by Leno but much like his save on Monday that landed at Mane’s feet, the palmed ball went straight to Minamino running into the 6-yard box, unmarked, 4-yards out. Minamino’s side-footed effort rattled off our cross-bar. Lucky Arsenal, but you’re no Mane, son! In added-time another Liverpool corner was punched away by Leno but the ball returned from our left found Jota on the right of our box. His cross to the far post was headed past the far post by van Dijk and then the half-time whistle sounded.

The Arsenal had looked comfortable for most of the half and our pressing and runners had caused Liverpool problems but Nketiah had fluffed our only real chance with his poor first touch. Liverpool had had a flurry just before half-time when we had to rely on Lady Luck and we could have been made to regret not making and taking more chances with our forays forward. The stats showed we had only had 2 attempts with none on target to Liverpool’s 6 attempts and 2 on target. Nonetheless this was one of our better halfs at Anfield and it’s still all to play for!

HT: 0 – 0

Liverpool kicked off the second half without either coach making any substitutions. An early Liverpool free kick from our right saw Gruic head over. Impressive bursts of speed from Eddie twice forced Adrian to kick the ball into touch but our subsequent moves came to naught. Xhaka who had just been spoken to for a foul on Jota, then picked up a silly yellow for dragging Gruic back as he moved towards our half. Leno then made a superb reaction save low to his right to stop van Dijk scoring when he flicked on a knock down from a corner.

The first 10 minutes of the half saw Liverpool much more dominant. Our only effort was a tame Pepe shot from the edge of the box. A much more threatening Jota shot from our right was deflected past Leno’s left-hand post. Liverpool were now looked the more dangerous team. As the hour approached, Leno had to dive low to his left to stop a Gruic shot from the edge of our box sneaking inside his post.

On the hour, van Dijk and Salah were replaced by Gomez and Origi. Jota lost his markers to get on the end of a long ball which he struck firmly from the edge of the box only to see a Leno dive push it wide. From the corner, Leno had to stretch backwards to stop a Gruic header from looping under the bar. Paul Merson thought that was a ‘worldie’! Liverpool corners demonstrated their aerial superiority though Gabriel dealt well with anything coming his way.

As we reached the last quarter, Ceballos was replaced by Elneny. A beautiful high ball from Cedric on the right found Saka in the box but a Liverpool defender dived in to clear it. From a short corner  routine, Pepe crossed for Holding to head goal-wards from 6 yards but his fine effort was saved by Adrian. Once again Nketiah pressure caused the Liverpool keeper to kick for touch. Our friend Kevin then ignored a Liverpool hand ball which led to a Gruic shot, deflected for a throw. On 75 minutes, Wijnaldum replaced Jota. Pepe was then clipped by Wilson in the centre circle as he broke away and the Scouser was carded.  “One of those fouls that his manager will be pleased with!” said Carragher. Nketiah then headed wide from a Willock cross from the right.

On 80 minutes Saka developed cramp stretching to tackle a Liverpool player wide on our left. Lacazette then replaced Nketiah. A nice run by Pepe led to him shooting wide after a Saka cross was cleared. Liverpool then built a nice series of passes ending in a Williams shot straight at Leno. Saka went down again with cramp on 85 minutes and was replaced by Maitland-Niles.

Another Cedric long ball found Pepe who was called offside but the TV lateral view suggested the call was extremely marginal. An unfortunate bounce led to a Maitland-Niles handball halfway inside our half on our left. The cross from the free-kick was unnecessarily cleared for a corner by the same player. It felt like the fickle finger of fate was pointing but we dealt with the corner well.

In three added minutes, Willock ran onto a ball into the Liverpool box. Milner dived at his feet and touched the ball away with his hand. Our friend Kevin wasn’t interested and carded Cedric for his protest. Liverpool then surged forwards and a Milner cross was fired wide as the game reached its end.

FT: 0 – 0

Liverpool had dominated most of the second half and worked Leno several times but The Arsenal defence had performed well and we had worked our way more into the match in its last quarter. The Arsenal had shaded the first half but Liverpool had been the better team in the second. But as the famous notice says, “This is Anfield”. There was nothing between the teams so a penalty shoot-out was inevitable.

