Goonerholics Forever

It seemed so strange not to be there. We have had five Wembley Cup Finals since 2011. I’ve been lucky enough to have been at all of them. The ritual was engrained. Early travel to Wembley, couple of beers, dinner on the way home. So many pictures were on social media before the game, including several of the gentleman (and I use the word advisedly) above, Dave Faber, the Goonerholic. Dave loved a final. Several drinkers in this bar enjoyed his company there, many many more read his reports.

So the TV and the sofa it was. I chose the BBC, mainly for the sheer pro Arsenal exuberance of Wrighty, who nicely squashed the odious Cashley. I’m told BT Sport had RvP. He would have turned my beer so I gave that a swerve. Aunty Beeb it was, despite Danny Murphy on co-comms, never a fan of ours.

It was a matter of considerable pride that our 20 man squad included seven Academy graduates – and that doesn’t include Martinez or Bellerin who both joined at 16 from abroad. Is it that we are down to the bare bones, or are we blessed with a golden Hale End generation? Whichever, it must have made Per Mertesacker and Freddie Lundberg glow with pride. The team was a 3-4-3 with KT, Luiz and Rob at the back, Hector and AMN at wingback, Xhaka and Dani in midfield and the big three of Auba, Laca and Pepe up front. No Kola thank God and a reward for AMN for his excellent game against City. I hope he remembered to take Mahrez out of his shorts before the game started. A lovely and typically Arsenal touch was a massive banner thanking Ken Friar for 70 years service. He started in 1950. Even TTG and goonersince54 haven’t been around that long!

Off we went. In a sign of things to come AMN completely outpaced Azpilicueta on the left and knocked in a perfect cross which Auba headed just wide. But Chelsea were about to have their best period of the game. With the blues pressing fiercely, Xhaka gave away the ball in midfield and Mount closed in and forced a good save from Martinez. On five minutes, disaster struck. Mount again drove into the box, slipped it to Giroud, who cleverly backheeled it (sounds familiar) to Pulisic,  Auba’s former Dortmund teammate, who, with great feet, made space and slipped it past Emi. The American was looking very very good.

Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea (Pulisic 5)

For a while it didn’t get any better. Chelsea continued a high press and were dominating midfield, with Jorghino playing simple passes and good running in the channels. That man Pulisic again forced a save from Emi. Then the game began to turn. Kovacic climbed in on Xhaka. Foul and a yellow card. A few minutes later the same player clattered Dani. Foul but no second yellow. Surely he was in the last chance saloon? Dani took the free kick himself but put it just over. The water break on 21 minutes seemed critical if we weren’t going to get overrun. These time outs have played into Arteta’s skills and he was into everybody, arms waving, instructions in umpteen languages being given. Our little Basque is not what you call a laid back manager!

After 25 minutes KT3 played a lovely ball to Auba on the edge of the box who laid it off for Pepe. With one of those reminders as to why we paid £72m for him he curled a worldie into the top corner. Sadly Auba was deemed, correctly, to be just offside when he received the ball. But the improvement continued. Again Kieran played a long ball, fully 80 yards, into the path of an onside Auba. His electric pace was far too much for Azpilicueta. The pulling began five yards outside the box and, stupidly, continued well into the box. Anthony Taylor gave the penalty that nobody seemed to disagree with, not even Danny Murphy. Lots of discussion as to whether it should have been a red card, like Luiz at the Bridge, because he clearly wasn’t attempting to play the ball, but Rüdiger’s presence just saved him. A yellow it was.  Auba placed the ball, gave one deep breath and drove it nervelessly into the right corner of the net. Get in!

Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea (Aubameyang 28)

We were now in our best period of the game. A long ball to Giroud saw Luiz put his hand on his back. Now Giroud, as we recall, has a very low pain threshold and he collapsed to the floor screaming. No foul and VAR agreed. Cheating little Frenchman. He never got those when he played for us either. It has to be said, Luiz was doing an excellent job on him. Azpilicueta went off with a hamstring and was replaced by Christensen. Xhaka pulled off a wonderful Bobby Moore like tackle. Has there been a better arising from the dead since Lazarus? Pepe was putting in a lot of lovely left footed crosses from the right wing and really troubling Chelsea at the far post. As half time approached he was upended just outside the box. Laca knocked it well wide. Five minutes of injury time. Just time for a yellow card for Mason Mount for another foul on Dani.

