A good Sunday leaves Arsenal in good shape

Morning.

Nicely, that turned out to be an excellent weekend for Arsenal, all in all. Though Man Metropolis gained on Saturday, there was numerous concentrate on Sunday’s video games. Earlier within the afternoon, Aston Villa got here from a purpose all the way down to beat Sp*rs 2-1, and so they could have scored the purpose of the season (so far) within the course of.

Emi Buendia’s winner was fairly one thing – the move from Matty Money, the contact from Lucas Digne, after which the end with the goalkeeper hilariously rooted to the spot. High quality, you need to say. And it meant that lot misplaced, so it will get some bonus factors for that.

Then, at Anfield, Man Utd gained 2-1, making it 4 defeats in a row for Liverpool. Trailing to an early purpose they equalised late on, however Harry Maguire loafed a fair later one residence along with his gigantic Easter Island head to win it for Ruben Amorim’s aspect. It’s been fairly the blip for Liverpool – just some weeks in the past they may have conceivably opened up an 8 level hole on Arsenal, and now they lie 4 factors behind us.

An indication of how shortly issues can change in soccer – which can also be a reminder that whereas it’s clearly good for us that they’ve misplaced, there’s nonetheless an excessive amount of of the season to go to get carried away. As for United, it’s the primary time they’ve gained again to again league video games below Ruben Amorim, which is exceptional given he’s within the job a yr or so at this level. That lad who pledged to not lower his hair till they gained 5 video games in a row may simply begin to get a bit excited this morning.

So, it leaves us in a pleasant place on the high of the desk as our focus turns in direction of Europe, and considered one of our most troublesome Champions League fixtures of the group stage. Is it even known as the group stage anymore? I simply checked, it’s not. The UEFA web site lists these video games because the ‘league stage’. Anyway, the purpose is we’re internet hosting Atletico Madrid tomorrow night time, and that’s going to be a hell of a problem.

They at the moment sit fourth in La Liga, 8 factors behind leaders Actual Madrid after 9 video games, however everyone knows what Diego Simeone’s groups are about, and the way they’re more likely to play. Usually they’re defensively very sturdy, and this season’s Arsenal are breaking information in that division. Right here’s a graphic from Match of the Day on Saturday night time:

That is our greatest defensive begin to a season in all competitions within the membership’s whole historical past, which is sort of one thing. There’s extra to come back in goalscoring phrases, I hope, however as Leandro Trossard mentioned after the sport on Saturday, holding clear sheets means you possibly can win video games with a single purpose. I don’t suppose that’s 100% sustainable if you wish to win the title, however I additionally imagine that simply churning out wins within the early a part of the season is a vital a part of being there or thereabouts come Might.

Groups have a tendency to search out title successful rhythm and kind within the second half of the marketing campaign, so even when we would have some issues about scoring sufficient targets, whereas we’re successful it’s not as massive a deal as it’d in any other case be. And I additionally suppose it’s a story that doesn’t essentially stand as much as full scrutiny. We lie solely 2 targets behind Man Metropolis who’re the main scorers to date, and so they have top-of-the-line strikers on the earth scoring at a ridiculous charge for them, so I believe you do want to use that context when having this dialogue. Anyway, suffice to say I’m fairly proud of how issues have gone to date, stable foundations, good constructing blocks, and let’s push on week by week.

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One factor I didn’t actually get to the touch on in yesterday’s weblog was how good Bukayo Saka was towards Fulham. I don’t want to enter element, however this felt like quiet, virtually understated brilliance from him. Though he didn’t get a purpose or an help, he was constantly our most harmful participant, all the time trying to make one thing occur, and after the 2 accidents this season and final, he seemed again to one thing near his best possible.

Hopefully an indication of excellent issues to come back.

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Proper, I’ll depart it there this morning. We’ll have an Arsecast Additional for you in a while, we’re recording round 10.30. We’ve already put out the decision for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or in case you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, depart your query within the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server. Pod ought to be out round lunchtime.

And, in a while once more, we’ll have an episode of The 30 over on Patreon, recapping all of the weekend’s Premier League motion – some enjoyable ones to get into!

For now, have a very good one.