Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction
Two moments of sheer quality from Gabriel Jesus helped Arsenal to a 2-1 win over Sevilla in the Champions League last night.
Mikel Arteta made just one change from the side that drew with Chelsea on Saturday, with Takehiro Tomiyasu coming in at left-back ahead of Oleksandr Zinchenko. The opening stages were relatively even, but we had the first big chance in the 8th minute. It was a taste of things to come when Jesus did well, fed Gabriel Martinelli, and his compatriot went through on goal only to be denied by the keeper. Maybe he could have squared it to Saka, but in that position you can’t blame a forward for having a go.
The home side stabbed one wide up the other end, after which the game settled down a bit. It was fairly even in terms of possession, and we were fortunate that a misplaced pass from David Raya was not punished more severely. The ball came back in and a heavy touch from Dodi Lukebakio allowed the Arsenal keeper to collect it, blushes spared. There is, unfortunately, a frequency to these errors that is concerning. For a keeper ‘famed’ for his passing ability, there have been too many of these in his short time at the club.
Jesus had a chance he clearly felt he should have done better with, but the game came alive in the final moments of the first period. As we went into four minutes of added-on time, Youssef En-Nesyri found space to run through our midfield, before firing a shot just wide of the far post. Tomiyasu put him under some pressure but it was still very close. There was more Sevilla danger when a cross from the left evaded everyone, but from there Arsenal went Triple Gabi to go ahead.
Gabriel Magalhaes hoofed it clear. Gabriel Jesus took it superbly, and sent the defender to the shops with a beautiful turn, before playing a pass through the centre to the onrushing Gabriel Martinelli. He had a lot of time to think about how he could get it wrong, but he kept his head, his close control was absolutely excellent on a bumpy pitch, and he rounded the keeper to make it 1-0 to Arsenal. A truly beautiful goal.
I thought we started the second half with some real intent. Martin Odegaard, otherwise quiet, fired over from the kind of position he’s scored often from. Ben White had a pop which wasn’t as far away as it looked, and then Jesus stepped up again. It came from a long Raya kick, we won the second ball, Declan Rice drove on and played it outside to Jesus. The striker still had a lot to do, facing up to defenders outside the wide area of the box, but he stepped inside, took a touch and fired a shot into the top corner. Outstanding work from the Brazilian.
That was 2-0. We looked solid and in control, but within five minutes Sevilla scored. They won a corner, Nemanja Gudelj’s bullet header went just inside the post, but the defending from Jesus wasn’t great and all of a sudden it didn’t feel as comfortable anymore. You can see it in the stats. Our pass completion percentage dropped to just 70%, Sevilla had 6 shots to our 1, and while they weren’t creating lots of great chances, there was danger. There was a handball before a shot crashed off the bar (I think Raya got fingertips to it), and a couple of spectacular efforts which didn’t trouble the keeper thankfully.
It can often happen where a goal changes the momentum, and the players you might look at to ease some of that pressure couldn’t really do that. Odegaard’s current form is nowhere near his best, Jorginho was secure in midfield – misplacing just one pass all night – but sometimes you need legs to break the opposition’s rhythm and that’s not his strength. Thankfully, we have Declan Rice to do that who seems to thrive when the pressure is on, I think in part because he’s played a lot of football under the cosh during his time at West Ham, but mostly because he’s so good.
There was one driving run through midfield which sadly didn’t come to much, Bukayo Saka’s decision making on the night wasn’t at its best. But there were multiple occasions when he read the game brilliantly, and got the ball out of dangerous areas. I thought he and Tomiyasu were excellent when we had to scrap. The manager made changes, an enforced one because of a suspected hamstring problem for Jesus is a worry, but it was very much a case of stay organised and hang on. Which, to be fair, is something you have to do in games like this away from home in Europe. You’d rather it be more comfortable, but when it’s like this you have to cope and I think we did well for the most part.
The late miscued punch by Raya did, I will admit, scare the pants off me, and he’s very fortunate that ball went up in the air and over the crossbar. I didn’t think the subs helped as much as you would like either. I really didn’t enjoy Eddie Nketiah’s performance, epitomised by the moment a 37 year old Sergio Ramos – with the full game under his belt and heavy legs – just sauntered past him to drive out of defence. When you see players like Jesus and Odegaard sprinting all night to lead the press, I don’t think it’s good enough for a sub to come on for 15 minutes and not show the same kind of effort and intent in that aspect of the game. It’s not the first time either, and I’m surprised it’s something Arteta seems to indulge.
However, three points are three points, and this was a very important win in the context of this group. Afterwards, the manager said:
That’s the Champions League, that’s the group stages and that shows you the difficulty of winning, and how much you have to value that. Against Lens, obviously, that result put us in difficult position and the team had to react. We are coming off the back of a period of very difficult games, and the team constantly has to step in, and go against adversity as well, and injuries that we’ve picked up with some big players. The team is so willing and so determined to at least try their best.
And he had praise for Jesus whose contributions were instrumental in the victory:
You need magic moments in big games, and you need the big players to step in and create those moments. And we had a big opening in the first few minutes as well with Martinelli through to score. We did it and we need that. We need the players to perform at their best and to let him do something special.
Let’s hope there’s nothing too serious about the hamstring problem, but with Sheffield United at the weekend, caution may be the order of the day with a trip to Newcastle coming up the following weekend. No doubt we’ll find out more in the coming days, but that was a big game performance from Jesus, and we need to make sure he’s as fit as possible for the tougher tests we have ahead of us this season.
So, time to regroup, and prepare for Saturday. The 1-1 draw in the other game between Lens and PSV is decent for us as well. Overall, it’s a difficult place to go, and I’m sure Arteta will be happy he can pore over the details and the things we can do better with the three points on the board.
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As we have been doing this season, we’ll have a post-game Arsecast for you later on this morning, so join us for that.
In the meantime, have a great day.
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