Arsenal

Arsenal won the FA Cup in 2017. This was one of the questions on “Eggheads” today – an extraordinary contest in which the challengers knocked out three Eggheads in the head-to-head rounds and still ended up losing.

Indeed Arsenal have won the FA Cup 13 times, more times than any other British club, with manager Arsène Wenger himself winning it 7 times, more times than any other manager. Sadly Wenger’s long managerial reign at the club looks like coming to an end at the end of this season.

Arsenal have just beaten Stoke City 3–0 in a Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium.

“Arsène Wenger said he was ‘sad’ and would find it difficult to adjust to life without Arsenal as his 1 235-game reign as manager came to an end with a victory over Huddersfield on the final day of the Premier League season.” BBC Sport.

If the Gunners hadn’t won today, a BBW campaign might have been started – to Bring Back Wenger.

Even so, I wish he were back myself. The greatest era in the history of Arsenal Football Club is over; Unai Emery just doesn’t strike me as capable enough to follow in the same footsteps.

Cardiff City 2–3 Arsenal at the Cardiff Stadium today. The Gunners have scored eight goals in four games this season; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Iwobi, Alexandre Lacazette, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi and Danny Welbeck have a goal each, and there has been one own goal for us. What is worrying to me is our defence, which has now let in as many goals as we have scored. To be honest, I am not all that keen on Unai Emery’s tactic of playing out from the back. That would work if we were not under too much pressure, if our opponents were content to leave us alone in possession – but if they decide to come after us to win the ball back, as Manchester City did in our opening game, we just cannot cope. In such a situation, what is wrong with booting the ball upfield to the safety of the opposition’s half? Chelsea’s winner in the second half was a result of an awful back pass from Lacazette, while in today’s match Cardiff’s first goal on the stroke of half-time came courtesy of a wayward ball from Granit Xhaka in defence. We are not going to win many games if our back force continues to be leaky, no matter how many goals we can keep getting at the other end.

Arsenal 4–2 Vorskla Poltava at the Emirates Stadium (Europa League Group E) last night. Still no clean sheet, sigh. I was watching the match in the stadium – my second ever visit to the Emirates – with one of my colleagues, who has a friend who works in the stadium; he had spare tickets for the game. Aubameyang scored twice and is now our top scorer with 3 goals in all competitions; Welbeck and Özil, who also netted, are on 2 each. We have now scored 14 goals this season (4 Europa League, 10 Premier League).

My smartphone battery went dead during the match – otherwise I might have taken more videos of the game from our vantage point high up in the upper tier of the Clock End. The best shot I managed was of Lucas Torreira coming close to scoring from a free kick in the first half.

Aubameyang is now on 4 goals – as is Welbeck, who scored twice in tonight’s EFL Cup tie against Brentford at the Emirates Stadium. Both his goals came in the second half – for in the second half we were just shit. By the way, how did this player called Emile Smith Rowe get into the squad. He is just pure awful – every time he gets the ball, he does not know what to do with it. I hope Emery gets rid of him as soon as possible. And Bernd Leno should have saved Brentford’s free kick, really – the ball was well within his reach, but I supposed he misjudged the ball from Alan Judge. At two–one, and the match going into additional time, some Gunners fun fan must be wondering if there was going to be a Fellaini-style equalizer from the visitors. In the EFL Cup tie between Manchester United and Derby County at Old Trafford last night, the Championship side were leading and on the verge of causing an upset when Marouane Fellaini popped up with an equalizer for the home side deep in stoppage time. Derby did cause an upset in the end, winning 8–7 on penalties – but we would rather not go through the stressful ordeal of spot kicks ourselves. Fortunately Lacazette, on as a sub for the useless Smith Rowe, made sure of the tie with his 3^rd goal of the season in the second minute of additional time: Arsenal 3–1 Brentford. We have now scored 19 goals in three competitions (4 Europa League, 12 Premier League, 3 EFL Cup); our top scorers are:

