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What. A. Game. We saw the goal of the season so far from the scumbag himself, Erik Lamela who sent a rabona into the bottom right corner. A goal you only see done in practice but this guy has the cojones to pull it off in the North London Derby. Arsenal's complete domination of the first half seemed to be totally irrelevant until Kiernan Tierney (The best LB in the league) dusted the Tottenham defender, whipped in a beautiful cross right to the penalty spot and Marin Odegaard bagged his first premier league goal for the Reds. The second half started out immensely with Lacazette converting a penalty. Then it was squeaky fucking bum time for the last 15 minutes watching Arsenal try to survive against their North London Rivals. a 2-1 home win for Arsenal is massive for momentum for form and pride. Always nice to beat your rival :)
Look out for an analysis of the NLD + Match preview for Olympiacos upcoming this week! As the game went on, I put my thoughts on Twitter (@andrewtalksarse). Give me a follow and ask me some questions!!
TEAM LINEUP REACTION
UHHHHHH WHAT THE FUCK. Our captain Aubameyang dropped against our biggest rival!!! What is Arteta doing? He is reallllllly putting his neck on the line for this one. I almost hate it so much that I love it. He played the full 90 on Thursday against Olympiacos so I'm a little confused as to why Arteta said the decision was "Disciplinary Action"? Why not just say the run of games has been tough and other players were more up to fitness. Oh well. This is why you hire managers who make ballsy decisions. I love the lineup besides that, Cedric in for Bellerin is huge and Smith Rowe comes back on the side. We will dominate the ball as long as this group stays fit and presses pretty high. Looking forward to this one, get the beers, ready lads!
FIRST HALF
What a half from the Gunners. Absolutely flew out from the gates at them. Full press for 45 minutes straight. The class from Lamela was countered by the grit and grind of Arsenal. Odegaard bagging his 2nd goal in 2 games is just what the newly appointed Norweigan National Team captain needed. 1-1 going into the 2nd half is a good place to be in. You need to know how to contain your emotions as an Arsenal fan and you can never expect us to lead a game. You'd be crazy to think otherwise. Incredible work rate shown by Arsenal which is what truly sets us apart. Anyways, I hope to see some substitutions used at half because we weren't totally dominant. Need an extra bit of pace so I would love to see the inclusion of Auba or Pepe.
SECOND HALF
Wow, Pepe comes on for Saka, unexpected but the 19-year-old had not done much for our side in the last few games. I love the sub, get some more dribbling and direct speed in the team.
'56 great hustle shown by all the lads. Really promising to watch and makes me clap after every 50/50 win. Bale putting in 0 effort on defense we need to take advantage of that
'57 No fucking way hahaha. Bale comes off for Sissoko. What an awful performance by him. No effort showed which is really sad to see because he's probably the most technically gifted player on the field.
Penalty for Arsenal! Converted by Lacazette! An unbelievable pass from Pepe that leaves Laca through on goal and he gets clattered by Sanchez! VAR made me not celebrate the penalty claim at all because I don't know what to believe in nowadays. SO happy with that and the finish was world-class. 2-1 good guys!!!!
Good God, almighty what the fuck were those last 15 minutes. We played like a top side for 75 minutes and everything looked beautiful after the Lamela red card. WRONG. We couldn't play a pass for our lives and made life so much more difficult for ourselves. Partey, Tierney, Xhaka all had suspect endings after having such a good performance before then.
My heart dropped when that Kane goal went in but was immediately called offside. Was the most obvious thing coming when they have a striker like Kane leading the lines? The free kick in the 88th minute that rattled off the post and the rebound from Davinson Sanchez was headed clear bravely by Gabriel was pure emotions. Heartbreak to a passionate scream of encouragement.
Everyone takes a deep breath. It's over. We won. 3 points secured. There's so much analysis from this game but all we need to know is it's over.
A great week overall for Arsenal so no one is joining the rocket ship this week. Still just that one fraud...
