Arsenal take on Manchester City on Wednesday in what is being billed as a potential title decider for the Gunners. Win and the gap could extend to as much as nine points should Mikel Arteta’s side also win their game in hand at home against Everton at the start of March barring any other slip-ups.
Should Arsenal lose, however and suddenly, although having a spare game in hand, Man City will take the lead for the first time this year and for some time at the top of the Premier League table. Last year the Gunners came very close to getting a massive result in this same fixture.
However, after a number of high-profile errors including a cheap penalty and a red card, a late winner from Rodri left Arsenal licking their wounds and thinking what could have been. football.london takes a look at the four key lessons Arsenal must learn from that regretful encounter.
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Don’t rely on VAR
Arsenal and VAR has been a combination that this season has not mixed well. A forgetful Lee Mason didn’t check the Christian Norgaard offside when assessing Ivan Toney’s goal which should not have stood last weekend and the Gunners will hope that the right decisions are made this time around.
In the last meeting in this fixture at the Emirates Stadium Martin Odegaard was brought down by Ederson in the box in the tenth minute of the game. The Norwegian had beaten Nathan Ake and the Brazilian keeper charged out slid in and appeared to take the ball through Odegaard’s left foot.
Albert Stuivenberg took charge of the game with Mikel Arteta recovering from Covid-19, and said after the game he felt the referee should have been given the instruction to take a look at the monitor himself. He said: "The moment with Odegaard, I think it is a clear penalty but at least a moment for the referee to check [on the monitor], it happened in the second half with their penalty which is not really consistent and then, of course, the sending off was an important moment after that."
Composure defending in the box
Speaking of the incident in the box, in the 53rd minute Granit Xhaka brought down Bernardo Silva in the box in what was a soft decision. Despite that, the Swiss midfielder was evidently holding the shirt of Silva and this was enough for the referee to overturn his initial decision and give the penalty.
The defence will be much changed from the side that lost in that game. Ben White and Gabriel Magalhães will this time be joined by William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Saliba has looked slightly off form of late but Gabriel has been a solid rock at the back and the pair will be dealing with Erling Haaland after the Norwegian trained successfully yesterday. Arteta will be hoping for a defensively astute performance that avoids the drama of last year.
Rash red cards
That drama was encapsulated in the red card Gabriel Magalhães received. Having been booked for dissent moments earlier due to the penalty, the Brazilian clattered into the man who’d later become his teammate Gabriel Jesus and was sent off for a second yellow.
The two teams are in a position where the temperature of the match is sure to be high. Arsenal have had incidents of flare-ups in the latter stages against both Everton and Brentford and Arteta will be determined to ensure his side keeps their composure for this one.
Be clinical
Arsenal had eight shots in the game last time around with five coming in the first half including the goal from Bukayo Saka. Gabriel Martinelli had three massive chances including a harrowing open goal miss in the second half after Ake had cleared a backward header off the line.
Chances might still be plentiful, more so than ever before for a clash in recent seasons between these two, but the Gunners must be clinical in the box. These opportunities cannot afford to be wasted and Eddie Nketiah leading the line this time over Alexandre Lacazette will be an interesting dynamic with the number 14 enjoying scoring in big games with Chelsea and Manchester United already on his list baying now to add City to it.
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