When winning ugly becomes a thing of beauty
TO be brutally honest, it would have taken a monumental effort NOT to beat this Manchester United team.
To be brutally honest, Arsenal keeper David Raya was more worried about a lightning strike than a United strike.
And to be brutally honest, it was one of Arsenal’s ugliest displays of the season.
But there was serious pressure on them in a game that most saw as a formality.
To a large extent, this was not Arsenal against United, this was Arsenal against themselves, against their own insecurities, against the pressure.
And they passed the test, simple as that. It was a bit fraught, it was very workmanlike, but the win was all that mattered – and it was a win that
was produced by one instance of incisive play.
For any team to sustain a title challenge, every first team squad member has to make a contribution. Yes, the marquee players need to enjoy stellar seasons and the contributions of the likes of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice have been first-class.
But the chorus line has to produce quality on a regular basis, too. While it might be a little disrespectful to suggest Kai
Havertz – a 24-year-old who has commanded fees in excess of £125million – is a member of the supporting cast, you would not find too many Arsenal fans who believed the German would have such a late impact.
He was given a free pass by Casemiro, who played Havertz onside with some unforgivably lazy play, but still had to have the presence of mind to perfectly time his run and pass for the assist for Leo Trossard (above). Havertz has now scored or assisted 19 Premier League goals this season and has eight goals and six assists in his last 14 Premier League games. He has stepped up for Mikel Arteta – exactly what Trossard does when needed.
In truth, their link-up for the goal – even though that goal was facilitated by calamitous United defending – was a rare instance of quality from either side in a low-grade contest.
It did not help that United appeared to have greased the surface and it seemed a job for the players just to remain upright but, even so, it was poor stuff. There were a couple of defensive performances to admire, for sure.
William Saliba, in particular, was in confident form and Diogo Dalot was prominent for United. To everyone’s surprise, Sofyan Amrabat put in a decent performance but, generally, it was a ropey watch.
It took the home side almost 70 minutes to have an attempt on target and that was a spot of simple catching practice for Raya (above).
But, of course, the quality did not matter to Arsenal – only the result. Still, it must have been a little frustrating for Gunners supporters to watch their team not get on the front foot against a United side (with a frustrated Alejandro Garnacho, top circle) that could kindly be described as very limited.
There was still a good 15 minutes left when substitute Gabriel Martinelli was taking the ball towards the corner flag. But he was excused by those fans – because the win was all that mattered.
Arsenal have taken the title race to the wire… and their unsung players deserve credit for that.