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They say that a sign of a champion side is to grind out ugly wins – and that is exactly what Arsenal did against Leeds at Elland Road over the weekend.
Mikel Arteta’s side scraped through 1-0 winners thanks to a first-half, scrappy goal from Bukayo Saka. But the Gunners were fortunate to walk away from the Yorkshire-side winners as replacement Patrick Bamford missed a penalty after defender Gabriel had been adjudged by VAR to handle the ball in the box.
Late on in the match, referee Chris Kavanagh awarded Leeds a second penalty after Gabriel had been adjudged to have fouled Bamford. The Brazilian defender received a red card in the process but this time VAR came to Arsenal’s rescue as Bamford was adjudged to have fouled Gabriel first.
Gabriel’s red card was reduced to a yellow after lashing out at the Leeds striker.
It was also an important weekend for ChippyBoy and Woody as Manchester United hosted Newcastle at Old Trafford. Well, it was a stalemate as both sides failed to score.
I didn’t watch the match – that’s because I was watching the league leaders, Arsenal, win again! So the following analysis is based on stats alone – and I am sure that Woody will have something to say about the analysis.
United dominated possession, had more shots at goal and 60% more passes. Newcastle were denied a penalty in the first half and United denied in the second half – so on the basis of it, a draw a fair result.
Brighton continue to suffer since Graeme Potter’s departure to Chelsea, losing 2-0 away at Brentford on Friday – a result all three of us predicted would be a stalemate.
Leicester continue to struggle, drawing at home to Crystal Palace while Fulham and Bournemouth played out to an entertaining 2-2 draw. Wolves edged Nottingham Forest 1-0 while Spurs rounded off Saturday’s play with a 2-0 downing of Everton.
Chelsea continue to shine under Potter, winning 2-0 at Aston Villa, with Steven Gerrard’s time surely at an end? Southampton and West Ham drew 1-1 while the surprise result of the weekend saw Mo Salah score the only goal at Anfield as Liverpool overcame current champions, Manchester City, 1-0 – giving Arsenal some breathing room at the top of the log with a four-point gap.
The mid-week set of matches does not feature Arsenal or City but Brighton will hope to earn some much-needed points when they take on bottom of the table Forest on Tuesday. The other match features Wolves at home to Palace with just one-point separating the sides who are four places apart.
Southampton will be hoping to move out of the relegation zone when they travel to Bournemouth while Chelsea travel to Brentford. Liverpool will be hoping that their victory over City was not a flash in the pan when they host West Ham while Newcastle host Everton and Man United host Spurs in the big-matchup of the week.
On the fantasy front, Plumstead FC moved back to the top of One Ball ZA XVII with a haul of 76 points, giving him a 7-point lead over VAR Rovers, who managed 57 points. Chippy Boy (who renamed his team from Winhill Utd to 1 Ball Legend) scored 50 points to remain 20 points adrift of VAR Rovers.
Woody fell further behind his long-time nemesis, scoring just 35 game week points and is now 28 points further back. Me, well, I managed just 46 points which left me dropping down to 8th place as Chug Along Ponies smashed 72 points to move 19 points ahead of me.
So the midweek games will leave me feeling rather empty, watching all the teams below Arsenal fight it out for the scraps. Come what may, Arsenal will still be top of the log when they travel to the South coast to take on Southampton at St Mary’s.
