44' Pepe & Hector combining in their box for a somewhat dangerous shot. Nevertheless it feels like 0-1 going on 0-3. We shall see.
HT 0-1. We're lucky it's not worse. But we finished that half much more positively than we started it. Bottom line: We need some seriously lucky good favors in 2T if we have a chance of getting anything from this match.
When pepe gets the ball its almost always going to be a solo effort. Whereas what we may actually need is combination play from the likes of Saka/ESR/Odegaard/Laca to break down their defense.
In all seriousness the fact that the match is within touching distance is both cool and scary. Cool in that who knows if fate might drop something into your lap, scary in that Arsenal might go all-in chasing a result only to have it tire the lads ahead of the next match.
The difference between what Saka gets done on the field, and what Pepe gets done on the field is astounding.
He has his moments which are usually brilliant, but everything else about his game feels very hollow to me. I'm not a big believer in him.
Holding City to 6 shots isn’t bad, we just need to be sharper when we have opportunities to break. Saka and Xhaka have been excellent, others mostly struggling to get involved and have been too slow to make decisions when they’ve had opportunities.
Yeah, but my gut says that Citeh have for some reason taken their foot off the gas. We are there for the taking and they don't seem to be smelling blood. Or maybe there's something about Pep and his boys not wanting to embarrass their old beloved assistant coach. I know, I know that's not supposed to happen in ruthless high-level sport. But I'm scratching my head a bit as to why Pep's team isn't completely taking this game. And I have this underlying feeling that the floodgates can and will open at any time. Hope I'm wrong about all of that!
56' Leno makes a solid save off of a Gundog shot from 18yds out. His first real save of the game? Then DeBruyne with cracking volley from just about the same spot, but he just couldn't stay over it, or else it would've been GOTS.
Could be. Also it could be that they're just lacking in clinical end product. Some of their shooting has been wayward. I guess they/re well above us on xG (not my thing to focus on of course) In the last 3-4 minutes they've really picked it up, pegged us back, and have had several dangerous but missed opp's
Tierney looks pretty gassed already at 61'. I wonder if Cedric is fit to give him a breather? Arteta made some comment pre-match about some players having difficulty in training, but I was left wondering who he was referring to... Cedric??