We took three points, we closed the gap on Liverpool and we continued to irk the entire league with our staggering proficiency at set pieces – what more could we have asked for?
Sure, it wasn’t the most eye-catching performance and it was a little more laboured than we might have liked at times but we achieved everything we set out to do and that is ultimately the name of the game this season.
Most pleasing about the whole thing, at least from my point of view, are the increasingly desperate wails of opposition fans and, more and more, players and managers about how our set pieces. They can’t stop them, they are near powerless to prevent us doing what we want and it’s starting to get under their skin. Ruben Amorim, barely a fortnight in the job, was scarcely able to contain his upset post-match. Just lovely.
Among the league at large, it was the odd rumbling of complaint at first, a grunt of irritation here and there, but it is growing beautifully into anger and frustration. It won’t be long before the criticism starts and then the calls for rule change – as if we’re somehow gaining an unfair advantage by simply being better than they are.
The inevitable comparisons to Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis and Stoke are meant to try to belittle Arsenal fans, to somehow discourage us, but they serve only to make it all the funnier. The panic, the unrest, the fear that grips opposition teams every time the ball crosses the line, it feels glorious.
It was evident in abundance last night as we made Manchester United look foolish time and again at corners. They simply had no answer to it. Not only did we come away with two set piece goals we really should have had two more, such was our mastery of the match.
Goals from William Saliba and Jurrien Timber were both well-worked but, ultimately, simple corner routines, while Mikel Merino and Thomas Partey both missed excellent headed-opportunities from set plays too. It was another great night to be Nicholas Jover.
From open play, we found the going much tougher, especially in the first half, as Amorim set his side up simply to not concede. Credit to them on that front, they were compact and disciplined in their positioning and managed to slow the game down to a crawl from almost the entirety of the first 45 minutes. It was among the worst halves of football I have witnessed as a spectator and that was quite by design from the visitors.
To be fair, Arsenal didn’t do enough to change that dynamic and, despite producing two very good chances, didn’t find a way to truly trouble the visitor’s goal.
Thankfully, Arteta found a way to speed things up in the second half and the opening goal really forced United out of their shape, and thank goodness for that.
As a whole, the half was much livelier and we were able to wrest control of the pace and direction of play. For all their grim determination in defence, United didn’t really have much to offer in attack and it was a pretty comfortable final 20 minutes or so for the Gunners after the second goal had gone in.
I think we might all have liked a third, to properly reflect our domination of chances, but in the end, it was only the win that matters.
This match will hopefully serve as a cautionary experience for other sides looking to spoil matches too. You can try to make it a slog, you can sit deep, play narrow and get numbers back, but we have a way around that too. We don’t need to walk it in, we can beat you in ways you simply wouldn’t have planned for.
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