Penalties

Milner:                 1 – 0 (high right followed by a finger wag towards The Arsenal players)

Lacazette:            1 – 1 (low to his left sending Adrian the wrong way)

Wijnadum:          2 – 1 (high right into the roof of the net – no chance for Leno)

Cedric:                 2 – 2 (to his right, escaping the fingers of Adrian)

Minamino:           3 – 2 (high to his right, Leno diving the wrong way)

Elneny:                 3 – 2 (leftish but saved by Adrian – nice height for the keeper)

Origi:                   3 – 2 (leftish but saved by Leno – nice height for the keeper)

Maitland-Niles    3 – 3 (jogged up slowly, sent the keeper the wrong way – Mr Cool!)

Jones:                  4 – 3 (low into the corner beyond Leno)

Pepe:                   4 – 4 (low into the corner with Adrian going the wrong way)

Wilson:                4 – 4 (right but well saved by Leno diving to his left)

Willock:               5 – 4 (low and hard to his right, squirming under Adrian)

Well done lads! That is well-deserved revenge for our undeserved defeat on penalties a year ago. Bernd was awarded the Man of the Match award for his 7 saves during the game (plus two in the penalty shoot-out).

This was a much better performance than was produced in Monday’s game. We defended well and looked well organised, our midfield players were much more involved in the game both with and without the ball playing the ball forward at every opportunity and supporting our forwards who in turn defended from the front, pressed high and broke quickly.

Leno was outstanding and kept us in the game with several saves as well as being cool and efficient in the shoot-out. Cedric was solid and got forward well delivering several excellent through balls. Holding and Gabriel blended well as a centre-back pair and effectively blocked the centre to the Liverpool attack. Kolasinac made one rick but Salah was never a threat. Ceballos and Xhaka had one of their best games. They defended well when required, made themselves available when we were playing out of defence, turned well and played several excellent through balls. Willock and Saka both had outstanding performances and broke forward to support the forwards at every opportunity while always supporting the fullbacks when out of possession. Nketiah and Pepe worked their socks off up front, pressing constantly, tracking back when needed and breaking at speed. Elneny added energy when he came on for Ceballos and was gutted by his penalty. Lacazette worked hard during his cameo and took his penalty with aplomb while Maitland-Niles was again Mr Cool taking his penalty and had a smile as wide as Anfield as he jogged back to the centre circle. Top marks all round, especially for MA8 for his team selection and tactics.

Post-match, Mikel was very happy:

I’m really happy with the performance. I think the boys were exceptional. We corrected a few things from last Monday and the way we played against this team, I think, was superb. We controlled so many more things that they tried to do much better (and) some of the spaces that they like to attack. We competed much better in the second and third balls, (and) some of the duels. The level of aggression that we had, as well, the way we pressed them really, really high and put them under a lot of pressure, was exceptional, I think. (Bernd Leno) was really good. We had some problems on the set pieces and second and third phases and they had some chances there. We had some open chances as well and when we needed Bernd, we had him. You need top individual performances to win here at Anfield and this is what we had tonight!

It’s the third time we’ve played in the last eight weeks, I think, against the best team in Europe, in my opinion, and to come here to Anfield and play with the determination and courage that we’ve done tonight, I think is a big step for the team. I tell them that after Monday, we’ve made a big step forward, that we have a lot of things to learn from an exceptional team but we are on the right path, I think. I keep saying that still the gap towards them is big but the fact that the team, the players believe all the time that we play against them that we can beat them and we will keep improving to try to reach their level.

We want to take every competition as an opportunity to win a trophy and we have to do that with the club that we represent and we will try to go game by game.”

Jaimie Redknapp has kindly drawn us against Manchester City at the new home of football in the week commencing December 21^st and we are still on course for four trophies.

What a difference a year makes!

We went away to the reigning champions Liverpool after winning the first two matches of the new league season. Last time we had won the opening three matches was when we were the reigning champions, the mighty Invincibles aiming to protect their title in a rampaging start to the 2004-2005 season. Since then the fortunes of these two historical clubs of English football have seen a lot of twists and turns, often fighting against the tides to stay competitive at the top against the nouveau riche, having to rely on guile and craft as much off the field as on it. After an extraordinary 30 years of wait Liverpool finally won the league again last season, playing the most captivating football in a very long time, with a unique stylistic blend of relentless running and pressing and quickness of feet and mind. Whereas we had ended the last season with our lowest league position in more than two decades after a sequence of performances and results that even had raised the specter of a potential relegation fight before Mikel Arteta came to steady the ship, he duly had arrested the slide, got us a record 14^th FA Cup, and a measure of smile and optimism back among the players and fanbase.

