As Declan Rice said yesterday: "It's not done". Here are seven reasons why Arsenal can still win the title
📅Better fixtures
💪Key players returning
🇩🇪Havertz up top
🚑Rodri's potential injury
🧙♂️Odegaard/Eze magic
🥷Hunters, not hunted
📊Trust the data
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Arteta: "Today I think they [his players] are now more convinced. They were talking about in the dressing room. It’s a new league now. Everything is still to play for. We know how much we want it and we are not going to stop." #AFC
Arsenal have one striker in Havertz who does so much in build-up, holds onto the ball and creates chances for others - but lacks a ruthless edge. And then they have another in Gyokeres who is a ruthless finisher but can't do any of the hold-up work that Havertz does.
Madueke off.
Martinelli is coming on at half-time.
Arteta literally ran down the tunnel towards the dressing rooms at the half-time whistle.
Arsenal are pressing so aggressively and are leaving Haaland one-against-one with Saliba. Not sure any other defenders in the Premier League would be willing to do that, or capable of it.
Looks to Arsenal are basically going man-to-man off the ball. Rice was the most advanced player out of possession a few minutes ago, while Gabriel was effectively in central midfield marking Cherki. Don't see this very often.
This is only the fourth time that Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze have started together for #AFC. Previous three were against Forest (3-0 home win, Odegaard injured after 18), West Ham (2-0 home win, Odegaard injured after 30) and Villa (2-1 away loss, Eze subbed after 45)
The last goal Chelsea scored in the Premier League was on March 4th. They have played almost 350 league minutes without scoring.
Arsenal are showing strong interest in Leicester City winger Jeremy Monga. The 16-year-old is the third youngest player in Premier League history, behind Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman.
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Arteta says the players decided that Rice should be captain for these past two games. "They made a decision because I think Declan has earned the role, the way he is taking ownership in difficult moments."
Arteta: “Declan, yesterday he was shattered — he had no chance to play today. But he played 94 minutes.”
Madueke is walking around the pitch with the other players after the final whistle, but is limping quite heavily. He's smiling but not moving well at all.
Arsenal were much better after the attacking substitutions, I thought. A bit of energy and freshness. A lot of these players really do look absolutely exhausted, though. Madueke injury is obviously a big worry ahead of Sunday.
Havertz now has a good 30+ mins to get into the groove at centre-forward, with Eze behind him. Surely that's the attacking duo Arteta has in mind for the City game. He can't persist with Gyokeres in a match of such importance.
Zubimendi has looked much sharper and more dynamic tonight. He's broken forward with a few surging runs.
Eberechi Eze starts for the first time in a month. Before his injury against Leverkusen, he was on a run of six goal involvements in nine appearances. The games against City and Bournemouth showed that Arsenal really need one of Odegaard or Eze in that No 10 position.
At the Emirates for Arsenal v Sporting. Here’s the #AFC lineup:
Raya; Mosquera, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Eze, Martinelli; Gyokeres
Only one Premier League midfielder (Szoboszlai) has played more minutes in all comps than Martin Zubimendi. The Spaniard is exhausted and his performance levels have plummeted. Arteta's refusal to use Christian Norgaard points to a failure of recruitment.
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Arteta says this week is the "biggest opportunity" of his six years at Arsenal. "No fear. Pure fire. I am on fire. I see beauty, opportunity." #AFC
Arteta: "What we are trying to achieve is difficult, challenging and bumpy at times. It is supposed to be like this."
Arteta: "It’s a big punch in the face. Now it’s about how we react to that. Today there were certain very basic things we did extremely badly."
Arsenal's midfield pairing of Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi lost possession a combined 29 times today (Rice 17, Zubimendi 12).
Quite a few boos from the Arsenal fans at the full-time whistle.
Alex Scott has been so good today. Finished that chance with the same style and class he's displayed all afternoon in midfield.
There is a disconnect here between what Arsenal are trying to do (patient build-up play, move through the thirds, create a less open match) and what the home supporters want them to do.
Eze, Trossard and Dowman all coming on. Arteta is going for it.
Bournemouth have been the better team here. They have had more of the ball, more of the territory and played more passes. Scott, Senesi and Hill have been very impressive.
That penalty takes Viktor Gyokeres to 18 goals for the season. I still think there are lots of areas of his game that aren't clean enough, but you can't question his penalties.