Kevin Whitcher
It was a strange sort of game, nothing like this fixture used to be in terms of its intensity. Jose Mourinho waved a metaphorical white flag in the build up to the fixture by stating he would be forced to field a weakened team and sure enough, there were eight changes from the Thursday evening win against Celta Vigo. A couple though, were improvements, with David De Gea returning in goal and Chris Smalling at centre back. The former pulled off a couple of good saves in the first half as Arsenal managed to create far more chances than they put together over 90 minutes during their last outing, the previous weekend.
United generally played deep, dare I say an element of bus parking, rarely committing significant numbers forward. You got the feeling in what was, theoretically, a must win game for both sides that Jose Mourinho would have been happy with the draw. There were two changes for the home team, both for the better. Gabriel and Giroud were dropped to the bench with Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck coming in. Holding played a ball into the area thinking Koscielny would be ready to take a pass, but the Frenchman had completely switched off and Wayne Rooney was only foiled by the reactions of Petr Cech. It was a real gift of an opportunity, but the dice fell Arsenal’s way yesterday afternoon.
The opening goal in the second half confirmed that, with Xhaka’s speculative shot being deflected and looping in over De Gea. There seems to have been an increase in shots from distance recently, and of course if you don’t buy a ticket you won’t win the lottery. Against a defence organized by Mourinho, there was little point trying to walk the ball in. The second goal within three minutes was a thing of beauty, great cross by the Ox and the header converted convincingly by Danny Welbeck. Dare I ask, Olivier Who? The goal reminded me a bit of Thierry Henry’s winner in the corresponding match during the first season at the new stadium. Edwin van der Saar was the keeper that day.
United tried to restore parity with some attacking substitutions, but Wenger’s team played a mature game and the visitors’ chances were generally distant. Arsène Wenger finally achieved his first Premier League victory over Jose Mourinho in what may prove to be his last opportunity. On that one, we watch and wait.
So, with Liverpool drawing, Arsenal have been shown a chink of light. They need one of Jurgen Klopp’s side or Manchester City to drop points, as well as winning their own last four fixtures. Southampton away? Are the Saints already on the beach with talk of a change of manager in the summer? Stoke away? You can imagine if there is one match Mark Hughes’ will get his team up for it will be this one and the home crowd won’t need much encouragement. Sunderland at home? Everton at home? Four winnable fixtures with a carrot in sight, but who knows with Arsenal in 2017? In fairness, yesterday’s match makes it difficult to judge if the team are going to finish the season strongly, due to the nature of the opposition gameplan.
As for whether or not a top four finish would justify a further two seasons of the current regime, there are plenty of stories flying around, but for what it’s worth, my feeling is that there will be a new first team coach in place next season, with other recruitments behind the scenes to modernize the club’s footballing operation. That’s just a hunch. I do not believe a contract has been signed already by Arsène Wenger and that the club are waiting for the right moment to announce it. There is talk of a mass boycott of the Sunderland match to send a message that season ticket holders want to see some change and results between now and then could see a crowd of less than 30,000 at that game. It would be difficult to see the manager survive that kind of spectacle.
Anyway, let’s see what happens on the road in the next two matches. Dare I suggest that suddenly, things have started to get interesting again? The title may be as good as done and dusted, but we are waiting to see which team below the top two will implode, and whether or not Mourinho’s masterplan of getting into the Champions League via the back door comes to fruition.
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