Even though Arsenal had won the last two matches against Liverpool – a come-from-behind 2-1 victory at home in the League and a penalty shoot-out win in the Community Shield at the start of the season – both of those matches had demonstrated clearly the gulf in the overall quality as we had to rely on back-to-the-wall defensive resilience and the ability to take every single chance coming our way from counter-attacks and forced errors to get the results. If we were to get anything out of this match we must be able to execute on a similar game-plan with a flawless efficiency.

We had last won at Liverpool way back in 2012, when Arteta was one of our senior players, and the then new boys Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski scoring the goals at the early days of the season. Since then under both Arsene and Unai Emery we have had a horrid run of results there. Liverpool had last lost at home in the league in April 2017, and in the last season they had secured 55 of available 57 points in the league at home.

So, the stage was set for a record-setting, season-defining upset!

Even though the pragmatist in us had been reminding ourselves of patience and realistic expectations, the starry-eyed optimist living inside each football fan was willing to trust the process Mikel has started to give us a performance and result to savor.

Since the restart of the last league season following the pandemic-enforced lockdown we have mostly started the matches in a 3-4-3 formation, but with a high degree of tactical fluidity in especially how the wingbacks are deployed with and without the ball. Even though the extra security in the defense – David Luiz especially swings between majestic to catastrophic depending on whether he is playing in the middle of back three or one of a defensive pair – offered by 3-4-3 remains tempting in the long run we cannot mount a serious challenge on the upper end of the league table playing with one less midfielder than what is mostly required in the modern football.

Arteta chose this match to start with a little bit more ambitious formation. He might have been thinking of the challenges ahead especially against so-called lesser teams who will just happily seat back against a 3-4-3 and not give any space for counter-attacks. Or he was certain that Klopp and his team will pore over our recent performances to find how best to exploit the midfield gaps left open by back three and wanted to out-guess the opponents.  

David Luiz and Holding as the defensive duo, Tierney back from last weekend’s injury in left back, Bellerin in right back. Leno behind them in goal. Since Emi Martinez has left for Aston Villa after a commanding series of performances towards the end of last season, a part of the fanbase have been a little too impatient with Leno who has been in my opinion one of our most consistent and composed performers in the last two shambles of seasons. 

The midfield had a lopsided feel with Xhaka and Elneny pivoting in the center and Maitland-Niles deployed more on the left side. Willian’s experience was trusted to play the dual role of patrolling the entire right side of the midfield and joining Bellerin in attack and defense. Captain Aubameyang and Lacazette in their customary roles carrying the expectations of scoring goals.  Dani Ceballos was left on the bench and some of us wondered whether against a team as aggressive as Liverpool his better close control wouldn’t have been more effective.  

Liverpool started the match at full flow and then getting even faster and more aggressive as the minutes progressed. Sadio Mane was floating across the entire frontline and troubling both our fullbacks with his pace, close control and physicality. He troubled Tierney a little too much when his elbow arrowed in fiercely on our sensational Scotsman’s face. If the actors were reversed, I have a feeling we would be playing with 10 men for the rest of the game. Mane saw a yellow. He had done something similar in the league match at our home last season, lashing out at Holding’s head.   

Aggressive and relentless Liverpool’s pressing might have been, it was admirable how we stuck courageously to the principle of playing out from the back despite the heart-stopping moments arriving at predictable regularity. I liked the confidence and the willingness to take responsibilities. But it was also abundantly clear that we do not yet have the right personnel at all the key positions to execute this game-plan effectively against the best pressing front line and midfield in all of football. Yet this was a clear and present improvement since the days of haphazard and inconsistent attempts at the same under the tutelage of Arteta’s predecessor.

We were under constant pressure and there was a goal-line headed clearance by Luiz from a corner following Holding’s last-ditch tackle. Corner again and Mo Salah had a clear sight on the goal from the edge of the box and shot over. Barely 12 minutes have passed and we were pinned back completely in our defensive third. We did manage to launch a couple of counter-attacks – Laca was fouled on the edge of their box from one (and no free-kick given) and from the other Auba’s flick Laca couldn’t catch on to.