Half time Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea

On the BBC half time report a lovely little segment on how clearly you could hear the coaches. It seems that Arsenal had gained another coach, with Wrighty’s screams of “man on” and “tackle him Rob” from the commentary box clearly audible. Wrighty would fit right in on the North Bank.

At the start of the second half, Pulisic, clearly Chelsea’s best player, ran through our midfield and just put the ball past the post. But he was screaming as he hit the shot and another hamstring had popped. He was replaced by Pedro, whose first act was to seriously outpace Rob Holding , although to no great effect. The game was really open and we broke leaving Laca with the ball and an unmarked Auba screaming for the ball. Unfortunately Laca released the ball just too late and Auba was closed down.

An hour gone. We were giving Chelsea too much space again as the 25 degree heat began to make for tired legs. The Arsenal faithful online were growing increasingly fretful, including your correspondent. But just as we were worrying, Hector picked up the ball in our half and he drove, like Martinelli at the Bridge, right through the middle of the Chelsea midfield. He was taken out ten yards outside the box, but Taylor played a good advantage as the ball fell to Pepe on the right. He slid in Auba, who turned Zouma into a pretzel before dinking a delightful little chip over Caballero. What a goal! One worthy of any Cup Final. And what a player. New contract please – just pay the man!

Arsenal 2-1 ((Aubameyang 78)

Now the nerves really kicked in. We are not renowned for holding leads, to the extent that dog walkers will not allow the team to substitute. Then, a key moment. Kovacic fouled Xhaka. A yellow card came out, but it was for Ceballos, who was mouthing off. Then, in slow motion, as if he had heard all the Arsenal fans screaming (maybe it was Wrighty) he pulled out a second yellow, then a red, for Kovacic. Danny Murphy, who will seldom admit there has been a foul unless a leg is hanging off, was disgusted. Chelsea were down to ten men with ten minutes to go.

As befits an all London final, it was getting feisty. Rüdiger fouled Xhaka and got a yellow. Arteta got himself booked, in the Wenger tradition. Chelsea made three subs, bringing off Mount (who had looked very dangerous), Giroud (who had done little after that early backheel assist) and Rüdiger for Abraham, Hudson-Odoi and Barkley. Then a moment of horror. Martinez, excellent all game, came for a long Chelsea ball and appeared to have caught it outside his area. Anthony Taylor waved it away (is he trying to make up for sending Kos off against Villa?) and, for some reason, no replays were shown. After the game, a BBC replay appeared to have shown that the ball was just, just, on the line. Wrighty was convinced, Cashley less so.

Eddie came on for Laca. Luiz went down and his race was run. Sokratis came on. Barkley’s sole contribution was to foul Eddie and pick up yet another Chelsea yellow card. Up went the board. Seven (!) minutes of added time. Oh my God. We were defending deep when we should have been passing, passing, passing against ten men. Pepe got away with a clattering foul on the edge of our box. Pedro burst through from the loose ball but Emi again claimed it confidently with Papa shielding him well. Pedro went down and stayed down with what looked like a painfully dislocated shoulder. Chelsea were down to nine men. For some reason Arteta played with our heartstrings and brought on Kola for the excellent Kieran Tierney. After an interminable period of about eleven minutes of added on time the final whistle went. We had won our 14^th FA Cup!

Full time. Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea

Oh my. Arteta wins the Cup as player and manager, emulating George Graham. We have now won 10% of all the FA Cups ever. Silverware (where’s yours Tottenham?). You in the drinks can decide the stars, but for me every manjack was a ten. What a triumphant end to a very bumpy season of three managers and our worst league position for 25 years.

Then a hugely pleasing coda. It appears that by winning the FA Cup, we take a place in the Europa League group stages in October (gosh who knew?). The team finishing sixth in the Premier League have to go into the qualifying stages and play three one off games to reach the same stage, starting in mid September.

Oh yes, the team finishing sixth? Tottenham Hotspur FC.

I thereby declare August 1 as St Totteringham’s day by proxy.

One man who would have so enjoyed that, as well as the day and the win, is Dave Faber to whom this blog is dedicated. On the first FA Cup final since his sad death on Christmas Day, I hope he was watching from heaven with friends, family and maybe a glass or two of Ambrosia.

