Another game, another win! A big welcome back to my billions of readers. Today’s post will focus on the game against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, Brentford’s home. The game against them always had an extra bite and significance given the result last year. On the opening game of the 2021/22 season, a weakened Arsenal got beat by the jubilant newcomers, Brentford, in the same stadium. The logical fear was that the same could happen, as Brentford has proven to be difficult opposition. The actual game told a completely different story. Arsenal came out 3-0 winners, with Saliba (do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do x4, ahhhhhh ahhh 3x, do do do do do do Saliba!), Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira (from Porto) scoring the goals.
Arsenal were also fighting the supernatural. Mikel Arteta got the Manager of the Month award after winning 5/5 games in August. For most managers, a curse follows after winning the award. When Arteta won it back in September, he went on to draw against Brighton and Palace. When he won again in March, he went on to lose 3-0 against Crystal Palace. Same thing happened with Nuno Spirito Santo, who won the award in August and went on to lose 3 games in September and eventually, his job. Tuchel won the award in October and then played Burnley and lost to them, in embarrassing fashion. Chelsea would go on to win 4 of their next 13 matches. Bruno Lage won the award in January and then went on to lose against Arsenal and have 4 defeats in 6 games. Eddie Howe, Newcastle’s savior, won it in February and then went on to lose the next 3 games. In all, the newly crowned managers picked up 8/24 points in their next fixtures. The curse has been alive and well, and has affected almost everyone, except for Guardiola. He seemed to be able to break the curse with his billion dollar squad. It would feel right if his disciple could break it as well, which he did.
Onto the game then. Arsenal were without Odegaard and Zinchenko, both picking up injuries in training. Saliba was also a question mark, not having trained in the past 10 days, but he made the starting lineup. Arteta mentioned that he only had 13 senior players available to him due to injuries. Arsenal dominated play from start to finish. They almost scored 90 seconds in after great interplay between Xhaka and Martinelli, which the latter should’ve scored. The first goal game through a corner, where Saka crossed it and Saliba got in front of his marker, Ivan Toney, to head it to the far corner, where it hit the post and went in. The second goal came from an excellent cross from the excellent Granit Xhaka, who crossed it from the far edge of the box, to Gabriel Jesus, who lost his marker and flexed his neck muscles to score from a header. 2-0 and the game was pretty much over. It must be said that Brentford did not play well. The crowd was quiet and the players weren’t at it. It was strange that Brentford’s manager, Thomas Frank, said that they played well in his post-match interview. Second half rolled in and it was more of the same. Fabio Vieira, the 22 year old who replaced the injured Odegaard, fared well in his first start in the PL. You can see that the Portuguese needs to gain some muscle to be able to compete better, but overall it was a solid performance by the former Porto man. It made it even better when he scored Arsenal’s third. He got a pass from Saka, and unleashed a venomous shot that hit the right post and left no chance for David Raya to make a save. Saka, who’s been criticized for not being able to hit the heights of last season, has 4 assists and 1 goal in 7 games. The boy is doing alright. Arsenal could’ve scored more as they kept their high intensity but the game was done and dusted.
Arteta still had time to make history for Arsenal and the PL. He brought on 15 year old Ethan Nwareni, the youngest ever player to feature in a PL game for any team. To put it into perspective, Nwareni was not born when the Emirates Stadium was completed in 2006. A nice touch from the manager. Nwareni had one tackle and one touch on the ball, a performance that clearly showed he will be the best player ever. No pressure then.
Lastly, I wanted to give a special shoutout to Granit Xhaka. What an incredible turnaround from him. From the guy who swore at Arsenal fans, took his jersey off, got silly red cards, and was ready to leave the club. Now an integral part of the team with a new role, part of the leadership group, and gets occasional silly red cards. He’s been nothing less than exceptional for Arsenal. Xhaka has been given the license to get forward more and play more of a true 8, boy does it suit him. He’s been arguably Arsenal’s best player so far. He has created more chances for his teammates than any other player in the Arsenal squad - 16, with 15 coming from open play. I’ll be honest, I wanted him out of Arsenal for the longest time, but now I can’t see the team without him. Dare I say it? I love you Xhaka. I am ready to get hurt by you again. Until then, keep cracking on. Next game? NORTH LONDON DERBY. LET'S GET IT DONE! Tchau.
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