Sexy football!
Bring your popcorn to the Emirates — Arsenal are the hottest ticket in town
MARTIN O’NEILL was minding his own business in the press box when an Arsenal fan shouted at the Irishman: ‘Sexy football! Sexy football!’
It was fitting he said it twice, this being the club used to hearing how ‘boring, boring’ they can be, and the reason for this sudden outburst? Kai Havertz had just scored the second of their four goals, tucking away the smoothest of moves.
O’Neill nodded back in agreement, partly because he is one of the most polite fellows in football, but mainly because the fan was not wrong. Arsenal can claim to be the hottest ticket in town — a team so attractive they make you want to pick up popcorn.
They have now scored 18 Premier League goals in February, half as many as Manchester United have managed over the entire season. They boast an aggregate score of 25-3 since the turn of the year and Sheffield United, bottom of the Premier League, are their next targets.
It was Ruud Gullit who coined the term ‘sexy football’, first using it while working as a BBC pundit at Euro 1996 before Portugal faced the Czech Republic. When he became Newcastle boss in 1998, supporters had it written on scarves at his unveiling at St James’ Park, banking on him introducing a sumptuous style.
Fast forward 26 years and Eddie Howe’s Newcastle showed no signs of sexiness here. Before Arsenal opened the scoring, the time Tino Livramento took to take throw-ins was noticeably ugly. The suspicion was the visitors hoped they could copy Porto, whose dark arts secured a 1-0 win over the Gunners in the Champions League on Wednesday. This time, it did not work.
Once Arsenal took the lead after 18 minutes, courtesy of a Sven Botman own goal, Newcastle were fighting a losing battle. Havertz scored in the 24th minute after a lovely passage of play, while Bukayo Saka and Jakub Kiwior added goals in the second half to secure this latest trouncing.
Whatever pent-up frustration was living inside of Arsenal from that trip to Porto — and their 1-0 loss to Newcastle at St James’ Park in November amid VAR chaos — broke free. They could have scored more, perhaps even double if Havertz and Co were more clinical.
Boss Mikel Arteta claimed there is no secret to their sudden goalfest, other than that they are scoring in a multitude of ways.
Mail Sport studied their 25 goals in 2024 to see whether that was true and Arsenal’s armoury of attack is indeed not limited to set-pieces. There have been balls in behind — such as when Gabriel Martinelli made it 5-0 against Crystal Palace — or winning possession high up the pitch, which led to Saka scoring in a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest, and moments of magic, like Leandro Trossard making it 3-1 against Liverpool and Havertz confirming the 5-0 crushing of Burnley.
There has been the odd screamer, too, such as Declan Rice rounding off a 6-0 humiliation of West Ham. Corners have featured heavily — you hope Arsenal’s setpiece coach Nicolas Jover has a goal bonus in his contract, with another two against Newcastle — while Saka is as sharp at penalties as he is cutting in from the right. Newcastle’s supporters deserved credit on Saturday. An 8pm kickoff was a hospital pass from the Premier League, with no way to return home unless you fancied hours of driving in the darkness of the M1. The away end was still bouncing at full time as Howe and his players approached to pay their gratitude. But the Celebration Police can rest assured there was nothing over-zealous from Arsenal. Maybe a consolation goal for Newcastle dampened the mood, or perhaps they are just so used to winning in style that four was not enough for an energetic explosion. Arsenal are deservedly in this riveting Premier League title race after an extraordinary run. Boring, boring? Behave. According to the supporters, they are sexy, sexy. ARSENAL (4-3-3): Raya 7; White 7, Saliba 7, Gabriel 7, Kiwior 7; Odegaard 8.5 (Smith Rowe 76min), Rice 7.5, JORGINHO 9 (Elneny 89); Saka 8 (Nelson 76), Havertz 7.5 (Nketiah 76), Martinelli 7 (Trossard 63, 6.5). Booked: Odegaard. Scorers: Botman 18 (og), Havertz 24, Saka 65, Kiwior 69. Manager: Mikel Arteta 8. NEWCASTLE (4-3-3): Karius 5; Trippier 5, Schar 5, Botman 4 (Lascelles 73, 6), Livramento 5 (Burn 73, 6); Longstaff 5, Guimaraes 5 (Willock 73, 6.5), Miley 6; Almiron 5 (Murphy 64, 6), Isak 5 (Barnes 64, 6), Gordon 5. Scorer: Willock 84. Manager: Eddie Howe 5. Referee: Paul Tierney 6. Att: 60,298.