Eddie Nketiah. Courtesy of Arsenal Media.
This past Sunday, the Gunners ended United's tenacious unbeaten streak by a late winner from surprise superstar, Eddie Nketiah, who scored his brace at the dying minutes of the game. This was surely a lively match as both teams fought ferociously for the three points. Thankfully though, Eddie ensured that the three points remained at the Emirates, making us the first team in the E.P.L to reach half a century of points; 5 points clear Manchester City with a game in hand.
It was truly the best match so far this season, with United winger, Marcus Rashford opening the 5-goal-thriller, just 17 minutes from kick-off. Arsenal responded instantly, with Nketiah scoring his first of the match to pull us in level terms at half-time. In the second half, Bukayo Saka put us in the lead with a beautiful finnesse from the penalty box but the United Butcher, Lisandro Martinez, drew United back in equal terms with a headed goal, that came about from a corner. This was his first goal for the Mighty Red Devils. I hate how these United players are opening up their accounts against us. In the first leg was Antony and then in this second leg was Martinez.
Eddie Nketiah became our superhero in this match, scoring the final goal of the match in te 90th minute. What I loved about this goal was not even Nketiah's finishing, but the build-up play. Our new signing, Leandro Trossard, who made his Arsenal debut in this match, replacing Gabriel Martinelli, was crucial in the attack for our search of the winner. He passed the ball to Oleksandre Zinchenko who then put a cross into the box and fortunately, the ball was able to traject itself onto the path of Eddie who then scored the winner, to finish off our amazing comeback.
Eddie truly desrves the respect of all those who doubted whether he could fill in the big gap left by Gabriel Jesus who unfortunately had a long-term knee injury that could potentially leave him sidelined from the pitch for about three months. Eddie's banging in goals like prime Thierry Henry, scoring in each competition he has played in since Jesus got injured. This begs the question, when Jesus gets back from injury, who will Arteta start? Him or Nketiah? Will Jesus just step right into the starting 11 or will he have to fight for his spot back? Well, only time will tell.
50 points at the summit of the E.P.L Table, halfway through the season, we are truly starting to believe. Can this be our season of triumph? Well, Oleksandre Zinchenko truly believes so too. Zinny has been our signing of the season, hands down. His winning mentality, his passion for the club, his leadership, his performance on the pitch. This guy is just an absolute beast.
There's still a long way to go, 19 games to go, with two of those being against the current champions, Manchester City. So we have to remain calm and face the matches as they come, one by one, day by day. Focusing on each match is the way to go.
Our next competitive match is our F.A Cup Fourth Round tie against Manchester City this coming Friday. This being our first meet-up of the season, it will truly be a crucial match for the sake of both teams' confidence, as it will definitely be a confidence boost to the winner. We are coming to this match as underdogs but as we learnt from Nottingham last season, anything can happen in a knockout match. Come On You Gunners!!!
Comments