Cheers Dave. This one was for you.

Have we ever looked forward to the final day of the Premier League season with such an absence of interest? Our worst league standing in more than two decades already guaranteed, even the second tier of European club competition – once unthinkable for this proud club – no longer available via the league position, and only thing to really hope from this game was that none of our key players get an injury that will keep them out of the FA Cup final next weekend.

There were few schools of thought about the potential starting line-up before the game: play essentially a second or even third eleven with all of the potential starters for the Cup final either on the bench or fully rested, or play the strongest eleven on that day to ensure that not only we prepare for the cup final with a confidence boosting victory but also respect the relegation battle in which our once mirthful opposition was now desperately involved, or play a kind of hybrid team that while respecting the relegation battle still avoided any possibility of the key players being kicked – or elbowed, kneed, slapped, headbutted…choose your least favorite form of assault – around and given the history of the opposition, that fear was more than justified.

But our brave new manager doesn’t deal in fears. He had asserted leading to the weekend that he would choose the team likeliest to win the match and he was true to his words. Emi Martinez was given a chance to continue to practice his impressive goalkeeping skills behind the most inconsistent defense in all of premier league, a defense that is capable of producing dogged rearguard and incredulously porous displays with equal measures of unpredictability. The bets on the not-so-sublime, if not entirely ridiculous, defensive display was noticeably increased by starting in a 4-3-3 formation away from the three in central defense which had lately been Arteta’s choice to establish a modicum of shape and structure. Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the right and Kieran Tierney on the left with David Luiz and Rob Holding in the middle. The midfield included the now familiar combination of Xhaka and Ceballos, with Joe Willock getting a rare start to add some drive and (hopefully) creativity in our worst midfield in the last two decades. The front three included three of our most accomplished forwards with the captain Aubameyang chasing the golden boot starting on his now customary left, Pepe on the right, and Lacazette – who had in the last few weeks seem to have shaken off that prolonged funk and started scoring some good goals – down the middle.

The opposition needed to better the result of whatever Aston Villa could get against West Ham to stay up. The only player in the Watford team that I cared for either way was Danny Welbeck, who despite his Manchester United roots was loved by many of us Arsenal supporters in his five years stint with us, primarily for the intelligence, work ethics and professionalism whenever he put on the jersey. He was not the most accomplished finisher, but he was a very useful player for us, with key contributions in both of our last two successful FA cup runs. A series of injuries had unfortunately held him back in his career, but the fact that the two best Premier League managers – of diametrically opposite personalities — have both held him in high esteem and trusted him in key matches speaks volume of his qualities.

The match started with us seeing most of the ball. In the first minute Auba ran on to a long pass from Luiz and his cross from the left into the middle was meant for Laca, who was bundled over by the crudest of challenges and as the ball drifted towards the edge of the box Ceballos gave it a mighty thump but his shot was flew over. The assault on Laca looked as clear a penalty decision as there could be. Not at all unsurprisingly, the referee – waste of electrons and photons really to write anything more about him — ignored it entirely and waved the game on. However, the VAR team did their job, reviewed for any potential obvious error, and the error being of such blatantly obvious kind, had to give us a penalty. The captain stepped up, sent Ben Foster other way and coolly slotted in for our first goal.

Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 5’) – Watford 0

The somewhat muted celebrations – which perfectly matched the occasion, to be honest – were noticeable primarily for the players wearing our new home shirt for the next season. The design looked good and given the strange times we are living in the fact that we are wearing next season’s jersey already didn’t register high enough in the bizarre-o-meter to write any more lines about it.

However, Auba was now on 21 goals and still very much in the hunt for the golden boot, and the team seemed to be very well aware of it.

Watford responded well to going down, with fullbacks joining in with the wingers and especially on their right side Sarr – who had given us trouble previously playing for Rennes in 18-19 Europa league – was lively, fast, tricky and Tierney had to be at his best to manage him. Two central defenders mean there were gaps opening up between Luiz and Holding who were displaying, individually and collectively, some of their least wanted qualities. Danny was moving in and around the box sprightly, combining well with his fellow attackers, but there were not enough poise and guile in their play in the final third to make us pay for the gaps that had started to open up. It was also noticeable that the collective defensive discipline of our last two wins had deserted the team. Evidently the players, to avoid losing out on a place in the cup final held back – even if unconsciously – from wanting to attack all 50-50 balls or attempt the body-in-line blocks.

