No excuses for this trio of fall guys
EMBARRASSING: Guendouzi’s unassisted tumble ARSENAL’S unbeaten run is threatening to be overshadowed by their players’ problems with diving.
The Gunners managed to set a record in English football by getting three players booked for simulation in a single match.
In a restless, spiteful game – which they deserved to win – Granit Xhaka, Shkodran Mustafi and Matteo Guendouzi’s issues with gravity took the gloss off as their side made it 21 games without defeat.
Match of the Day pundits Ian Wright and Martin Keown were so embarrassed by their old club’s hat-trick of yellow cards, they did not venture a single excuse for the fall guys.
After a frustrating game littered with 33 fouls and nine bookings, Gunners manager Unai Emery said: “I don’t want simulation for players. I want more rhythm in the match.”
There has been much to admire about Arsenal’s longest unbeaten run since 2007. And it was fitting that £26.4million bargain-buy Lucas Torreira, the best player on the pitch, settled it with a nifty bicycle-kick seven minutes from time.
But when Huddersfield’s spoilers threatened to abscond from the Emirates with a point, too often the Gunners resorted to dark arts best left in the shadows.
The improvement of Xhaka has been a gratifying aspect of the club’s resurgence under Emery, but if he is going to wear the captain’s armband, yellow cards for diving are not a privilege that
ARSENAL HUDDERSFIELD
comes with the rank. In Mustafi’s case, at least there was contact when he went down in the box under Laurent Depoitre’s escort, but a penalty? Only if you think an articulated lorry can be bumped off the road by a moped.
Guendouzi’s abundant promise will soon fade into notoriety if he repeats his unassisted fall without Aaron Mooy’s intervention.
Wright said: “You don’t want people getting suspended for those reasons. There’s a little bit of contact, but it’s not enough for Mustafi to go down the way he did.”
Keown was also unequivocal in his censure of Guendouzi’s fall. “He won’t be happy when he sees that back,” he said.
Meanwhile, Huddersfield will stay in London for their Christmas party, but Mathias Jorgensen insists it is a bonding exercise as much as festive merry-making.
Jorgensen claimed they would harness team spirit for crucial home games against Newcastle, Southampton and Burnley either side of the new year.
Leno 6; Lichtsteiner 5 (Iwobi, 46, 7), Mustafi 6 (Monreal, 66, 6), Sokratis 7; Bellerin 6, Guendouzi 6, Torreira 8, Xhaka 5, Kolasinac 6; Lacazette 6 (Mkhitaryan 46, 7), Aubameyang 7. Xhaka, Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Mustafi, Guendouzi. Torreira 83. Qarabag (h), Thurs EL.
Lossl 7; Smith 6 (Hadergjonaj, 60, 6), Kongolo 7, Schindler 8, Jorgensen 7, Lowe 6; Williams 5 (Durm 70, 5), Hogg 6 (Bacuna, 52, 5), Mooy 7; Pritchard 6; Depoitre 5.
Pritchard, Williams, Smith, Bacuna. Newcastle (h), Sat PL.
P Tierney (Lancs).
ARSENAL (3-5-2):
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