{"id":6062,"date":"2022-04-23T22:14:42","date_gmt":"2022-04-23T21:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6062"},"modified":"2022-04-29T17:45:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T16:45:36","slug":"arsenal-tearing-mancs-apart-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6062","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal Tearing Mancs Apart Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Arsenal followed up their excellent victory at Chelsea in midweek with an equally impressive win over fellow top 4 challengers, Manchester United. The Gunners came into the game knowing a win would take them into fourth, above Tottenham at least for a few hours. Mikel Arteta made just one change from Wednesday\u2019s win, with Cedric returning at right back in place of Rob Holding. Paul Pogba was United\u2019s only notable absentee. On three minutes, we made the dream start. Granit Xhaka whipped in a diagonal cross from the left, Raphael Varane swung at the ball and missed it, Telles did the same and it found its way to Saka who cut inside on his left and saw his shot parried by De Gea but only as far as Nuno Tavares who gleefully tapped home for his first Arsenal goal. 1-0 to The Arsenal!<\/p>\n\n\n\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\/1240169098\" 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:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1240169098?et=E-etHIeHSLZzqW0WGHS8Sg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=kluqQ9WTyol6zJNCtjG6XUe70IDh7AGPgE35O4HHT2g=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This served as a wake-up call to United as they began to gain a foothold. Anthony Elanga burst through on goal but a combination of Tavares and Ramsdale thwarted the youngster. A few minutes later, United intercepted a very poor pass out from the back from Ramsdale and the ball found its way to Bruno Fernandes and if it wasn\u2019t for an excellent block from Gabriel the goalkeeper may well have been left with egg on his face. His dip in form is slightly concerning but I still don\u2019t think he\u2019s droppable just yet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal then began to reassume their dominance as we threatened to double our lead. Odegaard sent Nketiah through on goal after some scintillating interchange in the midfield, but he smashed his shot straight at De Gea. But Eddie wasn\u2019t to be denied for long. Another incisive pass from Odegaard found Saka who squared it to Nketiah who took a touch and smashed the ball past De Gea. But following the celebrations there was a VAR check which adjudged the striker to have been marginally offside when the ball was played to him. Harsh. But wait! During the review a foul from Telles on Saka was also being checked. This occurred before the goal meaning any foul would result in a penalty. After Craig Pawson checked the pitch side monitor, he pointed to the spot. So, no goal for Arsenal but we had the fall back of a spot kick. Once again, Saka stepped up to take it. He calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner sending De Gea the wrong way. A mature penalty.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\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\/1240170885\" 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:80.134674% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1240170885?et=Bg6iZH7fQvdHkkYJ3xs50w&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=oUzq4nqt3w8Fr6b1EaHeHaMTMBGyyAAPyCZgFLwDA-c=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\" width=\"594\" height=\"476\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Merely two minutes later, our lead was halved as Nemanja Matic floated a cross to the back post, Ronaldo ghosted in between Tavares and Gabriel to poke the ball past Ramsdale who was in No Man\u2019s Land. 2-1. We were able to navigate our way to the break without any further hiccups. As the second half began, we began to see a United resurgence. The visitors dominated possession and nearly found themselves level when Dalot was sent through, but his fierce shot was tipped onto the post by Ramsdale. An excellent save. A few minutes later, Manchester United were given a golden chance to equalise when they were awarded a penalty after Tavares handled following a corner. It was a definite penalty. Bruno Fernandes, a man with the most punchable face in the league, and possibly the universe, stepped up to take it. He tried to be clever with his silly little hop, skip and jump routine but it backfired when he saw his spot kick dribble onto the outside of the post. Get in! I was watching this game in a pub in central Manchester surrounded by some of the most Mancunian Mancunians you could ever meet, and you could honestly hear a pin drop. Apart from a loud shout of \u201cget in!\u201d That was me, obviously. Hands down my favourite moment of the season so far.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That penalty miss really knocked the stuffing out of United and Arsenal began to regain their composure by playing a game of keep ball, sapping up all of the visitors momentum and spirit. They really did look a disjointed side. Yesterday they announced that Erik Ten Hag will be taking over in the summer from Ajax and he really does have a huge rebuilding job on his hands. I look forward to watching them suffer the absolute dross we\u2019ve been subjected to in the last few years. They really are in for a shock if they think they can just offload all their detritus in one go. You can\u2019t sell something nobody wants as we found with Ozil and Kolasinac and countless others. We won\u2019t tell them. It will be funny to watch the meltdown on Twitter when they can\u2019t comprehend why no one wants to pay \u00a350 million of the Queen\u2019s finest for Phil Jones. I\u2019ll send them a postcard from the Bernabeu when we get there. Although I\u2019m not sure it will get to Kazakhstan in time for their Conference League crunch match with Kairat Almaty at 3pm on a Thursday afternoon. I digress. We made sure of the points with twenty minutes to go when Xhaka cashed in on his annual howitzer against Man United from twenty-five yards out. He really has been excellent in the last two games as has Elneny. Credit where it is due.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\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\/1240171648\" 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:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1240171648?et=RxkbvpOlSTpE2BxhjlItvg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=AKydIrFFbEAs_wj5WjgkvIXp0dsRSBG-9McQMxtoO4c=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>From that point we saw the game out comfortably. There was a nice moment near the end when Tomiyasu came on for last moments. It turns out he is alive after all. I honestly did wonder if I had simply imagined his existence for a while. Hopefully he stays fit for the final five games because we\u2019re going to need him. But it was another fantastic victory against a Big Six side. I would love to know the last time we beat two Big Six sides back-to-back. I would be willing to put a decent amount of money on it being pre-Emirates era. It really does flatten the myth Arteta\u2019s sides can\u2019t win big games.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The win puts Arsenal in fourth on 60 points. We go to another top four rival next Sunday, this time at West Ham. Hopefully we can end their already slim top four hopes as well. Onwards and upwards we go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COYG!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal followed up their excellent victory at Chelsea in midweek with an equally impressive win over fellow top 4 challengers, Manchester United. The Gunners came into the game knowing a win would take them into fourth, above Tottenham at least for a few hours. Mikel Arteta made just one change from Wednesday\u2019s win, with Cedric [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6062"}],"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=6062"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6099,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6062\/revisions\/6099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}