Ceballos was playing well almost as an auxiliary defensive midfielder next to Xhaka, dropping deeper, intercepting passes, turning swiftly and driving out of our half. Tierney and AMN both were doing their duties well enough and not many dangerous crosses were allowed from the flanks.

Pepe, with starting position just in front of AMN, couple of times dribbled the ball forward with pace and right through the middle instead of driving down the flanks. He didn’t have enough physicality to hold up the ball long enough or drive beyond central defense. Joe made a similar run through the middle but delayed his final pass too much. Watford was seeing more of the possession.

Around 24^th minute we broke out in one such counter-attack, Joe gave it to Pepe who delivered an excellent cross to Auba on the other side of the penalty box. Auba controlled well and provide a cut-back to onrushing Tierney who almost passed the ball into the far corner of the goal with Foster’s view being blocked by his own defenders. It might have taken a little deflection as well. Tierney’s first goal for the club. In the last few matches he had attempted a few shots at goal and if he were to add the occasional goals to his already impressive all-round display then … well, let us not get ahead of ourselves.

Arsenal 2 (Aubameyang 5’, Tierney 24’) – Watford 0

 A few minutes later the Watford captain clattered AMN to the ground. Fortunately, our right back escaped unharmed. Around 30^th minute Holding provided a lovely long pass in the box aiming for Laca, who controlled it with an equally sumptuous first touch but then miskicked the ball. It could have been a memorable goal if Laca was able to put the finishing touch.

Then we scored a goal from a long throw! I never remember us scoring a goal from a throw into the penalty box. Even though the tactics may have not been the most inspiring, the execution indeed was sublime. Tierney threw the ball in a looping trajectory aimed at our captain, who with his back towards the goal and being tightly marked, used the bottom of his right boot to bounce the ball off the ground up to a perfect height for him to execute a sumptuous overhead kick that flew in the top right corner of a dumbfounded Ben Foster’s goal. If Aubameyang ever to write an autobiography – or someone to write it for him, which seems to be the fashion these days – the title “Goal from Nowhere” can be hardly bettered.

Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 5’, Tierney 24’, Aubameyang 33’) – Watford 0

Watford, to their credit, didn’t lose their focus and kept attacking us. There were the occasional kicking out at our players – which I am certain that Arsenal players nowadays come fully prepared to expect as our oppositions more often than not are held to a much more lenient standard – but despite a heart-in-the-mouth moment for our scintillating Scot, no lasting damage was done. Phew!

Then David Luiz did a very David Luiz thing, gifting Watford a penalty by a mistimed tackle on Welbeck. Their corpulent captain stepped up, and thumped it mightily past Emi Martinez who despite guessing it right just wasn’t fast enough to get his hands behind the shot.

Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 5’, Tierney 24’, Aubameyang 33’) – Watford 1 (Deeney 43’)

This was David Luiz’s fifth penalty giveaway this season in PL, some kind of a record I gather. It has now become a cliché to even mention how clichéd it is to describe Luiz’s game as this pendulum swing between wonderful to devious. Hopefully he got the bad vibes out of his system before the final.

Second half started without any substitutions. Then Xhaka played a perfect parody of himself, absolutely needlessly getting himself a yellow card for mouthing off the referee. It is understandable that the sight of a beard on that face can cause one to lose all sense of proportion, but greater reserves of character are required of Arsenal players. Lacazette ran over to Granit and one could easily guess, based on his gesticulations, what he was telling his teammate: don’t be a f***ing fool!

At that time many of us would have anticipated that Xhaka were to be taken off as he was one rash challenge away from missing the final, but Mikel kept his faith in him and credit to Granit that he controlled his impulses very well and kept his cool for the rest of the match.

By then the match had taken on a distinctive basketball-esque feel, balls pinging from one penalty box to another, bypassing much of the midfield. There were lots of scrambles in our goalmouth, they missed a few chances to test Emi, we tried a few counter attacks that fizzled out, they saw a couple of yellow cards (how novel!), from one of our corners Pepe delivered a tantalizing ball that Holding headed above. But we were being put more and more under pressure.

