{"id":8830,"date":"2023-11-28T10:34:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T10:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8830"},"modified":"2023-11-30T11:11:41","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T11:11:41","slug":"lets-have-another-spectacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8830","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Have Another Spectacle!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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So, we reach the penultimate match in Champions League Group B. We sit proudly atop the group with nine points from three wins but qualification for the \u2018round of sixteen\u2019, though likely, is not yet guaranteed. However, it\u2019s entirely in our own hands. The Arsenal\u2019s solitary defeat in this group came against our visitors, RC Lens. Prior to match 5, Les Sang et Or <\/em>sit in third place in the group behind PSV Eindhoven by virtue of their head to head record (a home draw and an away defeat) despite a better goal difference, the Dutch team\u2019s goal difference having been seriously damaged in London..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For any readers seeking background on RC Lens, I refer you to Dr Faustus\u2019 excellent preview<\/a> of our away fixture in which he provided a detailed review of RC Lens\u2019 history, squad and playing style . They still have strong hopes of qualification for the knock-out rounds but to maximise their prospects they must take something from this game.  RC Lens have a solitary win (that 2-1 against us!) which followed a respectable away draw in Seville (1-1) but that win was followed by a 1-1 home draw and a 0-1 away defeat against PSV. Getting the picture of an obdurate, low scoring side?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team that was struggling in 15th place in Ligue 1, with 1 draw and 4 defeats at an aggregate score of 4-11, when we faced them in September now sits in 6th place, 11 points behind the leaders, QSG, and only 5 points adrift of the Champions League places. Following the injection of confidence from their victory over the Arsenal, they have been undefeated in Ligue 1 with 5 wins and 3 draws at an aggregate score of 12-2. Good Old Arsenal! While Lens\u2019 overall win rate in Ligue 1 is 38% with 16 goals scored and 13 conceded, their Ligue 1 away form (7 games, 2 wins, 7 goals for, 9 against) has been inferior to their home form (6 games, 3 wins, 9 goals for, 4 against) but looks a lot better after a 3-0 win at Clermont at the same time as Arsenal laboured to an important victory against Brentford. Hopefully that result will give them the confidence to open up to try to get a win rather than try to dig out a draw with trench warfare like Brentford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal\u2019s performances in the Champions League this season have been something of a curate\u2019s egg. The spectacular 4-0 opener<\/a> against PSV on 20th September was hailed by some as a return to the exhilarating form of last season after a league start in which, despite a series of good results, the football had often been somewhat prosaic and we had seen only brief glimpses of our former fabulous free flowing front footed form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After our uplifting opening match in this competition, our visit to Lens proved disappointing<\/a>. We faced a raucous crowd and energetic team enthused by the experience of a first home Champions League game in 21 seasons. Despite the Arsenal taking the lead after 14 minutes through Jes\u00fas, Lens surfed the wave of crowd noise, pressed Arsenal high, took advantage of a Raya error to equalise 11 minutes later and with a largely \u2018lifeless performance\u2019 from the Arsenal, scored a second midway through the second half. Our correspondent lamented that \u2018a combination of a deep block, good organisation and lack of inspiration resulted in watching the kind of horseshoe football we thought we had left behind a couple of seasons ago\u2019. Match stats show us to have had 67% possession, 6 shots on goal (vs 3), 11 shot attempts (vs 10), 5 corners (vs 3) and 1 save (vs 6). This match could have ended differently had Trossard or Tomiyasu taken chances before we conceded the second goal. I think we can confidently anticipate the same kind of frustrating evening that caused our correspondent to lament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two wins against Seville are key to our current domination of the group. You will doubtless recall that the away victory<\/a> was the result of two moments of genius from Jes\u00fas and a gritty backs-to-the-wall defensive performance once Seville pulled a goal back with over half an hour to go. Martinelli\u2019s opener in added time at the end of the first half was crucial to Arsenal taking command of the game after \u2018a first half of few chances, with the counter looking on for both teams. We made it count, they didn\u2019t\u2019. At the end, I certainly felt we were lucky to get out of Dodge with the loot! In contrast, our home game against Sevilla was one of our \u2018most comfortable Champions League victories<\/a>\u2019 and the 2-0 scoreline did not reflect our \u2018overwhelming superiority\u2019 and \u2018almost total control of the game’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The very different performances in previous group games suggest that the question of which Arsenal is going to turn up is perhaps more germane than which particular player is going to be selected in goal, midfield or up front. However, two very good performances in the previous home games should instill confidence that we can crack Lens and qualify for the \u2018round of sixteen\u2019 with a game to spare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our hard-fought but ultimately very satisfying victory over Brentford wasn\u2019t perhaps the best preparation for a midweek game of some consequence in terms of conserving energy but it was probably a good dress rehearsal as I suspect that Lens\u2019 strategy will closely resemble that of Brentford. I expect a deep block designed to frustrate us with quick breakouts when we lose possession at the edge of their box and occasional forays into a high press to try and regain possession close to our goal.  Unless we get an early goal we are probably in for another frustrating evening with plenty possession and multiple iterations of the arc d\u2019ennui.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although starting this game would provide a massive boost to the confidence of Aaron Ramsdale, I expect Arteta to restore Raya to the starting XI on Wednesday. Otherwise he might have another insecure keeper on his books. The melancholic waves from Ramsdale at the end of the match are pretty ominous for any confidence in his future prospects at the Arsenal. Ben White will probably regain his starting position alongside our dynamic centre-back duo with Zinchenko pipping Tomiyasu to the left back starting berth for his offensive qualities. A midfield of \u00d8degaard, Rice and Havertz will back up Saka, Jes\u00fas and Martinelli with Tomiyasu, Jorginho, Trossard and Nketiah ready to join the fray as \u2018finishers\u2019 in its latter stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I expect a hard fought match – Lens have to take something from this game to maximise their chance of finishing second (or higher) – and unless we can take an early lead, I anticipate another frustrating evening. Despite the hopeful title, this is unlikely to be as entertaining or high scoring as the PSV opener but if we can dominate the game as we did in the Seville home game, we should win it. I don\u2019t know what the bookies think but 2-0 to the Arsenal sounds about right to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the match Holics, whether in the ground or on the sofa with a nice glass of red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COYG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, we reach the penultimate match in Champions League Group B. We sit proudly atop the group with nine points from three wins but qualification for the \u2018round of sixteen\u2019, though likely, is not yet guaranteed. However, it\u2019s entirely in our own hands. The Arsenal\u2019s solitary defeat in this group came against our visitors, RC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8830"}],"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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8830"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8851,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8830\/revisions\/8851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}