•		4		Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang		(2 Europa, 2 EPL)
•		4		Danny Welbeck		(1 Europa, 1 EPL, 2 EFL)
•		3		Alexandre Lacazette		(2 EPL, 1 EFL)
•		2		Mesut Özil		(1 Europa, 1 EPL)

Three more players opened their goalscoring account this evening: Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Emile Smith Rowe, and Mattéo Guendouzi all found the net in Qarabağ 0–3 Arsenal at the Azersun Arena. It was not a fireworks performance by any means; we did just enough to be better than the opposition. Leno in particular was in fine form again, making several fine saves in the match to help the Gunners to their third consecutive clean sheet and eighth consecutive victory in all competitions. We have now scored 24 goals for the season (7 Europa, 14 Premier League, 3 EFL).

Arsenal 3–1 Leicester City at the Emirates, with goals from Özil before the break and Aubameyang, who struck twice in quick succession in the second half; 10 successive wins in all competitions (7 in the Premier League); 32 goals this season (7 Europa League, 22 Premier League, 3 EFL Cup); top scorers are:

•		8		Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang		(2 Europa, 6 EPL)
•		5		Alexandre Lacazette		(4 EPL, 1 EFL)
•		4		Danny Welbeck		(1 Europa, 1 EPL, 2 EFL)
•		4		Mesut Özil		(1 Europa, 3 EPL)

Crystal Palace 2–2 Arsenal at Selhurst Park, Xhaka and Aubameyang in the second half; 35 goals (8 Europa League, 24 Premier League, 3 EFL Cup) – top scorers:

•		9		Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang		(2 Europa, 7 EPL)
•		5		Alexandre Lacazette		(4 EPL, 1 EFL)
•		5		Danny Welbeck		(2 Europa, 1 EPL, 2 EFL)
•		4		Mesut Özil		(1 Europa, 3 EPL)

I was at the Clock End Upper Tier again for that match. Stephan Lichtsteiner looked to be offside when he flicked the ball into the net with the outside of his left foot, but the linesman’s flag did not go up – and, more importantly, the video-assistant referee did not intervene. For VAR is in operation for English cup games. The second goal was a gift: the Blackpool keeper could have tipped the ball over the bar, but instead palmed it invitingly to the foot of youngster – and I thought the way he struck the ball, into the net off the ground, was exquisite. (I did not actually get the best view from where I was sitting but I have seen video highlights of the match.) If he had tried to volley the ball, he might have blasted it over the bar – which would have been embarrassing from that short distance from goal.

There was one newcomer in the Arsenal team on the night, one I had never seen before: Julio Pleguezuelo. He was wearing a number-55 shirt and playing as a left centre back. When I was in the gents after the match, I heard one of my fellow Arsenal fans lamenting how awful he was – but I disagree. I thought he played okay. Nevertheless it was another lacklustre performance from the team as a whole, despite the win. I had expected us to dominate against our lower-league opponents, but we only did just enough to get past them. When Blackpool scored, there were still twenty-five minutes to go; we ended up playing those minutes, plus six added on after ninety, just hanging on. We may have won 12 games out of 13 in all competitions now – but they were all games against easy opposition. Emery still has a long way to go to make the club strong enough to be regular trophy winners again.

And 37 goals (8 Europa League, 24 Premier League, 5 EFL Cup).

It was certainly a much better performance from us than against Blackpool in midweek or Crystal Palace last weekend! 38 goals (8 Europa League, 25 Premier League, 5 EFL Cup) – top scorers:

•		9		Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang		(2 Europa, 7 EPL)
•		6		Alexandre Lacazette		(5 EPL, 1 EFL)
•		5		Danny Welbeck		(2 Europa, 1 EPL, 2 EFL)
•		4		Mesut Özil		(1 Europa, 3 EPL)

•		12		Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang		(2 Europa, 10 EPL)
•		7		Alexandre Lacazette		(6 EPL, 1 EFL)
•		5		Danny Welbeck		(2 Europa, 1 EPL, 2 EFL)
•		4		Mesut Özil		(1 Europa, 3 EPL)

Being psychic has its advantages.