FootieTalks

West Ham United 1-0 Arsenal  A dismal day out at the London Stadium for Arsenal. Arsenal’s Champions League hopes have certainly been hindered, after  suffering defeat against West Ham at London Stadium. Declan Rice scored the only goal of the game in the second half to give the Hammers a well-deserved victory. Rice picked a good time to grab his first West Ham goal, powering the ball beyond Bernd Leno from 12 yards three minutes after half-time. However, the main talking point came when Arnautovic seemed to wave goodbye to the home fans when he was substituted after 71 minutes played, days after West Ham rejected a £35m bid for the Austrian from an unnamed Chinese club. Teammate Michail Antonio has suggested that Arnautovic does in fact want to leave the East London club, and start a “new chapter”, news which will certainly leave West Ham fans concerned, and eager to see who could replace the Austrian striker.  Arsenal managed just two shots on target a...

Following a disappointing loss at St Mary’s, Arsenal continued their festive period, Arsenal faced a hectic schedule with their first test coming three days after their loss to Southampton. Tottenham Hotspur came to town in a North London Derby Carabao Cup fixture, and the second game between these two teams inside a month.  Last time these two played Arsenal recorded a 4-2 victory, but this time Arsenal weren’t at the same level and suffered a 2-0 home loss to their biggest rivals, and their second loss in three days. Goals from Heung-Min Son and Dele Alli were enough to see off the Gunners as Unai Emery tasted only his 4 th  competitive defeat as Arsenal boss.  Another 3 days later, Arsenal faced Burnley at the Emirates. Desperate to bounce back from consecutive defeats, Arsenal started the game well and looked comfortable for a large majority of the game. Two Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang goals either side of half time put Arsenal in the driving seat and control...

Southampton 3-2 Arsenal  Arsenal's defensive crisis took its toll at St Mary's on Sunday, as the 22 game unbeaten run came to an end. A makeshift back 3 of Stephan Lichsteiner, Granit Xhaka, and returning captain Laurent Koscielny, who played his first Premier League game since April was always going to be a weakness for the Gunners.  A first home league win of the season lifts Southampton out of the bottom three and Hasenhuttl, replacement to Mark Hughes, celebrated wildly on the pitch with his players at full-time. Laurent Koscielny made his first Premier League start for seven months after his injury nightmare suffered against Atletico Madrid as Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette were left on the bench. Danny Ings returned from a hamstring injury in one of two changes for Southampton. Ings had twice put the Saints ahead (20, 44) on his return from injury but they were pegged back by two Henrik Mkhitaryan goals (28, 53). With the game locked at ...

Arsenal 1-0 Huddersfield  In a game of precious few chances, Arsenal found it tough to break down the visitors and when The Gunners did have the ball in the net in the first half, Alex Lacazette was flagged for offside, a decision which Arsenal fans believed to be incorrect But after a spell of late pressure, Uruguayan midfielder scored a bicycle kick from close range after good work by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to seal the three points. But once the game got underway, it was clear that the visitors were up for this one as they made life difficult for us, snapping into tackles and closing the space well. Indeed, it took until just before the half-hour mark for the hosts to fashion the first chance of note when a sweeping move started by Matteo Guendouzi resulted in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stabbed the ball wide from close range. Less than a minute later Arsenal had created another big opportunity as the lively Guendouzi found Alex Lacazette unmarked in the area, bu...

21 unbeaten! 3 games in 6 days After a crazy week for Arsenal, who played 3 games in 6 days, we remain unbeaten in 21.  The first came against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday 2nd December. Following a 3-0 Europa League victory on the Thursday before, in which Emery made 10 changes to his Arsenal side, the young guns convincingly beat FC Vorskla in Kiev.  Goals from Emile Smith Rowe, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Willock secured top spot in our Europa League group. It wasn't just the 3-0 victory which pleased Gunner's fans. Strong performances from youngsters Emile Smith-Rowe, Joe Willock and Eddie Nketiah shows promise for Arsenal future, and debuts for Zech Medley, Charlie Gilmour and Bukayo Saka, all three of whom impressed the Arsenal faithful.  Derby day came around and Arsenal fans went into this one with  confidence.  Arsenal started on the front foot, and after 10 minutes, Jan Vertonghen gifted the home side ...

Arsenal vs Sporting Lisbon Review  Arsenal 0-0 Sporting  A dull game at the Emirates, ended with  Arsenal securing qualification to the knockout stage of the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League  with two games to spare following a goalless draw against Sporting Lisbon at the Emirates on Thursday evening. The night will largely be remembered though because of a serious ankle injury sustained by Danny Welbeck which saw him stretchered from the field during the first half. His replacement, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang struck the crossbar early in the second half but that was as close as the Gunners came to a winner as Sporting, who had Jeremy  Mathieu sent off late on held on for a point.  The draw was enough to see Unai Emery's side, who extended their unbeaten run to 15 matches, through to the last 32 because of Qarabag's 1-0 win at Vorskla but they will have to wait until their next match - a trip to Vorskla on November 29 - for the chance...

Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool Alexandre Lacazette's late equaliser gave Arsenal a 1-1 draw in an entertaining clash with Liverpool at The Emirates on Saturday Liverpool hit the woodwork twice through Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk during a frantic but goalless first half and had a goal from Sadio Mane disallowed for offside, which has prompted criticism from fans and pundits alike, and yet again reinforces calls for VAR in the Premier League. Milner's ball over the top of Arsenal's defence found Firmino, who poked the ball against the post only for the ball to fall into Mane's path. He tapped home, but the flag was up, despite Mane being offside from the first phase of play, but behind the ball for Firmino's effort at goal. Leno then saved well from Van Dijk after the defender took the ball down well in the area and shot, before Lacazette struck just wide from an angle at the other end. The visitors took the lead through James Milner in the 61 st minut...