Around 56^th minute Arteta changed things around. Nketiah replaced Lacazette who we hope will be all the hungrier for a goal in the final. Kolasinac came on for Willock who tried a few things but didn’t make much of a mark. We switched to a more familiar 3-4-3 now with Kola slotting back on the left sided defender, Tierney and AMN moving up as wingbacks. In between Emi made another save from Danny.

AMN started moving forward more now that we were secured by one additional player in the defense. From one of his overlapping runs he combined well with Ceballos and Pepe and tested Ben Foster with a stinging drive. If he had looked up and towards his left he would have seen Auba was in a bit of space. But it was a good instinctive attempt the kind of which often leads to a goal.  

Sarr on the other end was still causing problems. From one of his deliveries on the ground in front our goalmouth Danny ran in front of our static defenders to turn the ball in our goal.

Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 5’, Tierney 24’, Aubameyang 33’) – Watford 2 (Deeney 43’, Welbeck 66’)

It was a goal they deserved, and given our lackluster defending Watford sensed an opportunity to score more.  Arteta made a couple of substitutions around 70^th minute: Ceballos was replaced by Torreira, and Reiss came on for Pepe. In his 20+ minutes of stay Nelson showed some excellent skills and strength to drive down to the byline a few times past their defenders and deliver a few promising cut-backs and centers. He has had a few problems with injuries since he moved back this season from his loan spell in Hoffenheim, but especially after Arteta took over he looked threatening every time he played. Unlike Saka or Martinelli his campaign hadn’t caught the eye so much, it has become evident that he has great abilities and a very high ceiling, which I personally am looking forward to seeing him achieve in the next few years with us.

On the other end Danny thought he had scored his second goal of the match with a deftly executed backheel flick. Martinez, with a combination of anticipation and athleticism, made quite an extraordinary save.

As the match was approaching the final minutes Eddie won the ball in a midfield duel and ran on to the goal, with his captain accompanying him on his left. Instead of taking the chance himself he selflessly laid it out for Auba to score his hat-trick – which would also have ensured Auba gets his golden boot award, albeit shared with Vardy — but Foster smartly narrowed the angle and saved Auba’s effort. I think Arteta and the Arsenal hierarchy may use this moment to demonstrate to Aubameyang how much he is loved and respected in this team.

There were a few more opportunities for them that they failed to make the most of. Nelson continued to impress, and the final whistle was blown. Watford players looked dejected as the news of other results came in, but as Mikel put so succinctly after the match that if they had played like this for the entire season, they would have not been facing relegation on the final day.

Even as this strangest of the premier league season ended with us situated deservedly at the lowly 8^th position with 56 points with +8 goal difference (56 goals scored and 48 conceded), and outside the top six for the first time since many of our first team players were even born, I myself cannot look forward eagerly enough to the next season. Whatever be the outcome of the transfer window, even whatever be the result of the so-very-important Cup Final next weekend (winning that would be quite remarkable in the context of this season, but no less likely for that), I am looking forward to us playing matches next season.

It is partly due to the array of young and exciting talents we now have, adding on gems like Tierney and Martinelli to those coming through the academy and the youth set-up: Saka, Nelson, AMN, Willock, Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe, but equally if not more due to the positive impact that Arteta has made in a very short time. The football seems meticulously planned, prepared, and the players continuously striving to do better (or they are not playing), taking responsibilities for their actions and owning up to errors. There is a refreshing sense of pragmatism, transparency, humility and self-awareness in Arteta’s messages which also have led to a strong sense of the collective purpose in the team. There is a clear recognition of the noticeable lack of qualities in many of the key areas, and willingness to work hard to compensate for it. But those lacks must be addressed to get Arsenal back to where we have always belonged.

Arsenal board and owners, over to you!

The Arsenal rocked up at Villa Park for their penultimate league game of this strange season, on a warm July evening knowing that qualification for a European place, albeit only the Europa League, was still a possibility even if not entirely in our own hands. Qualification by winning the FA Cup for a record 14^th time remains a possibility but last year’s lesson in Baku suggests that we should do our best not to rely solely on a cup final result. Thus, a victory tonight was an important objective for the Arsenal. It was also important to a Villa team scrapping for Premier League survival, three points off safety. Villa could be expected to fight tooth and nail for every ball. Who would want it more?

