Category Archives: Arsenal

Arsenal 2-1 Wolves—vote for player ratings & MOTM!

For the first 25 minutes, it looked like we were going to go one better than our midweek waltz past Lens; early goals from Saka and Ødegaard put us 2-0 to the good after just 13 minutes. From there, however, the game seemed to slow down more and more…and more. That was until Zinchenko got dispossessed in the 86th minute as he too-tentatively tried to carry the ball out of his own area, leading to Cunha scoring a goal to lead to some nervy, tense times as an inspired Wolves side probed for an equaliser. Six minutes of stoppage time weren’t enough, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. In the end, we may have been fortunate to escape with all three despite that early dominance & fluidity. Ah, well—it’s three points banked either way. Let’s rate the lads!

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Are Gooners still taunting Wolves with our celebrating, or is that…passé?

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Today’s match previews takes us down the dusky, dusty halls of antiquity, way back to February 2022, when we bested Wolves 1-0. At the time, not-at-all-salty Wolves midfielder Rúben Neves complained that we acted like we had “won the league”. He went on to add that our celebrations “shows the level we are”. As I pointed out at the time, Rúbe (can I call you that? It feels almost too close to calling you a rube…), our celebrations were not about defeating your club; they were about taking a step towards Champions League qualification. I’d explain what that is, Rúbe, but I’m a lazy, lazy man.

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After thrashing RC Lens, who was Arsenal’s surprise MOTM?

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Frequently, it’s the flashy players, those who score the goals, who garner MOTM honours. To a degree, that’s fair—it’s hard to win matches without scoring. Own Goal has had a remarkable career, but he’s also incredibly inconsistent, disappearing for months and even seasons at a time. However. after such a thorough-going demolition on Tuesday of an opponent who dared to defeat us in the prior encounter, I’m pleased to share that the player who took the MOTM from our post-match poll is none other than Takehiro Tomiyasu! Two assists, even for the third and fourth goals, plus an excellent all-around effort, saw him claim a 9.21 rating and 32.6% of the MOTM vote. Congratulations, Tomi. May it be the first (?) of many!

£60m down the drain as Kai Havertz scores again—but just once? Come on…

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Kai Havertz, that waste of £60m, somehow managed to score against an RC Lens side that conceded four times inside of the first half hour, but that was apparently the end of his output as the final scoreline was a mere 6-0 to the Gunners. Where was Havertz on this rampant evening? Having registered just the one goal and nary an assist—on a night when back-up right-back Tomiyasu registered not one but two assists—is just another exhibit in the ever-growing case against Arteta’s decision to sign the Deutscher spieler (that’s ze German for “German player”).

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And that’s what happens when you manage to defeat the Arsenal.

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5-0 by halftime. Another goal from Havertz, making it two matches in a row. Six different scorers. RC Lens surely regret having beaten us previously. Just about the only factor that stops this from going down as the best performance of the Arteta era is the level of our opponent. After all, we don’t look to the 2008 thrashing of Slavia 7-0 as the best of Wenger’s. At any rate, we’ve won Group B quite comfortably and look forward to learning whom we’ll face in the knockout phase. There are too many unknowns to even toss out some possible names. For now, let’s get to the post-match poll to rate the lads!

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