Arsenal did enough to see of a limp PSV side at the Emirates on Thursday night, putting themselves in the driver’s seat for qualification to the knock-out stages of the Europa League in the process.
In all truth, the only thing notable about PSV on the night were the fans in stands, who were both exuberant and excessive in equal measure – the absolute antithesis of the team on the pitch.
For a side in such good form domestically, the visitors were abject under the lights in north London. They offered nothing for 80 minutes of the match – and I mean nothing – and only half-roused themselves in the final 10 minutes when it was clear they might actually have to show some intent to win.
Despite the best efforts of their supporters, PSV were awful and a pale imitation of the side we used to meet in the Champions League.
Such determination to sit deep and slow the play inevitably made life difficult for Mikel Arteta’s men but the manager will have been perturbed by the lack of killer instinct from his charges. Despite a lot of possession and territory, the Gunners weren’t able to fashion the sort of chances their dominance warranted.
Such opportunities as they did manage were largely squandered.
This all may well be a symptom of a side that has had a lot of football to play over the last three weeks and precious little time to prepare for it. The Sunday-to-Thursday turn-around, coupled with demands of travel and rest days, means, in some ways, the team is playing on instinct.
At the moment, those instincts are serving them well and they are coming through games doing just enough to win but a break at this stage would be hugely beneficial.
The squad has played a tremendous amount of football recently and, for a number of reasons, the guys coming in to pick up some minutes aren’t quite firing in the way the manager might like.
Sambi Lokonga, Fabio Vieira, and Eddie Nketiah will doubtless be frustrated at having to play a bit-part role in the team but none are really furthering their cause by failing to make an impact when offered a chance. We know all three are fabulously talented but football can often be about timing and failing to capitalise means only more time on the fringes.
That said, it’s important not to over-dramatise what was a comfortable win. Yes, it was laboured at times and lacking the sort of zip and dynamism we are more accustomed to but it’s worth remembering we managed 25 shots on goal (eight on target) to PSV’s four (with one on target).
The visitors simply couldn’t live with us all night and were, without exaggeration, one of the worst sides I have seen at the Emirates. AFC Wimbledon genuinely put up more of a fight in last season’s Carabao Cup.
If we can avoid defeat when we play in the Netherlands next week, we can look forward to sinking our teeth into the business end of the competition and perhaps give some of those running in the ‘red-zone’ a genuine night off.
If a sluggish win or two is all we have to complain about, we are truly blessed!
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