Mikel’s selection demonstrated how much he wanted to win this game to give us the best possible chance of reaching a qualifying league position. His starting 11 had 6 changes. It showed offensive intent but was understandably coloured by the need for rotation after the major exertions of the team that won the FA Cup Semi-Final only three days ago.

The recently brilliant Martinez kept his place in goal. We retained a back three with David Luiz flanked on the right by Holding who replaced the hamstrung Mustafi and on the left by Kolasinac (shiver) who replaced Tierney. The excellent wingbacks from the weekend were rested with Cedric replacing Bellerin and Saka replacing the revelatory Maitland-Niles. The much-improved Ceballos retained his midfield place but Xhaka was replaced by Torreira. A front three of Nketiah, Lacazette and Aubameyang were selected for goals, the latter with the added incentive of the Golden Boot. Could we maintain the standards achieved in our last two games?

Our front three lined up with Lacazette playing deep centrally and Nketiah and Aubameyang playing in what would once have been called the inside right and inside left channels respectively. Early knockings provided an open game with plenty of space in midfield. Villa sat deep aiming to catch us on the break.

The Arsenal had more possession but made precious little use of it in the first 15 minutes though a lovely passing move from our box to theirs deserved more than Saka’s intercepted low cross. Ceballos was looking silky in deep midfield and Saka and Cedric were making good forward runs. An inviting high cross from Saka forced Reina into a desperate punch above two Arsenal forwards. By 20 minutes we were pressing Villa with a series of corners and 71% possession in the preceding 10 minutes. Villa’s responses relied on Grealish driving through midfield when our attacks broke down but our midfield dealt with most sorties close to halfway generally with two men closing down Grealish. When they didn’t our defence held firm. At the first ‘water break’ Villa replaced Elmahamady who had tweaked a hamstring after 7 minutes sprinting to beat Saka to a lovely through ball.

On 26 minutes, Trezeguet scored against the run of play with a well taken shot from inside our box. A cheap corner was given away on our right following confusion between Ceballos and Luiz. The ball was headed on by Mings to the far side of the box finding Trezeguet unmarked and he struck a hard, low shot past inside Martinez’s left-hand post. The keeper had no chance. Questions can be asked of Aubameyang who let Mings get a clear run to the front post for the flick on and of Cedric whose attempted block was feeble compared to the blocks we saw on Saturday. Who was supposed to mark Trezeguet?

Villa 1, Arsenal 0

Our first response was a moon-shot from Ceballos after a free kick for a foul on Lacazette. After 33 minutes Lacazette couldn’t keep his feet in the box following a challenge from Grealish after Aubameyang found him from the left. Never a penalty. After 35 minutes Torreira saw yellow for clattering some Villan only 5 minutes after clattering Grealish. Careful Lukas!

As we came to the last 10 minutes Arsenal were dominating the ball, moving nicely through midfield and up both wings but a good final ball was proving elusive. There was no sign of panic but no great urgency either. With 5 minutes to go Villa broke again and forced a couple of corners on our left. Both were cleared but a Grealish chip back in allowed Trezeguet a clear header towards Martinez that was fortunately weak. A determined run into the box by Nketiah from the right yielded a corner that we wasted. Then another Villa break ended in a Grealish 25 yard shot from our right that cleared Martinez’s bar but could easily have landed in the top corner. As the game slipped into added time the pattern had settled into toothless Arsenal possession and swift Villa breaks.

Half Time: 1-0

Arsenal had had 60% possession but no shots on target in the first half. If Villa could hold on to their lead they would be sitting out of the bottom three above Watford. However, they had won only once since the restart and have dropped 21 points from a winning position this season by losing 31 late goals. Would Villa stay true to type and could Arsenal find a creative spark? Mikel replaced Torreira with Xhaka for the second half in an attempt to get more of a grip of this match and keep 11 men on the pitch.

In the opening three minutes of the half, Villa pressed forward and forced three corners on our left, all of which were cleared. We responded with intricate footwork between Ceballos and Kolasinac in the Villa box which came to naught. Then a beautiful curling cross from Cedric was flicked on to Saka who fired over. Luiz gave Villa another dead ball opportunity with a foul on Grealish wide on our left but Lacazette cleared. Then a ball from Nketiah found Aubameyang in the box but his shot on the turn was blocked. We were back to end-to-end football.

