Eight goals in two games! Yeah, we have our Arsenal back alright.
Despite what the headline is saying, I am not getting carried away or anything in that manner at all, but you can’t help but feel that the Gunners are back, back after a few weeks of torrid form prior to the international break.
The Gunners got back to winning ways in their UCL campaign against Sporting CP on Tuesday night, this was a resounding 5-1 win, away from home, under the lights and this was made possible thanks to goals from Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Magalhães, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard.
Even though we were coming off the back of a comfortable win last weekend, gooners would’ve still felt a bit nervous ahead of this clash for a number of reasons. One being the fact we were without a win in our eight previous away games in the UCL and secondly because of our opponents incredible form heading into this encounter. They have remained unbeaten for the whole of their season, beating Manchester City along the way. Arsenal however, made sure that they have tasted defeat for the first time, both in the UCL and in all competitions (barring Porto in the Super Cup pre-season).
The five goals scored against them now means that we’ve scored eight goals in the space of just two games. To put that into perspective, we managed seven goals in the previous six games prior to our win against Forest. This just highlights our struggles without a player like Ødegaard on the pitch, his return has suddenly made our right side 200 percent better, most of our good football and even goals came from the right half spaces tonight which just shows you the impact he has on this team.
After struggling with creativity for much of the season, we have since gone on to drop arguably two of our best attacking displays of the season in these two matches. You can’t be wrong to say that Arsenal are back! Next up for us in this relentless schedule is a visit to West Ham at the weekend and surely, gooners will he hoping for us stretch this mini run to three consecutive wins!
We have our Arsenal back!
BENJAMIN KENNETH.
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Odegaard makes all the difference. Saka has bigger impact when Odegaard is in the team and playing well. Partey is playing well, Merino is improving and the left side is better with Calafiori in the team. The back four of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori is solid and progressive. We may have a ‘better’ Arsenal back.
Sure we have our Arsenal back, that team started in Porto, will beat any team on a given night
We just need to get back to basic and not overcomplicate the modern game.
Exactly..
And also to be honest the team has been in a chaotic period (Red cards, injuries etc). No more Recld cards and the injuries are now subsiding. The team is becoming settled again.
It’s now up to Arteta and his players to perform from now on..
We have our captain back on top of most of the injured players being back. We also are not playing drunken football by picking up unnecessary Red Cards. The team is getting settled again. No more Partey helping out as an inverted RB due to the injuries etc.
We should be much more back to ourselves now. Now it’s onto Arteta and his players to deliver.
Yes, I think that’s right.
I’m pretty sure that the riot act must have been read to the players about red cards as that behaviour stopped suspiciously suddenly. Raya still seems to persist in picking up yellow cards for, frankly, stupid time-wasting tactics – his latest was only about 50 mins into yesterday’s match. Why? Anyway, onwards and, hopefully, upwards.
I think our problem was injuries and red card, couple with poor officiating, But yesterday was a complete and informed Arsenal squad. Let Keep it going.
Yeah glorify Ødegaard more because of the ” 8 goals in two games” comment by Kenya on a certain post. Big constructed lie to fit a narrative.
Ødegaard was there whilst Arsenal scored exactly zero goal against Inter Milan, and one against Chelsea.
Twice the ball either was cleared off the line or blocked, Saka missed an easy header and Declan Rice missed an easier one to score. But the narrative from the media was / is
Arsenal created nothing because Ødegaard was not there.
Sentiments.
Ødegaard is good. Yes.
But not Arsenal’s best player.
Not Arsenals best player. Should have gone to Specsavers.
Being a leader, inspiring his teammates and the supporters doesn’t necessarily make you the best player in the squad.
Odegaard and Arteta seem to have the same kind of DNA, inasmuch as they inspire 100% from others.
It doesn’t mean they’re the best, as I would suggest Saka, Saliba, Partey, Pep and Klopp currently have better claims to that accolade.
But would I want Odegaard to leave our club?
Not in the next few years – he’s proved me wrong once and, as the saying goes, once bitten twice shy!!
striker, striker, striker!
well Sporting’s did not win the game single handedly like ‘striker, striker, striker’ expects every week
Arsenal had a great start to the season remember, the 3 red cards and no Odegaard put us back a long way
now all fit and our best XI again and Arsenal are back to we can beat anyone
the question is has 3 red cards and Odegaard injury put us too far behind
no doubt a great win and great return to goal scoring form – and no doubt Odegaard central to that
perhaps a seemingly minor detail on a night like that is that Arsenal’s defensive unit conceded yet again, even in an absolute dominant display
Arsenal’s much lauded defensive unit is under performing and conceding way more goals than last season, clean sheet records set last season but now they are rarity
Man C have the best ‘striker, striker, striker’ in the world but are 6 winless in a row – why? – because their defence is regularly conceding goals – Arsenal seem to be following a similar path of defensive frailities
so forget ‘striker, striker, striker’ (particularly on Gyokeres toothless ‘goal machine’ showing), our concerns should be what is going wrong in defence vs last season
Who would have thought that having your best players available would make a difference!
Odegaard has been immense since returning, and his return has completely changed our whole way of playing as well.
As great as this is, Arteta needs to find a solution if Odegaard is out again for a while, because we cannot continue to be so reliant on one player in regards to our attacking play.
The solution was and is Nweaneri, MA just did’nt trust the boy enough.