{"id":7532,"date":"2023-03-05T12:12:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-05T12:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7532"},"modified":"2023-03-08T05:54:04","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T05:54:04","slug":"a-magic-moment-in-time-or-another-false-dawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7532","title":{"rendered":"A Magic Moment in Time, or Another False Dawn?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Welbeck vs Leicester. Arshavin vs Barcelona. Over the last 16 years or so, iconic moments at the Emirates have been fairly hard to come by. We are yet to win a league title in our no longer new abode. We have not competed in the Champions League for six successive seasons. Until fairly recently you would hear grumbles from fans older than myself about how the Emirates would never be able to recapture the homely feeling of Highbury. Perhaps one reason for that is the lack of truly iconic moments. Was what we saw in this game an iconic moment? What even is the criterion for a goal or a game to be considered iconic? Does the level of opposition play a role in that? Bournemouth are certainly lowlier opponents than Leicester with whom we were jostling for the title at the time. And they are absolutely no Barcelona. But perhaps what truly defines a moment as iconic is not the event itself but the events that unfold after. In these previous instances we would go on to collapse in the title race and eventually finished ten points behind Leicester. And we went on to lose the second leg in Barcelona, albeit after some harsh refereeing decisions. They don\u2019t sound as iconic now, do they? Or maybe I am simply being cynical and we should just enjoy living in the moment rather than worrying or speculating on what might occur later on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of the game itself, well it was a roller coaster of emotions. And that\u2019s putting it mildly. Arteta unusually made three changes to the side which thumped Everton less than 72 hours previously. Out went White, Jorginho and Xhaka, in came Tomiyasu, Partey and Vieira. A very attacking line up. Perhaps too attacking, as no sooner had the game kicked off than we found ourselves behind. The away side moved the ball out to the right-hand side, a cross was swung in, Gabriel took a swipe and missed it and the ball found its way to Phillip Billing who scrambled it home past Ramsdale to give Bournemouth a shock lead. My first initial thought was whether it was the fastest Premier League goal ever? We later found out it was in fact the second fastest goal,  coming in nine seconds! The fastest was Shane Long after seven seconds for Southampton against Watford in 2019, if anyone was interested. Fair play to our visitors because it was clearly a kick off routine they had worked on and it had paid dividends. 0-1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crowd did their very best to urge the team on to get a quick response and we nearly got it. Partey won the ball back in midfield and fed \u00d8degaard who drove into the edge of the box and saw his effort well saved by Neto. Saka then followed in but again Neto was there to block. The rest of the half was attack vs defence. However, Bournemouth remained a threat on the counter. They very nearly made it 2 on the half hour mark. Solanke played in the goal scorer, Billing, whose pass was out of reach for Solanke but it found Outtara who really ought to have scored. However, his effort was superbly blocked by Ramsdale. We then had a handball shout but there was nothing doing. An incredibly frustrating half of football. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second half began with Arteta making a change. Off came Tomiyasu who has looked off it in recent weeks. On came Benjamin White. We kicked off and continued to dominate possession but remarkably it was Bournemouth who found a second. A corner was whipped in, their one and only corner of the game, but they made it count as Senesi got away from Partey and nodded in to send the away fans into ecstasy. 0-2<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They couldn\u2019t believe what they were seeing, and neither could the near sixty thousand Arsenal fans. But they continued to be raucous in support of their side. There was still over half an hour to go. And just five minutes later we had a goal back. \u00d8degaard whipped in a corner which was half punched away by Neto. The ball was headed back into a dangerous area by \u00c9mile Smith Rowe who had come on in the first half for the injured Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey was there to atone for his previous error to prod home! 1-2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the momentum was well and truly with the league leaders. Smith Rowe was replaced by Reiss Nelson. There was some concern of injury but that was quashed by Arteta later on as the plan was for him to get around half an hour. Of course, his introduction to the game was earlier than anticipated due to the Trossard injury. And the man from the Elephant and Castle made an immediate impact. Partey swatted aside a shoal of Bournemouth players like an octopus on steroids and fed Reiss Nelson who swung in a delicious cross on his weak foot which was met by Ben White