We got we deserved after yet another poor performance on the road, coming away with nothing at the hands of Sheffield United on Monday night in the Premier League.
Our miserable season on the road continued after our draw at Old Trafford with a 1-0 defeat, Emery’s men undone once again by the poor defending of a set piece. We have only won one game away all season, the win coming at St. James Park on the opening day, a narrow 1-0 win thanks to Aubameyang’s goal, and that doesn’t look likely to change any time soon if we carry on playing like this.
In the pre-match build up it looked like we were about to change things up in exciting fashion with Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin looking likely to play, and rumours of a fit-again Mesut Ozil also rumoured to at least feature.
As it turned out, it was our stale, old, wishy-washy football which cost us the game. Most of our ‘attacks’ going sideways, and only a handful of half-chances created, the best one falling to Pepe who fluffed his lines in front of the United goal.
In fairness, Sheffield United have looked good this season and almost got a draw with Liverpool until a controversial late penalty against them, and also have drawn on the road with a point at Stamford Bridge so a win was by no means a done deal, and as it turned out, it was more of a Brexit deal than a done deal – bit of politics there.
As aforementioned previously, Pepe could have put us in front after a great Kolasinac cross fell to him just a couple of yards out, but he side footed the ball across goal, when it looked easier to score.
United went ahead after a corner was nodded back across goal where Mousset tapped the ball home after yet more Keystone Cops defending by Arsenal.
We could have had a couple of penalties, both incidents reviewed and turned away by… Mike Dean of course, and he even booked Bukayo Saka for a dive for the second one.
Cabellos and Lacazette were brought on to add some snap to the attack alongside Gabriel Martinelli, but it just wasn’t our night, and United hung on for a well deserved win, leaving us to miss the chance to hoist ourselves back into the top four on a weekend that United, Liverpool and Spurs all dropped points.
Next up is our Europa League game against Vitoria on Thursday then a home game to put things right against Palace on Sunday.
