{"id":6043,"date":"2022-04-21T12:24:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T11:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6043"},"modified":"2022-04-22T13:34:37","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T12:34:37","slug":"its-so-easy-at-the-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6043","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s So Easy at The Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1392626507\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:75.084175% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1392626507?et=N3jfME7KSxx4RCmqCO0teQ&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=0K8_LgHJ9QhPvjSTq_lYQ0YK-tUpOnLA2tnwEfj6jS0=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"446\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal reignited their top four push with a stunning 4-2 victory away at the Bus Stop thanks to an unexpected brace from Eddie Nketiah, a fine finish from Emile Smith Rowe, and a stoppage time penalty from Bukayo Saka. The Gunners came into this game having lost their last three in the league leaving their champions league hopes hanging in the balance but despite some early mistakes, Mikel Arteta\u2019s youthful side held out for a hugely impressive win at the home of the European champions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arteta made several changes to the side whIch limped to defeat at Southampton on Saturday, with Rob Holding coming in for Cedric and Ben White forced to fill in at right back. Elneny was given a rare start in midfield in favour of Lokonga, and Smith Rowe came in for Martinelli. Chelsea also had a couple of key players missing; both Rudiger and Kovacic were injured in their FA Cup semi-final win over Palace meaning Malang Sarr and Ruben Loftus-Cheek both got rare starts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal began the game nervously, as you might expect from a side whIch had lost their last three games to mid-table sides. Chelsea had the lion\u2019s share of possession and had a couple of half chances with Lukaku, who seemed to be doing his best impression of a lamppost, dragging an effort wide from the edge of the box and Marcos Alonso had an effort deflected wide from a corner. But it was Arsenal who found the breakthrough on thirteen minutes against the run of play as Tavares hoofed the ball upfield towards Nketiah to chase down Christensen, whose weak back pass allowed Eddie to pounce as he got to the ball ahead of Sarr and slotted the ball clinically past Mendy into the bottom corner. Nketiah was of course in Chelsea\u2019s academy before being released in 2015 when he was quickly snapped up by Arsenal. The south Londoner showed Chelsea what they were missing as he peeled away to celebrate in front of the reduced Chelsea crowd. He looked like he enjoyed that one.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The away fans were having a blast with taunts of \u201cJust like the old days, there\u2019s nobody here\u201d. Due to Roman Abramovic being mates with everyone\u2019s favourite autocrat, they had been sanctioned and only season ticket holders and away fans were permitted entry. However, Chelsea quickly found a response. Nketiah conceded possession with his back to goal and Timo Werner latched onto the ball and saw his tame shot deflected in by Granit Xhaka. Perhaps Aaron Ramsdale could\u2019ve done better but in fairness he was unsighted by three Arsenal players. All things considered, it was a poor goal to concede especially so soon after taking the lead.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But just ten minutes later, the Gunners restored their lead! And what a goal it was. Chelsea lost possession in our box, as the ball bobbled around precariously and the much-maligned Xhaka took a risk as he opted to play the ball out himself, brilliantly nutmegging Alonso before playing a lovely pass to Odegaard who was again given the captain\u2019s armband. The Norwegian worked it to Saka who drove forward before feeding our number eight again to play yet another delicious ball to ESR who took it first time on the run, arrowing the ball into the far corner for his tenth premier league goal of the campaign. The Croydon De Bruyne has now scored against half the premier league this season.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You would think that after previously surrendering the lead so quickly Arsenal would be sensible and attempt to play it safe until the break but of course we don\u2019t do sensible here at Arsenal. Just five minutes later, the Blues were level again. And again, it was all very avoidable. Ben White lost possession on our right-hand side and Mason Mount curled in a delicious cross to Azpilicueta who nipped in ahead of Tavares to poke the ball home. There were some appeals for a foul on White, but it would\u2019ve been harsh to rule it out despite how hilarious it would\u2019ve been. 2-2.&nbsp;&nbsp;We continued to attack and Nketiah had a snapshot from outside the box that curled just wide and then the referee blew for half time. It had been a pulsating first half with both sides abandoning the concept of defending it seemed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chelsea brought on Thiago Silva for Christensen who had been run ragged by our front three in the first half. Would the presence of the Brazilian keep the Gunners out? Thankfully for Arsenal the answer was \u201cNo!\u201d Despite Chelsea dominating the early stages of the second half, they struggled to create. On 57 minutes Tavares intercepted the ball on halfway. He drove forward and fed Nketiah who attempted to turn away from Silva, but he got a foot in as the ball bounced into the area off Sarr and back to Nketiah, then back off Silva again, then back to Nketiah who poked the ball past Mendy into the net. Arsenal were ahead for a third time, and it was 3-2! The away fans went crazy behind the goal, as did Arteta and his staff on the touchline. The goal was fortunate but deserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, could Arsenal stay ahead this time? Chelsea continued to dominate. Tuchel took off \u00a3100milion lamppost Lukaku for \u00a380 million twig, Havertz. Chelsea pressed, Reece James pinging a cross into the box, Ramsdale cut it out, a Chelsea player got a shot off but Gabriel who had his best game for a while, made an excellent block. Other than that Chelsea created little. Mason Mount then went full Ryan Shawcross\/Matt Taylor\/Dan Smith on Saka, the ref only gave him a yellow as Mason Mount plays for England. Unfortunately, the fact that Saka also plays for England doesn\u2019t seem to get him much protection from referees. He does commit the deadly sin of playing for Dirty Arsenal I suppose. Arteta brought on Martinelli and Cedric as we looked to close the game out. We had a couple of half chances on the break with Martinelli, and then on 89 minutes Cedric put a ball in the box and Saka was pulled down every which way by the rat faced Azpilicueta and Jonathon Moss had no option but to point to the spot. The Spaniard protested his innocence and there was a bit of a scuffle before the penalty was taken, probably tactical to put us off. It didn\u2019t. Saka confidently took the ball and put it on the spot. It was his first penalty since the final of the European championships in the summer, so it was a huge moment. In fact, it was the first penalty he\u2019d taken in a competitive game for Arsenal. But he stepped up and sent Mendy the wrong way slamming the ball into the bottom corner. Cue more wild celebrations behind the goal. Limbs, as the kids say. Arteta then brought on Lacazette for the final seconds, probably for a laugh, and the game was won. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back-to-back wins at the Bridge and our run of three defeats was over in some style. We are now level on points with the Scum with six games remaining. We now have another huge game against the Mancs on Saturday lunchtime where an Arsenal win would send us three points clear in fourth for a few hours at least and would likely end United\u2019s already slim top four chances. But a crucial win for the Arsenal against the ownerless Chavs and just like the old days, Arsenal battered Chelsea and there was nobody there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COYG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Arsenal reignited their top four push with a stunning 4-2 victory away at the Bus Stop thanks to an unexpected brace from Eddie Nketiah, a fine finish from Emile Smith Rowe, and a stoppage time penalty from Bukayo Saka. The Gunners came into this game having lost their last three in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6043"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6055,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6043\/revisions\/6055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}