to volley the ball over the line, despite Neto\u2019s best efforts to prevent it crossing the line. But all eyes turned to the referee whose watch vibrated or pinged. \u201cI\u2019ve got a text\u201d he screeched like an orange Love Island contestant and the text read \u201cGOAL\u201d. 2-2<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The noise inside the ground was now reaching deafening levels; We had at least three penalty claims waved away by VAR. Martinelli fired narrowly over after being sent through on goal. The clock ticked over into six minutes of injury time. I should mention that Neto was timewasting at every goal kick and I lost count of the amount of times a Bournemouth player went down feigning injury. In truth, it ought to have been more than six minutes. I\u2019m not even certain the ball was in play for that long. In fact, the first minute of stoppage time was eaten up by a Bournemouth defender lying on his deathbed. Miraculously, he survived. But that timewasting would come back to bite our seaside friends from the South coast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Into the 7th minute of added time, we had yet another corner which was headed away but only as far as Riess Nelson who chested the ball down and lashed it in with his left foot on the half volley. 3-2<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cue utter pandemonium and chaos. The Arsenal substitutes and many members of staff invaded the pitch in celebration in pure elation, joy, and relief. Arteta punched the air and ran down the touchline in ecstasy. There were grown men in the North Bank in tears. The emotion of it all was too much for some. A few people had left the stadium having resigned themselves to a disappointing draw. They tried to get back in. It was just complete chaos. Talk about a shift in emotions. How important could that goal be on 28th<\/sup> May? Only time will tell but for now it was celebration time in North London. Well, the red half anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for Reiss Nelson of all people to get the goal. Once upon a time he was the Golden Boy of the Hale End golden generation. He has since been put into the back of the picture due to the emergence of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe. He spent last season on loan at Feyenoord and he seems to have done a lot of growing up. In the past he had talked about not taking his career as seriously as he should but he appears to have taken it up several gears this season. He is yet to start in the league this season. He has played just 85 minutes all year. But my goodness, has he made the most of those minutes! That\u2019s three goals and two assists in his very limited game time now. His contract is up in the summer. Much like Eddie last year, he is at a crossroads in his Arsenal career. He is playing for a new contract right now and at the minute he is earning it. If he keeps this up there\u2019s no reason why he shouldn\u2019t get a new deal. Expect him to start on Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party continued as the Arsenal fans sauntered down Holloway Road, Blackstock Road and the Seven Sisters. The Emirates has never seen scenes like this. It has never seen atmospheres like this. This was not a North London Derby. This was not a big clash with a big six rival. This was a category C game against a newly promoted Bournemouth. But this is how it is every week now. Perhaps for the first time since we moved into our State-of-the-Art arena in 2006, it is beginning to feel like home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But back to my original point regarding iconic moments. This really did feel like one. I\u2019ve never seen the Emirates celebrate a goal like that. Not on that scale. This is just the latest in a series of late winners we have enjoyed since the World cup. For those that say this is unsustainable, well, we are winning games in all sorts of different ways it seems. On Wednesday night we swatted aside Everton with ease. This one was nowhere near as straightforward. But it was certainly more satisfying. Something very special is brewing at this great football club. And we are very lucky to be witnessing it. We are going places. Whichever way this season ends, we will be talking about it for years to come. It\u2019s been a season of drama. Perhaps some would call it iconic? Only time will tell. It is up to us now how this game ends up getting defined in the history books. Another \u201cwhere did it all go wrong?\u201d moment? Or yet another game where we proved our eventual champions credentials? I cannot wait to find out how this tale unfolds\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welbeck vs Leicester. Arshavin vs Barcelona. Over the last 16 years or so, iconic moments at the Emirates have been fairly hard to come by. We are yet to win a league title in our no longer new abode. We have not competed in the Champions League for six successive seasons. Until fairly recently you […]<\/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\/7532"}],"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=7532"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7545,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7532\/revisions\/7545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}