Bouncing back in style
In the past it has only taken one bad result to derail Arsenal title challenges. In 07/08 it was the 2-2 draw with Birmingham City. In 13/14 it was the 5-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. This year it truly felt that it could the Europa League loss to Sporting CP.
It is not so much that the defeat had a massive emotional impact. Arsenal have bigger fish to fry this season having essentially secured their Champions League status with a 22-point lead over fifth-placed Newcastle at matchday 28. Instead though, the impact in the legs of an 120 minute slog, and the loss of two key defenders in William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu combined with a possible new manager bounce for Crystal Palace felt like the ingredients for a Molotov Cocktail blow to Arsenal's title hopes. The Gunners though were cool as you like.
From very early on it became clear that this would be a game of attack vs defence. Yes Crystal Palace hit the post early through Wilfried Zaha, but Arsenal were well on top showing that they were unhaunted by the ghosts of Thursday night. With this in mind it was fitting that it was Gabriel Martinelli - the man whose missed penalty had secured Arsenal's European exit - was the player to pop up with the opening goal.
READ MORE: Every word Mikel Arteta said on Tomiyasu and Saliba injuries, Martinelli comeback and Xhaka form
"He’s not someone that is very concerned," Mikel Arteta told football.london when asked about the Brazilian's robustness in his post-match press conference. "He takes responsibility, chances and when you see him running around the next day with that energy, honestly I wasn’t very concerned about it."
That resilience was clear throughout the squad, and by the time Bukayo Saka slotted home the second before half time, it was far from a surprise. A second half goal from Granit Xhaka appeared to make the game safe, before Saka's second cancelled out any chances of a Crystanbul repeat for Palace.
"Really pleased with how they reacted to Thursday," Arteta said when reflecting on yet another demonstration of his side's character this season. "We took any question mark away from it, showed a lot of determination and purpose in our way of playing. Really happy to perform the way we did after playing 120 minutes, after losing two big players for us and then still compete and win the game in the way that we did."
Subs step up
In the absence of William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu, various posts began doing the rounds on social media about how Arsenal could set up to avoid playing Rob Holding against Crystal Palace. Handing a first team debut to Reuell Walters seemed on the cards to these people, as did dropping Thomas Partey into defence while moving Ben White into the middle was also discussed.
These suggestions were hyperbolic at best, and downright disrespectful at worst. Yes, the memory of Holding's red card at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be impossible to etch off of many people's brains, but there is a reason Mikel Arteta has chosen to keep the 27-year-old around, and a reason why he has been described as the "glue" in the squad by Aaron Ramsdale.
Just as he has tended to do when called upon Holding stepped up when called upon for the first time this season. Perhaps it helped that he was given over 90 minutes to cut his teeth against Sporting CP in midweek, but Arsenal's second longest serving player looked more than ready for what was his first start of the season. At times he was probably a touch too eager to engage in duels up the pitch and on another day Wilfried Zaha's post-bound shot could have punished him for that, but Holding earned a bit of luck with a focused display that silenced many of his online doubters.
The Arsenal dressing room are understood to have been delighted at the display of one of its most popular members. "I gave (Holding) a big hug when he came into the changing room because he deserves it," said Bukayo Saka after the clash. "He was magnificent. We need that, you know, when he’s coming in to stay at the level that we’ve been playing. He was unbelievable today, so credit to him.” The Gunners boss was also delighted for the 27-year-old.
"We lost players," Arteta said in his post-match press conference. "We lost Gabi for four months, we lost Thomas for one and a half months, we lost Alex Zinchenko for one and a half months, we lost Mo Elneny for six to eight months. Now we’ve lost Eddie and Tomiyasu or Saliba. Everybody has to give a bit more. It’s not a secret. If we want to maintain that level we have to give more and Rob is clear example of what we needed today."
Arteta is right, and much-maligned squad players stepping up has been a theme of this season for Arsenal. Eddie Nketiah did it in the absence of Gabriel Jesus for a couple of months, Jorginho has stepped in to fill Thomas Partey's shoes and now Holding has joined the club too.
Kieran Tierney was also impressive in the way he came off the bench to produce a cameo that reminded us of what he has to offer at left back. It would have been easy for the Scot to throw his toys out of the pram after being overlooked again for Sporting, but his clever assist for Bukayo Saka and committed defensive display were in keeping with the example set by the aforementioned squad players.
Arteta has made a point of calling this second string "impactors" rather than substitutes. If Arsenal are to win the Premier League, then they will all play their part no matter what they're called, and on Sunday they certainly did so.
Xhaka the attacker
It's not so long ago that questions were quietly starting to be asked about Granit Xhaka's starting spot in this Arsenal side. Those came to a head when he was dropped for the Bournemouth clash, but in and among the drama of Reiss Nelson's late strike, the fact that Fabio Vieira had started ahead of the Swiss international was swept under the carpet.
Since that day though, Xhaka has quietly gone about rediscovering the part of his game that earned him so many plaudits early on in the campaign. His attacking threat.
In the first leg against Sporting CP he was at the centre of the own goal that drew Arsenal level, before popping up in the final third on several occasions against Fulham without ever managing to find the back of the net. Then in Thursday night's second leg, he went one better with his first goal since October. Now like London buses, after such a long wait, two strikes have come in two games for the Swiss.
There is one key thing that has changed in Xhaka's play that has warranted this upturn in attacking form as far as Mikel Arteta is concerned - his belief.
"Believing again," the Spaniard told football.london when asked to explain what was different about the 30-year-old. "Getting in the right positions, believing the ball is going to land there and then being clinical. I told him today ‘you’re going to score again’ because when you have that mindset and you are there and you see the way he’s training, good things are going to happen. He’s been phenomenal all season."
This extra glut of goals from midfield could not have come at a better time for Arsenal who need everyone to play their part if they are to achieve their ambition of winning the Premier League. It's fitting for Xhaka that this display should come against Palace, the team against whom his infamous meltdown three and a half years ago occurred. Fast forward and the 30-year-old received a standing ovation as he returned his feet following a first half injury scare. Not so long ago that would have been unthinkable, but then like the rest of the Arsenal side this season, Xhaka has made something of a habit of surprising us.
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