Two Arsenal players are making a mockery of ‘dark arts’ claims
Arsenal 4-2 Leicester (Martinelli 20’, Trossard 45+1’, 90+4, Havertz 90+11 | Justin 47’, 63’)
EMIRATES STADIUM – Dark arts? There is something more like magic in the air as the announcer reveals before kick-off what most will already have known – two points dropped by Manchester City, and at least in the battle that is being fought vociferously off the pitch, advantage Arsenal in the title race.
Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz’s goals deep into stoppage time salvaged what had turned into an afternoon of immense frustration, the ghost of Martin Odegaard still looming large and a two-goal lead initially squandered.
Instead, the abiding memory will be of Arsenal’s late show to turn on the style. Doing so against this most pessimistic of Steve Cooper outfits was always going to be a slightly different proposition to holding onto a lead with 10 men at the Etihad, granted, and against Paris Saint-Germain, it is about to get a lot tougher.
If Arsenal do end up winning the Premier League for the first time in 21 years, though, it will have little to do with trickery – whatever Pep Guardiola says – and more to do with technical ability. The idea that they are reliant on cheating, playacting and time-wasting looks a little fanciful.
There is still a creative streak missing without Odegaard – but one answer is to throw in two ball-playing half-centre-backs/half-full-backs who are partly out wide due to an injury crisis.
It is particularly relevant because fears that a combination of Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel and William Saliba would morph into a quartet of centre-back stodginess were totally ill-founded.
Timber’s overlapping runs are so effective – it was he that latched on to Thomas Partey’s ball to tee up Gabriel Martinelli for the opener – that at this rate, Ben White will have to fight to get his place back.
But you need a left and a right wing to fly, as Tony Benn used to say, and Trossard had Calafiori to thank for speeding up the play before Martinelli assisted the Belgian’s first-time finish.
It was not a perfect afternoon for Calafiori. Leicester had not had a shot on target for the entirety of the first half and James Justin’s header, which flicked off Havertz almost immediately after the break, should have been nothing more than a consolation. Instead, Justin was able to capitalise again because Calafiori found himself too square, and the finish on the volley was immaculate.
It is pivotal that Mikel Arteta finds that balance, because on the whole Calafiori and Timber’s exploits going forward are not to the detriment of the back line. There were sloppy moments – giving the ball away needlessly to Facundo Buonanotte – but on the whole, it looks as if Arsenal have stumbled upon a winning combination.
Trossard and Havertz delivered the icing on the cake, a set-piece pinballing around the box before finding the former, whose strike was helped in off the legs of a stumbling Wilfried Ndidi. Gabriel Jesus had an immediate impact off the bench, his effort pushed out by Mads Hermansen and Havertz did the rest.
That does not mean that Arteta has not been left with some pretty searching questions, though. Quite how Leicester were allowed back into this after an almost staggering initial lack of ambition is a concern. Their fans will hope this is a lesson, that refusing to enter into the other two thirds of the pitch serves no one, least of all the spectators.