We seemed to have reverted to a back four as Kolasinac was now playing wing back rather than centre back and getting forward regularly with Saka moving inside. However, Grealish had become more prominent in midfield as the hour approached probably as a result of Torreira’s replacement. Our defence was also looking less authoritative than in the recent games and we conceded a further pair of cheap corners that fortunately came to naught. Before the hour, Pepe replaced Luiz and Tierney replaced Saka. We were definitely now a back four with Holding and Kolasinac at centre back. Lacazette was then booked for a foul on Grealish just inside our half as the Villan broke through our midfield. On the hour both teams had had 5 attempts, Villa having 2 on target but the Arsenal still with none. Aubameyang then sprinted into the box from the left but he overhit his cross and the attack fizzled out.

As the second ‘water break’ approached, Villa had reverted to sitting deep with their defence successfully blunting our efforts at a final ball or dealing well with our crosses, the quality of which had improved with Tierney’s arrival. As the game restarted, Pepe, breaking out of our half, was pulled back by their Luiz who gratefully took the yellow card. The game was now ‘attack vs defence’. Villa then replaced two players with two other players, none known to me.

As 75 minutes approached we had had 75% possession in the previous 10 minutes. However, when another move broke down Grealish sprinted out swiftly and found Davis who put the ball past Martinez’s far post when a goal looked the most likely outcome. That would have been game over. Lady Luck then swiftly switched sides as two minutes later Nketiah’s header from a lovely Pepe corner came back off the far post, struck Reina’s knee and bounced towards the goal line but he fell on it just in time. No wonder he kissed the ball as he rose to his feet!

Grealish remained the main danger and he found McGinn on the edge of our box whose shot was blocked athletically by Martinez. Cedric was then replaced by Willock. I’m not at all sure what formation we were now playing but we had a front line of five!

Inevitably we were even more vulnerable to the break and Kolasinac took a yellow for the team by pulling McGinn back when the Villan span past him on the halfway line. With 10 minutes plus added time to go our passes began to go astray and an unmarked McGinn had a shot from the edge of the box that fortunately sliced well wide. A neat run and cut back by Tierney then failed to find a teammate. Grealish again caught the eye with a pass into our box for Targett but Willock tracked back well to block the full back’s shot otherwise he would have been in on goal.

With 4 minutes to go Targett clattered Pepe at the corner of the Villa box gaining a yellow card and conceding a free kick. Mings headed Pepe’s curling cross over and we wasted the resultant corner. Only 4 minutes were added as Willock received a yellow for blocking McGinn’s breakaway run. Lansbury came on for McGinn with 2 minutes left.

The match ended as Reina clutched a Ceballos long ball into the box. This was our first defeat at Villa in 21 years. Eighth is the highest we can finish and we won’t get European football through our league position. It’s our first finish outside the top 6 in 25 seasons.

The players all put in a shift tonight but the team seemed a bit flat. Without doubt some players have played a lot of games recently and are probably mentally and/or physically exhausted but this match confirmed that we don’t have sufficient quality in this squad. Ceballos looked our best player but Grealish was by far the most creative and talented player on the field and we didn’t have a player with that creative spark.

Mikel was calm and statesmanlike in his post-match interview as he observed that the team gave absolutely everything, were aggressive in the high press and tried to win the game. He’s right. Heads didn’t drop and we kept plugging away. He conceded that “we lacked a little bit of freshness and despite dominating the game we struggled to get the necessary quality and creativity in the final third against a low block”. He added that “we had the right men in the right positions but we lacked the right ball” and he observed that “it’s been a very demanding week emotionally and physically”. He said that he was happy that we were trying to win right up to the end but added that “we have to improve”. Mikel said that he “knows where we are in certain areas of the pitch and the things we need to improve”, adding that “we will get that but we need a bit more time”. He observed that Villa were playing under a lot of pressure as well and congratulated them for winning the game.

The Sky interviewer then noted that a plane had flown over at the start of the game trailing the message “Back Arteta – Kroenke out!” Mikel was diplomacy personified, responding that he is getting “100% backing from the Kroenke’s and the Board and the Sporting Directors and everybody” adding that we have to wait a little bit of time to be there but that the fans have to believe what he is saying as if it was not so, he would not say that.

So, we have to win the cup to play in Europe next season! That would be a fine achievement by our impressive new manager in his first half season.

What did she wear?