{"id":8387,"date":"2023-09-21T04:43:44","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T03:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8387"},"modified":"2023-09-23T17:54:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T16:54:13","slug":"back-with-a-bang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8387","title":{"rendered":"Back with a Bang"},"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\/1692856639\" 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\/1692856639?et=PsOMbWCwSrRUJoZBvAmVfg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=ml4hK6-uKpQs5X4ve9eAbKFcc-lAEis_xJOYFtw6FrE=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot can change in 2338 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is how long it has been since that humiliating 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich which saw us lose 10-2 on aggregate on one of the worst nights in Arsenal\u2019s recent history. Since then, we\u2019ve had to endure five tediously dull Europa League campaigns and even a season out of Europe all together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was the humiliation in Baku. The avoidable semi final exits to Atletico and Villareal. Need I remind you of our good old friends, Olympiakos? It\u2019s been a challenging half a dozen years to be a Gooner. Not the worst we\u2019ve ever had it; many of you reading this have seen the club in far worse shape. But football, much like life, is a cyclical game. What goes up must come down and vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And Arsenal is certainly on the up again right now. Tonight, was a night we had been eagerly anticipating for a long time. We were not disappointed. The blue banners around the stadium, the big parachute in the centre circle, and of course the famous Champions League anthem. All the little touches that let you know your playing in Europe\u2019s premier club competition were on show for supporters to revel in pre-match. The Champions League remains a competition like no other. You cannot take it for granted no matter who you support. PSV Eindhoven awaited Arsenal\u2019s wrath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I made sure I arrived at the ground early just to soak up the occasion as much as possible. In the end the only things that got soaked were my clothes and I was not alone there. The heavens had opened to welcome Arsenal back to the holy grail of European football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal made it heaven on the pitch too. There were two changes from Sunday:  Jesus made his first start of the season in place of Nketiah and Trossard, who replaced the injured Martinelli early on at Goodison Park, was rewarded for his match-winning strike on Merseyside. On eight minutes we were ahead. \u00d8degaard\u2019s low drive was palmed out by Walter Benitez, but only as far as Saka who calmly slotted home to give Arsenal the lead on his Champions League debut. 1-0 to The Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus nearly doubled our lead moments later, but he was involved again when we did. The Brazilian spun away from his marker and fed Saka on the right. The winger carried the ball into the final third before laying it off to Trossard who passed the ball home on the edge of the area. 2-0 inside twenty minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gabriel Jesus had a couple of efforts which were both well saved by the keeper. He was tormenting the PSV centre backs time and time again. And seven minutes before the break he finally had his reward. Gabriel played a fine ball over the top for Trossard who duly controlled it expertly. The Belgian pinged over a sumptuous cross with his \u201cweaker foot\u201d which Jesus controlled and slammed into the far corner. 3-0 and we had barely broken a sweat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second half was much lower key with Arsenal conserving their energy for Sunday. Arteta was able to make some early subs as Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe were introduced on the hour mark much to the crowd\u2019s enthusiasm. And it was the two Hale Enders who combined on the left hand side to tee up \u00d8degaard for the fourth and final goal of the evening. The Norwegian dropped the shoulder and rifled one into the bottom corner from 25 yards. Game Set and Match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, it was worth the wait. Arsenal have started as they mean to go on in the Champions League. Sterner tests will await us later in the competition, assuming we get out the group (which we really ought to), but you cannot complain about a thumping win against quite possibly our strongest competition in the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the other game in our group, Sevilla drew 1-1 with RC Lens in southern Spain. It means we top group B by two points at this early stage. And of course, Man United lost to Bayern. What\u2019s not to like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But we must focus on ourselves if we want to achieve what we are truly capable of. Can we win the Champions League at long last this season? It seems unlikely but stranger things have happened. The bookmakers have us down as fourth favourites, which is rather generous of them. But it is clear we are no plucky underdogs these days. We are a force to be reckoned with. Tonight\u2019s game suggested as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Onwards\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images A lot can change in 2338 days. That is how long it has been since that humiliating 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich which saw us lose 10-2 on aggregate on one of the worst nights in Arsenal\u2019s recent history. Since then, we\u2019ve had to endure five tediously dull Europa League campaigns [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8387"}],"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=8387"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8397,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8387\/revisions\/8397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}