Leno made an excellent save around 15^th minute. Liverpool kept on attacking in short intense patterns of play, there were further attempts at our goal, some straight at Leno and some hit over the top.

Then we scored. It was against the run of the play and a Liverpool defensive mistaken contributed towards it, granted, but our flowing counter-attacking move was of a very high quality as well. Xhaka received the ball deep in our defensive left corner of the field, found himself with an extra second or so to be able to look up and then made a superlative pass through the middle to Lacazette playing in his customary false nine position, Laca kept the move alive by stretching his leg to divert the ball onto the path of marauding AMN down the left and kept running. Aubameyang started moving inside. Liverpool had seen this play before and they were wise to Auba’s intent and covered his run. On the other flank Willian sensed his chance and attacked the empty space on the right side of the Liverpool’s penalty box. AMN looked up and floated a cross aimed at Willian. Andy Robertson guessed the trajectory correctly and in an attempt to clear the ball lobbed it right in front of Laca who only had the goalkeeper to beat. He tried the old hit-on-the-ground-to-lift-over-the-goalkeeper routine, and channeled his inner Danny Welbeck to scuff the shot just the right amount to see it loop into their goal.

Liverpool 0 – Arsenal 1 (Lacazette 25’)

Now the key was to be able to hold on to this lead for a while. Hopefully at least until the end of the first half.

That hope evaporated within two minutes. Liverpool was played a good advantage by the referee – that indeed was a good bit of refereeing – after Luiz committed a foul just outside the box. Salah drove into the box and used his quick feet to take out Tierney. Luiz ambled back not fully sensing the danger, and neither did Willian who didn’t follow Mane’s run into the box. Salah’s stinging shot was saved by Leno but it felt kindly on the path of Mane – Bellerin too got drawn towards the ball – to tap in for the equalizer.

Liverpool 1 (Mane 27’)  – Arsenal 1 (Lacazette 25’)

Things got worse soon.  Van Dijk sent a typically accurate long ball on the feet of Alexander-Arnold who controlled it brilliantly. Then a quick interchange of passes between him, Firmino and Salah led to Alexander-Arnold with enough time and space to manufacture a perfect cross into the box. Both Holding and Bellerin attacked the header weary of Mane’s abilities in situations like this. No one again tracked Andy Robertson’s run in the box – Willian ball-watching and neither of Xhaka or Elneny wise to the situation – and as the ball fell on his feet with only Leno to beat from close quarters the Liverpool left back lifted the ball past Leno to atone for his mistake earlier.    

Liverpool 2 (Mane 27’, Robertson 34’ )  – Arsenal 1 (Lacazette 25’)

Willian evidently learned from the mistake as he made a fantastic tracking run and clearance around 38^th minute to avoid us conceding a third goal. Luiz tried a couple of longballs on the path of Willian but those didn’t have enough backspin on them and went out of play.

The first half ended with us trailing and Liverpool looking commanding and formidable in every aspect of the game.

We started the second half with more attacking intent as our midfield duo moved up forward. Hardworking honest professionals though they are, and considerable qualities on the ball, Xhaka and Elneny unfortunately do not have the technical ability to play out of very tight position in the midfield and spring attacks quickly against the harrowing, maniac pressing-in-a-pack that Liverpool excels at.

Ceballos replaced Xhaka around 60^th minute to bring in some sharpness in passing and a better ball retention. These are the kind of games where Xhaka’s limitations are painfully made obvious.

Ceballos had an immediate impact with a lovely pass splitting open the Liverpool’s defensive line to set Lacazette up one-on-one against Allisson. The Liverpool goalkeeper did well to narrow the angle down but a striker of Lacazette’s pedigree should still have been able to score from that chance. One wonders what if Aubameyang had the opportunity. Lacazette was disconsolate.

We pressed well, intelligently and with discipline. But Liverpool were ready for it and they used Van Dijk’s long-range passing abilities to get out of the press time and again. We made some positive substitutions searching for an equalizer: Pepe came on for Willian at 68^th minute, Eddie came on for Lacazette at 73^rd minute.

Despite the conviction, quality and speed in Liverpool’s play we stayed positive and didn’t really give up the fight and kept searching for the equalizer. Ceballos was playing particularly well with impressively controlling possession in tight spaces, making progressive passes and breaking through the lines with direct runs with ball on his feet.  We had a couple of corners that Pepe – who generally is excellent with his deliveries from free-kicks and corners – delivered flat on the near post. My explanation is that it was a training ground exercise planned to have us catch them off-guard. A less forgiving explanation is not entirely implausible.

