Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT COJONES?
Gunners make Watford striker eat his words in grudge match with three goals and a penalty save... against Deeney!
THEY finally proved they have cojones after all.
Arsenal have waited five months to have the last laugh on Troy Deeney and did it with a victory not just about guts but class as well.
The irony that Deeney, who famously questioned Arsenal’s cojones when Watford rolled them over at Vicarage Road in October, bottled it from the penalty spot made it all the sweeter.
Gunners keeper Petr Cech made a terrific save from Deeney’s kick to reach a milestone of 200 Premier League clean sheets. It left the stadium chanting: “Deeney, Deeney what’s the score?” Deeney’s words had really stuck in the throat for Arsenal, both the players and the fans did not like it and the team dug deep to deliver an important win.
Manager Arsene Wenger reckoned it was all about proving they could answer Deeney’s criticism on the pitch.
He said: “You know you cannot be a footballer without pride, you cannot be in this sport without pride. Of course it plays a part.”
Arsenal need to enjoy small victories at the moment but this felt like quite a big one in the circumstances. Arsene Wenger made six changes and put out an unfamiliar line-up to save players for the Europa League return leg with AC Milan on Thursday and anything other than victory would have been a disaster.
But quite where that leaves the Wenger-o-meter is anyone’s guess. Back-toback wins against Milan and Watford and suddenly it’s looking like ‘Wenger In’ again.
However, the huge rafts of empty seats tells another story as, even though the official attendance of 59,131 includes all the season tickets sold, the club’s best estimate was around 45,000.
That is a worrying trend. Against Manchester City 10 days ago, the empty seats were blamed on the weather. This time it’s hard to believe so many fans were taking their mum out for lunch as a Mother’s Day treat. At least those who turned up saw January signings Pierre-emerick
Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan score, representing something of a new dawn.
Aubameyang missed other chances and does not look well suited to leading the line, while Mkhitaryan worked hard.
Both sides missed chances and if it had not been for Cech and some determined defending from Shkodran Mustafi then it might have been a different story.
But Arsenal’s best player was Mohamed Elneny, who was comfortably the best performer on the pitch in the first half.
Arsenal’s breakthrough came after eight minutes when Mesut Ozil’s precision free-kick found Mustafi and the Germany defender powered a header into the far corner.
Arsenal could have gone further ahead but Ozil and Aubameyang were denied by Watford keeper Orestis Karnezis while Watford’s Richarlison twice went close and Roberto Pereyra was guilty of one of the misses of the season from close range.
Arsenal got their second after 59 minutes when Mkhitaryan made a terrific run and then played in Aubameyang who rounded the keeper and scored into an empty net.
Then just over a minute later, Ainsley Maitland-niles tripped Roberto Pereyra to concede a penalty. Up stepped Deeney and Cech made a terrific save which brought the roof off the stadium. Incredibly, that was Cech’s first save from 16 spot-kicks he has faced in Arsenal colours.
The Gunners got their third when Ozil’s cross was not cleared, Aubameyang pulled it back to set up Mkhitaryan to fire home.
It was not entirely convincing but it got the job done and when Arsenal needed an extra bit of class and quality they did have the players to make a difference.