We won a game!

 

Well that was a refreshing change, wasn't it? After three consecutive goalless defeats to start the season, Arsenal tried these weird things called scoring and winning yesterday. It was by no means perfect, but there's not many a better feeling than waking up on a Sunday morning after your team has picked up the three points. 

5 of our 6 new summer signings started the game, with only Nuno Tavares missing out, adding a sense of freshness to a team that had started to feel somewhat stale. This no doubt contributed to the atmosphere inside the stadium which was nothing short of excellent for the most part. It was wonderful to hear the crowd fully behind the team, a display that is somewhat at odds with the constant media narrative of Arsenal fans being negative and against the team. It was lovely to hear and be a part of.

As far as the game itself goes, I won't cover it in great detail, but I do have some thoughts on what was hopefully a turning point for Arsenal's season, and possibly also Mikel Arteta's career as Arsenal Manager:

Line up:

I wasn't too far off with my prediction, with 9 of the 11 correct. I did suggest that Maitland-Niles might start, but I didn't expect it to be in midfield with Sambi, that's for sure. It meant a debut for the last of our summer signings, Takehiro Tomiyasu. More on him in a bit. The other difference from my predicted line up was Pepe in for ESR. Again, I did think this might happen due to Smith-Rowe missing out for England U21's during the week. I'm not sure if this was the reason, but it may well have been a factor. Overall, it was a youthful, exciting team that everyone seemed happy to get behind that perhaps offers a glimpse of the future.

Tomiyasu

What a debut. Tomi looked dominant in the air, was solid in defence and looked pretty good going forward too. I hadn't watched any highlights packages of his time at Bologna as I wanted to watch him with fresh eyes and no preconceptions, but a couple of podcasts had suggested that he wouldn't be offering much of a threat going forward, perhaps offering balance while Tierney attacked instead. Maybe it was just the way he was asked to play at his previous club, but he looked like a real threat in the final third, over and underlapping Pepe for the full 62 minutes he featured. His flying volleyed effort on the stroke of half-time was reminiscent of Van Persie at the valley, although somewhat closer in, and was close to making it the perfect debut. All things considered, an excellent debut with no doubt lots more to come from him.

Gabriel and White

This is a partnership that has cost £75m and was signed off on by Arteta so he needs this to work, and for yesterday at least, it did. Ben white was constantly looking forward when receiving the ball, either by driving forward or playing line breaking balls in to midfield, with a couple in the first 20 minutes in particular standing out. Gabriel was slightly less ambitious with the ball at his feet, but equally solid and safe with it. To play the football the manager seemingly wants us to play, centre backs who are good in possession will be key and on the evidence of yesterday, opposition accepted, we may have our two. On top of that, both defended really well. After his nightmare against Ivan Toney in the season opener, White looked much more solid in the air against the experienced Teemu Puuki. Gabriel put in an outstanding last ditch block on the same player as the game neared 90 minutes, an action which potentially saved the three points. The two defended really well, to the point that I dont remember the keeper having much to do at all. Speaking of which...

Aaron Ramsdale

I love him. The energy and enthusiasm he plays with must be infectious in that team, because you could feel it in the crowd. Watching him celebrate the goal like he was in amongst the fans was really enjoyable, and it was similar as we approached the full time whistle, celebrating with Cedric after simply picking up a loose ball. He looked assured with his feet too, an area that there were question marks over. At no stage did I feel as nervous as I have done with Leno recently, although maybe some of that is due to not seeing Ramsdale making any mistakes with us yet. It's hard to understand what the plan is with the goalkeeper position at the moment, but if nothing else Mikel Arteta has been given something to think about. Maybe we end up seeing a De Gea/Henderson rotation type situation here this season?

The attack

We started the game really brightly I thought. The first 20/25 minutes we looked really bright, creating chances but without much end product. Then, it kind of petered out until we hit 45 minutes and the Tomiyasu effort. No doubt a bit of nerves from the crowd seeped in to the players, frustrated that we had nothing to show for the efforts to date. But after half time the game seemed to really open up, and even more so when Thomas Partey was introduced on 62 minutes. His pass in to in the build up to the goal was crucial in taking out the Norwich midfield and giving us the space to work it out to Pepe. He wont get credited with an assist, but it's unlikely that the goal happens without that pass. He really is key to how we play, so keeping him healthy is a must. We finished the game with 30 efforts on goal, but only 6 on target. Aubameyang, Pepe and Smith-Rowe with the most glaring misses. Although it was a positive to see us create those chances, theres no doubt that if we are to make strides then we will need to be more clinical. Better sides than Norwich will likely punish us for that profligacy.

Let’s not get too hung up on the negatives though. We haven’t won enough lately, so let’s just enjoy this one while we can.  It may not have been perfect. There is clearly still room for improvement. But we head off to Burnley with 3 points on the board and a bit of confidence. Let’s enjoy the win and have a week of positivity.