Liverpool brought in fresh pairs of legs — the ancient Milner and the shiny new Diego Jota. Jota relished the pockets of space he was finding and the time to test Leno. With the amount of chances he was getting it seemed like a matter of minutes that the Liverpool debutant would open his scoring.  Alexander-Arnold was again given enough time on the ball to send one of his dipping crosses in the box. David Luiz headed tamely it back to Jota, who accepted the gift gleefully and finished well with a quality volley through the legs of Bellerin.         

Liverpool 3 (Mane 27’, Robertson 34’, Jota 89’ )  – Arsenal 1 (Lacazette 25’)

The match ended us with our first dropped points of the season, but most importantly a timely reminder of the long and arduous journey ahead for the club to get back to the position of prominence in the English football. However wonderful and satisfying the FA Cup run might have been, and however impressive the improvement in discipline, focus, organization and tactical maturity are now in display, this match underlined the need for strengthening in key areas, and also the need for patience and a higher tolerance for the ups-and-downs ahead than what has lately been demonstrated by at least some parts of the fanbase.

The Carabao Cup is a funny one. Part of us wants not to have the competition, but that wrangles with the part of us that would be glad for Arsenal to raise it as yet another trophy in the early Arteta years. The boss’s opinion was revealed by the strength of the team he put out on the field of play, starting 7 who hadn’t started against the Hammers in midweek. In his preview Osaka Matt was pretty darn close in a tough ask, missing only Saka for Soares on the wing and Kolasinac for Gabriel at the back. Surprisingly (to me) Leno started in goal; given that leaves us one injury away from having either Macey or new boy Rúnarsson in goal at least for our League visit to the Land of Scouse next week. A risk that paid off, fortunately, in Wednesday’s 2-0 win for the Gunners at a rainy King Power Stadium in Leicester.

Arsenal kicked off in their new bloody white kit, while the Foxes wore their home blues. With only one win from their last seven visits to Leicester the last thing Arsenal needed was an early goal by the home squad…which could have come had Iheanacho’s volley after a missed Holding header a minute into the game beaten Leno, rather than flying high and wide. Soon after Arsenal also came close through Nelson, who won the ball back neatly from Albrighton on the left, drove infield and unleashed a curler Ward tipped just over. Leno made his first save from Iheanacho after some lovely work by Albrighton.

Both sides were playing somewhat expansive football, in particular Nelson and Saka down Arsenal’s left, and Arsenal’s defensive shape was largely solid, we looked very calm playing out of the back. After nearly a quarter hour Elneny produced a silly foul on Gray in midfield, yielding the game’s only yellow card from referee Peter Bankes (who refereed the game well, except for one glaring error).

Arsenal hit their stride before the game reached its quarter point, with Saka, Nelson, and Pepe exchanging passes but not quite making the final ball count. On 20 minutes Saka beat Albrighton on the left and whipped in a low cross to which Nketiah just couldn’t redirect into goal. Most of the ball was in Leicester’s half, with Arsenal pressure giving Leicester no way out. Holding was just about reining in Iheanacho down his right, and put a beautiful, if slightly overhit, throughball to Nketiah that Ward gratefully collected.

Referee Bankes had nothing to say but “play on” in the 26th minute when Saka went down in the box tangled in Amartey’s legs as he ran onto another throughball, this from Nketiah after Elneny started the move with a fine interception near the center circle. It was as clear a penalty as one could want to ask for; Saka had no reason to go down, rather than take a shot, which he tried, but the defender’s legs were in the way…and, in the absence of VAR Mr. Bankes wasn’t having it.

After a free kick from Leicester led to Iheanacho offside, Leno started a wonderful move through Holding, Saka, Nketiah, and Pepe feeding Nelson, who forced another save from Ward, this time curling a shot low to the keeper’s left. Arsenal were still on top until about the 38th minute, during which time Luiz needed treatment from a spare Leno elbow as the keeper collected a high ball through his defender’s head. We were sitting pretty when suddenly Maddison looked up, saw Leno off his line after a number of sweet passes, and put a long chip over Arsenal’s keeper. That it came back off Leno’s post directly to Leno was the least part of our good fortune, it would have been a wonderful goal. Throughout the game, Maddison (in his first game back from a long injury layoff) was the most threatening of the Foxes, causing us myriad, if not insurmountable, problems all over the pitch.

