THE VERDICT: TOWN 1 ARSENAL 2 Scant Grant consolation as Town are out-Gunned
TOWN RATED HAVE YOUR SAY IMPROVED DISPLAY NOT ENOUGH TO STAVE OFF SEVENTH SUCCESSIVE HOME DEFEAT
SUBSTITUTES ERIK DURM:
LAURENT DEPOITRE: (Puncheon, 67) Went close with a cracking drive 6 KARLAN GRANT: (Kachunga, 82) Scored and had a shot cleared off the line 6
NOT USED: Joel Coleman, Alex Pritchard, Philip Billing, Jon Gorenc Stankovic. KARL AN Grant netted late on – with help from Sead Kolasinac – in a battling show but Huddersfield Town suffered a 12th defeat in 13 Premier League outings.
It was a seventh home defeat on the trot for new head coach Jan Siewert’s side, who were undone by first-half goals from Alex Iwobi and Alexandre Lacazette.
Town again got little help from referee Jonathan Moss, who denied them a first-half penalty, and often infuriated the home contingent in a crowd of 24,182.
Illness-hit chairman Dean Hoyle watched some of the second half from his normal seat in the directors’ box, but he had left by the time Town scored.
Siewert made four changes to the starting line-up - one of them enforced due to an illness for goalkeeper Jonas Lossl.
Ben Hamer started for only the fifth time this season and first in the league since August against Cardiff, when he got injured.
Also into the starting side came Mathias Jorgensen, Jonathan Hogg and Jason Puncheon for Chris Lowe, Philip Billing and the injured Isaac Mbenza, who is out for up to six weeks with a torn right calf.
Arsenal, who were bidding to avoid a fourth straight away league defeat, left new signing from Barcelona Denis Suarez on the bench after his debut as a substitute in the defeat by Manchester City.
Diakhaby showed early glimpses of his pace, linking with Tommy Smith down the right, while Arsenal had the first opening on goal in the seventh minute, but Terence Kongolo made a brilliant covering tackle on Lacazette.
Town were pressing the ball splendidly in the first 15 and not allowing Arsenal to settle.
Unfortunately, the Gunners went ahead on 15 minutes through Iwobi, whose volley from a cross by Kolasinac took a big deflection off Kongolo to take it past Hamer.
It was a sickening blow for Siewert’s side, but they responded with a fantastic pass from Mooy to Diakhaby which brought a low cross well smothered by Bernd Leno.
Diakhaby continued to be a thorn in the Arsenal side and, after he won a corner, Town were unlucky not to get a penalty on 24 minutes when Puncheon’s drive looked to hit Laurent Koscielny on the right hand, but referee Moss waved away appeals. Town continued to work hard, but Arsenal always looked slick in possession and pushed forward dangerously.
Some of Town’s approach play was also impressive but, as so often this season, there was no-one to provide the finish when Arsenal – criticised for being too open – were stretched by the blue and white stripes.
Arsenal, however, created a clear shooting chance for Henrikh Mkhitaryan with seven minutes of the half remaining, but his scuffed left-foot drive was easily smothered by Hamer on the line.
The Gunners were not to be denied a second, though, and it came in the 44th minute, when Zanka was drawn out of position and Lacazette scored into an open goal from an Ainsley Maitland-Niles squared pass from the right.
Much as at Chelsea, if Town could have gone in at half-time just a goal behind it would have given them everything to play for, so it was hard to take.
But Town started the second half really brightly, with Leno saving from a Bacuna drive and then making an even better stop