You have to feel sorry for Huddersfield and their new manager Jan Siewert after they played their hearts out to try and get their first win in 12 games. Everyone was aware of Arsenal’s dire away record and the Terriers must have really believed that they could finally get some points against a Gunners side that were missing half their squad through injuries and illness.
And they certainly tried, and in fact had more possession over the 90 minutes at 55%, and the sad truth is that that they were let down by the lack of finishing and confidence in front of goal. They actually had 15 shots on goal as opposed to Arsenal’s 9, and 6 on target whereas we only had 4! Luckily two of those went in, although the first one was an extremely fortuitous deflection from Iwobi’s volley, and if hadn’t gone in the game could have gone in a different direction.
As for corners won, Arsenal had a big fat zero while Huddersfield had 5. They made 25 tackles to our 19, and won 16 aerial duels to our 14. They certainly didn’t look like a bottom of the table side playing a Top Six side, and their manager Jan Siewert was pleased with his players efforts. He said on the BBC: “First of all I am proud. We played against Arsenal, one of the top teams in the table and we had many chances. We tried everything, we gave everything to win the game right until the end. How we created chances made me very proud.
“The most important thing is that I come in, in a very difficult situation. Judge us by our work and what the players are doing and this makes me proud. The supporters’ applause makes me proud. I will fight until the end to keep these lads in the Premier League.”
It is great for us Arsenal fans that we came away with the points, and it must be very frustrating for the Terriers, but let us not get carried away and think that we are back on course after this lucky win. We desperately need to get some defenders fit and stable or the Top Four will just be a distant dream.
Darren N