The battle of the Cojones!
Well we can’t play Watford and not have a mention of the word cojones now can we..
Any Arsenal fan will know that word is associated with a certain Troy Deeney, with his comments that came after Watford came back from 1-0 down to beat us 2-1 at Vicarage Road four years ago.
It was a game which Deeney himself got the ball rolling with his penalty and then Tom Cleverley wrapped it up for all three points in stoppage time.
At the time Arsene Wenger claimed the penalty given to Watford should not have been a penalty in which Deeney responded: “I’ve heard Wenger’s already saying the penalty is the reason they lost. Well, I’m not going to be one to tell Mr Wenger about himself, but there’s a reason they lost and it wasn’t because of one penalty. It’s having a bit of cojones. Whenever I play against Arsenal, I’ll go up and think ‘let me whack the first one and see who wants it’.”
Had VAR been in action then it would have been interesting to see what they made of it. But Watford were the happier as they were fourth in the table and Arsenal sixth, but by the end of the season Arsenal were fifth and Watford 17th so we had the last laugh in that sense.
Since then, Arsenal have declined, and Watford really haven’t fared that well either. For starters neither Deeney or Richarlison, who were both present in that game in 2017 are at the club anymore.
But it was during the 2019/20 season we last saw Watford in the Premier League though and the only thing they were remembered for was beating Liverpool in a shock win that ended their run of 44 games unbeaten to keep Arsenals invincibles record alive.
And the last time we met in the league was in the final game of the same season where we beat them 3-2 to seal their fate of relegation. Albeit for one season. But it’s fair to say Deeney got his comeuppance in that game. And despite being promoted this season Deeney left the club after 11 years to join Birmingham.
A lot has changed since Cojone-gate for both clubs, Watford have been relegated and promoted and Arsenal have seen their consistent top four finishes crash and burn to mid-table finishes but have ALWAYS remained in the topflight🙏🏼 unlike Watford.
Most notably the absence of Deeney is a big change and if he was still in that Watford team coming to the Emirates on Sunday, he would see a different set of cojones both on and off the pitch, I am sure!
But surely come Sunday will we see if Arsenal have more cojones now or not! Gooners?
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_
WATCH The Just Arsenal Show on YouTube – Dan Smith urges Arsenal fans to not raise expectations too high
It’s a game Arsenal really should be winning, but Watford are certainly capable of an upset (As per example above & beating Everton recently) so it will have to be either hit them hard for an early lead and 2 goal gap by half-time, or stay alert until the final whistle and grind out a win. Any lapses / sloppyness / lazyness will be punished harshly without a decent goal-cushion.
I cant see anything else but an Arsenal win here
With Manure losing to City, if Liverpool beat the Hammers and we do win, that would put us 4th going into the interlul
its all ”if’s” but if these to go according to plan then that is a massive turnaround from the opening 3 games of the season
VAL no it will NOT put us fourth, barring a massive and extremely unlikely goal difference turnaround concerning West Ham.
Even if we win 5-0 and West Ham lose 5-0, we would still be behind them on fewer goals scored, though same goal difference. Details matter!
My post again disappeared!