JoeFootball is a funny old game. Off the back of three straight defeats against teams that we “should” be beating I had serious doubts about last night. When I saw the line up I had even more doubts. I could feel any hope slipping away. I trust Arteta and I trust the fabled process and to some degree his hands are tied at the moment with our injury problems. But even so I was drifting from doubtful to outright worried. I’ve been an Arsenal fan for many a year now, I should’ve known better.
The match itself was a bit of a strange one. Both teams were sloppy in possession and struggled to get into any sort of rhythm. But when Christensen under hit a back pass, Nketiah was Johnny on the spot and slid it beautifully beyond Mendy. Our lead didn’t last long though and a lucky deflected shot from Werner wrong footed Ramsdale. It was frustrating but our heads didn’t drop. Our second was a genuinely top quality goal. Xhaka nutmegged Lukaku and Alonso (what a shame) and drove forward. The move ended with ESR curling it into the bottom corner. Chelsea equalised through some prick and we were level at the half.
In the second half we carried on battling and got our reward. Eddie battled for the ball in a pinball situation and it broke to him to stab it past Mendy and send out truly fantastic away support into delirium. Lucky? Maybe. But you have to be in right place and he was. Then came the penalty incident. I’m not going to over it much but the ref gave it and it wasn’t a clear and obvious error. Saka exercised his Euros demons in the best way possible. Smashing his penalty in and from then on there was only one winner. I have to say once more our away support was magnificent last night, loud, proud and right behind the boys, as always.
After three very disappointing results we’ve come away with 3 points from a match where nobody fancied us. I still think top four is a long shot looking at the remaining fixtures and our team. But we’ve got a chance and in life all you ask for is a chance and something to hope for. But we need to go again on Saturday in what looks to be a massive game on paper.
COYG!
-Joe