{"id":6794,"date":"2022-10-14T15:27:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T14:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6794"},"modified":"2022-10-15T14:45:14","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T13:45:14","slug":"no-bumps-in-bodo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6794","title":{"rendered":"No Bumps in Bod\u00f8"},"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\/1433188581\" 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:69.19192% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1433188581?et=_Qr8cMGWTGl8NdlCsyUseg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=R0IPJKyWzHR1Aj3X5rc7keQD-l2KD8X5LvGJ5nm8rMc=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"411\" 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 inched closer to qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League with a slender 1-0 win at Bod\u00f8\/Glimt on an artificial surface in Norway. Mikel Arteta named a strong side, with the likes of Saka and \u00d8degaard making their first European starts of the campaign.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite our 3-0 win at the Emirates last week, the Norwegians still caused us a few problems particularly in the second half, so perhaps this was the reasoning behind Arteta\u2019s strong selection. Bod\u00f8 began well, getting in behind us on a couple of occasions although Holding and Saliba kept them at arm\u2019s length. But we struggled to find any sort of rhythm for the opening 20 minutes and it was Lokonga who produced our first attempt on goal firing wide after 15 minutes. On 24 minutes, we found a breakthrough. Some lovely combination play from Lokonga and Saka put the latter in on goal. He attempted a cross which was intercepted by a Bodo defender, but the ball freakishly rebounded back off Saka\u2019s face and into the net with the \u2018keeper wrongfooted. A scrappy goal, but they all count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bod\u00f8 then had a great chance to get back on level terms as Pellegrino found himself one on one with Turner straight from a goal kick. He attempted to curl the ball past the USA international, but he got the finish all wrong and skewed his effort well wide. A let off for Arsenal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second half was a very low-key affair. Pellegrino had another decent chance to score but Turner got down well to make a good save. Arsenal didn\u2019t create an awful lot; you got the sense that the artificial surface made a lot of the players uneasy as our usual slick passing didn\u2019t always come off. Also, with these Astro pitches, there is always the danger of injury. Just one sharp turn has the potential to leave your foot lodged in the grass and cause ligament damage and it was clear to see the players had that in the back of their minds. Thankfully we came out of the game unscathed. I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s a coincidence that the only player who looked totally at ease with the pitch was Martin \u00d8degaard who of course played on artificial surfaces regularly growing up and playing in Norway in the early part of his career.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No one played particularly badly but, in all honesty, in general it was a dull game. However, we won which means we now have nine points out of nine from the three games so far. That puts us two points clear of PSV Eindhoven at the top of group A. We are also now five clear of Bod\u00f8\/Glimt so if my maths are correct we will guarantee at least a play off place with a win against the Dutch outfit next week. But, of course, we will want to top the group in order to avoid that two legged play off against one of the eight sides dropping out the Champions League. As it stands those sides would be Ajax, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, AC Milan, Shakhtar, Sevilla (obviously) and Juventus. That\u2019s quite a list. One you would rather avoid for sure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, once again I would like to mention the heroic efforts of my 2<sup>nd<\/sup>&nbsp;team, Omonoia Nicosia who were mere moments away from securing an astonishing point and clean sheet at Old Trafford last night before a goal right at the end from the second most punchable man in football, Scott McTominay (behind Bruno Fernandes but that goes without saying) broke Cypriot hearts. Our goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho, had an extraordinary game making twelve saves, some of which the likes of Manuel Neuer would have been proud of but he was sadly undone just moments from the end. Omonoia have now been eliminated from the competition although they can still gain a third-place finish and entry into the conference league play offs, so fingers crossed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But now for Arsenal, the attention turns to a tricky away game at Leeds on Sunday at 2pm. Unfortunately, the game will not be televised in the UK so for the first time this season, I will have to trawl the dark depths of the internet looking for a dodgy stream that looks like its being filmed on a potato. Such fun. But hopefully we can maintain our place at the summit of the league.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COYG!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Arsenal inched closer to qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League with a slender 1-0 win at Bod\u00f8\/Glimt on an artificial surface in Norway. Mikel Arteta named a strong side, with the likes of Saka and \u00d8degaard making their first European starts of the campaign.&nbsp; Despite our 3-0 win [&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\/6794"}],"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=6794"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6797,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6794\/revisions\/6797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}