We went into halftime on 0-0, and Arsenal could feel pretty good about that, though we deserved to be ahead. We were on top for most of the half, under Leicester’s cosh for only five or ten minutes throughout. Nelson and Saka played very well together, were consistently dangerous on the ball, and defended well. Nketieh showed his mettle, running all over the pitch and constantly menacing Ward’s goal.

The teams came out from having their orange slices and lucozade making no changes in personnel, and for the first 10-15 minutes Arsenal had the better of the ball, with great pressure on Leicester’s back line coming to naught. Until the 57th minute, when suddenly we were up 1-0. Arsenal’s throw-in from midfield broke to Fuchs, who lost the ball to Nketiah in Leicester’s half. He fed Pepe down the right, and Pepe took it to the endline before having his cross blocked by Ward. The ball fell kindly to Pepe again, who put in another cross that banged off Fuchs and into the net beyond the straining efforts of Amartey.

Arsenal 1-0 Leicester (Fuchs, o.g., 57)

Of course, shortly after the goal Leicester started to apply the pressure on Arsenal, to get back into the game. They held possession for more than half a dozen passes for the first time all half, though it didn’t lead to much but takeaways by our well-drilled defense. I do think their pressure forced a change in structure on about 65 minutes, when Maitland-Niles dropped into right back, Arsenal forming a back four rather than playing three at the back. Leicester’s Praet came on for the dangerous Maddison, whose race was run, and Willian came on for the excellent Nelson on 72 minutes. Shortly after that Holding hit a first time clearance to Nketiah, who forced Morgan to clear off his line with an excellent volley over Ward.

You will note I’ve said nothing about Kolasinac all game. He was largely quiet, doing his job, but as is his wont gave away the ball a time or two. One sequence of play that illustrated his game came after Perez came in for Dewsbury-Hall and Ceballos came in for the efficient Willock in the 78th minute. A pair of Arsenal corners led to the ball breaking to Kolasinac at the edge of the box, only for him to give away the ball with an ineffective shot/cross off Perez. Kola then chased down the play and intercepted Albrighton’s return ball to Perez past the halfway line. The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away, it has been said. Kolasinac seems to be much better playing at speed with Saka and Nelson in front of him, and some speed of thought inside with Xhaka out…

Neither team could gather themselves for the last few minutes of the game, again exchanging half-chances, though Perez should have done better from an 81st minute freekick, with his free header going wide of Leno’s half-open goal. Arsenal kept Leicester penned in their own half after a snapshot from Praet, and then the Maestro rolled his last die, swapping Bellerin for Saka in the 87th. Saka had a great game, again a candidate for MOTM, and we should all be well pleased that he is an Arsenal player.

As the clock ticked down to the last minute Leno bowled a ball out the right, which Nketieh ended up having to play across to the left to be recycled. Holding played a medium punt to Pepe behind Thomas again on the right; Pepe found Bellerin at speed, who beat Fuchs and Choudhury all ends up, and squared for Nketiah. He put his first touch through the falling Amartey, then beat Ward to the ball and poked it into the corner of the net. Game, set, match. A true poacher’s goal after some excellent team work passing the ball around the entirety of the pitch (albeit with a couple of Leicester touches, blocks or tips).

Arsenal 2-0 Leicester (Nketiah, 90)

And so, on the 28th anniversary of Arsenal’s signing of the inimitable Ian Wright Wright Wright his heir apparent (and MOTM) Eddie Nketiah secured Arsenal’s victory with a goal the elder striker would have been proud to show in his highlight reel.

Arsenal’s overall game was effective, organized, and composed. Young guns Nelson, Saka, Willock, Nketiah, and Maitland-Niles all had very good games (or better), our defense made few mistakes and none that cost us even a goal let alone the win. I was impressed with Elneny in midfield, he played a quiet, very effective game, always running seeking the right place to be to cycle the ball so the team could move through their paces. Leicester never got going excepting a couple of spells of pressure on our backline, and the one Maddison ball that should have been a goal. My sigh of relief at that hitting the post was probably audible from California. Congratulations to OM, as well, for nailing the ‘Holics pound. I hear we get Liverpool next…bloody useless, this cup…