Last Saturday 12th August it was finally the day – the new Premier League season started for Arsenal Football Club! The first game of the season was against Nottingham Forest and we were rather lucky it was not against a better team, otherwise we could have suffered even more and could potentially even have lost points. Arsenal got in front with a strike from Nketiah after making another start for AFC and Saka doubled the lead with a stunner from outside the box into the top left corner. For around 80 minutes, Nottingham were very harmless except 1 huge opportunity of Brennan Johnson when he suddenly appeared along in front of Ramsdale who stormed out towards the striker. Arsenal dominated the game without being very convincing. A few substitutions made by Nottingham changed the dynamics towards the end of the game though. Nottingham got one back with a nice finish by their newly arrived striker Awoniyi from Union Berlin & this could have ended costly because we did not kill the game after the 2-0. Let’s have a look at some highlights & some points for concern after this game.
What this article is about:
Highlights
Let’s first look at the bright side of some positives we have picked out:
Martinelli
Martinelli equals work ethic, energy equals Martinelli! Most of the action at the beginning of the game went through Saka on the right. However, whenever the ball got onto the left, Martinelli ran onto the defenders and every (!) single time we lost it, he recovered it, it was highly impressive to watch! One of the times he recovered such a ball very much upfront he twisted, turned and produced a magical backheel pass while turning in Ronaldinho style. Whether it was on purpose or not is secondary but it gave Nketiah the opportunity to shoot, which he did & with some fortune and a slight deviation of the ball, it went into the back of the net.
Nketiah
Another start, another goal for Nketiah! Apparently he went to Arteta’s office the past few days to make himself heard & make things clear to Arteta that he should play upfront if Jesus does not play. Not only was he leading the line but he also scored another goal which is positive. He really has a good goal scoring record when he starts for us and long may it continue.
Saka
Another good game from our starboy, an absolute stunner from him to double our lead and a lot of action through his side of the pitch. After about 20 minutes of game time, I knew that we can also count on him again this season.
All early signings in the starting eleven
Timber, Rice & Havertz were playing from the beginning which means their integration into the first team has already advanced quite a bit. This is due to the early integration into the squad and also is testament to their quality. Let’s hope they will get used to each other quickly in this season.
Points of concern
We have checked what positives we took from the weekend. Below you find the things that raised some concerns.
Timer injured
Jurrien Timber, arguably the most impressive new signing so far unfortunately got injured and will be out with an ACL injury for a long time! These are very sad news and we will need to find a different way of playing the next few games.
Missing Game Control
We were missing big parts of the game control we showed during the past season which is a slight concern for me. The season is still very young but still I hope we find some consistency soon.
Partey playing rightback
Seeing Partey play rightback felt strange & does not seem to play at his strengths. I understand the reasoning behind against a most probably deep lying defence but it is yet to be seen whether this will be the formation moving forward.
Changes of Nottingham made a difference
Nottingham was not really present for most of the game apart from one huge chance. However, after the few substituions had been made, we looked a little shaky and needed time to get used to the fresh legs in the opponents team. I hope we react quicker during the rest of the season to different players entering the field.
Conclusion – A win and 3 points!
At the end of the day, the only thing that counts is a win & we got the 3 points on the board which is all that counts from a results perspective. More games will improve the understanding between the players & we should become stronger. Let’s build on this! C.O.Y.G!