LONDON – One own goal, two injuries, but three points. Arsenal back to the top Premier League With 2-1 win over Brightonwhich further highlighted the high margins the Gunners are currently operating in.
Mikel Arteta's men deserved this victory and are now two points behind the team. Manchester City.
This is despite Arsenal continuing to struggle with a varied list of fitness issues, the latest of which was Wood Juryforced absence of a player before the start of the match and loss in the last minute Riccardo Calafiori get injured during warm-up. The end result was Declan Rice acting as a makeshift right back with Miles Lewis-Skelly captured on the opposite flank.
Late win for Manchester City Nottingham Forest earlier in the day the rates also rose, but when George Rutter In the 52nd minute Rice headed a corner into his own net to give the home side a 2-0 lead on what should have been a comfortable afternoon.
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Martin Odegaard had earlier opened the scoring with a crisp 20-yard shot that would have been his calling card had it not been his first goal since May 25. They finished the first half with 15 shots to Brighton's goal. And yet, even with the score 2:0, chaos replaced calm. Setting the age get into the post Diego Gomez converted the rebound and Brighton suddenly believed. For a few minutes at least, Arsenal essentially froze.
Everyone except the goalkeeper David Rayathat is. Yankuba Mintech threw a curling shot at breakneck speed, but Raya arched his body and used the fingertips of his right hand to throw the ball over the crossbar.
The tension increased. Gabriel Magalhães took the field for the first time since November 8, but the situation at Arsenal has only stabilized a little. Replace Gabriel Martinelli missed a great chance to win the game when he was on fire Bukayo SakaA cross from seven yards that sent Arteta spinning and nearly falling to his knees.
They sent the ball to the corner. Five minutes of injury time flew by in slow motion. But Arsenal held on. The stadium announcer shouted that their team was in the lead again.
Still, it shouldn't be so stressful, right? Arsenal spend a lot of emotional energy, and January has not yet arrived.
It was another game decided by one goal – Wolverhampton Everton and today both sides won in a penalty shootout over Crystal Palace after conceding in stoppage time – and therefore a third home match in a row in which they faced an unnecessary nerve-wracking finish.
They have now also scored four own goals in their last four matches in all competitions. The results suggest consistency and reliability in contrast to the results. It's not that Arsenal are playing poorly, but rather that they lack the credibility of a team that has been there and done that before.
The scars of three consecutive second-place finishes seem to show up every week now, the ghosts of the past have yet to be exorcised.
Can Arteta sense the crowd's nervousness?
“When you've just conceded in the last minute, in the previous game against [Crystal] Also Palace when we didn't really concede anything and then they scored from the first kick, obviously that's what it was,” he said.
“But then we have to be able to get through it normally, with a level head and understanding that, 'OK, if you don't handle this well, then you're ineffective at fighting your opponent, then you have to be incredibly good at your fight.' This is also a good way to get through it.
“It’s the willingness to win. We all want to win so bad that we say, “No, I don’t want to lose what I have.” We need to play to keep scoring and show that composure and ability. We should have scored the third goal.”
Is it sustainable to be so emotionally charged on a weekly basis?
“Yes, from my side, yes,” Arteta said. “If you win, I think you will win, you will learn and you will go again. The effect of victory is incredibly powerful.”
Arsenal have the best squad in the league and if they get their lost players back and play in the final third as they often threaten, then City will face a difficult task in winning the title.
But keep it up and Arsenal face five torturous months in pursuit of their first title since 2004. At least there is a sense of togetherness in the wake of growing injury problems.
Arteta said: “Jurrien has an injury, he landed poorly and something happened to Ritchie, it was something very, very strange as well, but you speak to Declan and you tell him he needs to play there at right-back and he says, 'Okay, I'm up for the challenge, I'll do my best.' And the attitude is great to witness.
“We've made it through six months at the moment so we'll see, there's still another five and a half to go so hopefully things will get better.”
A few more comfortable matches wouldn't hurt. But on Tuesday there will be a team at Emirates Stadium that recalls how Arsenal played with such fine margins for longer than they would have liked: Aston Villa.
Emiliano Buendia scored the winner in the 95th minute to give Villa a 2-1 lead earlier in the month. It was a game that was in the balance until the end. And so it goes.
