Sheffield United paid a visit to the Emirates Stadium where they were not given good hospitality by Mikel Arteta and his men. Arsenal were so cruel that they refused to drop nothing from the maximum points. It's a Sunday the visitors would hope to forget quickly.
Fresh from a Carabao Cup fourth round win over Liverpool on Thursday, the Gunners made four changes to their squad, keeping the hero of the previous match in goal as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned. Eddie Nketiah maintained his place.
With the kind of record Sheffield had prior to this game, nothing short of a win for Arsenal was expected. They have not won any match nor even scored a goal in the league before today.
The North London side delivered in terms of dominance right from the first minute. They outplayed Sheffield even though the great walls mounted by the oppressed did not give them a smooth sail. Several of the moves made forward were aborted by The Blades, leaving Arsenal clueless and frustrated.
Viewers had to endure a very boring first half where the opening shot of the game arrived through Nketiah in the 28th minute. That was the longest wait for a first shot so far in the Premier League in 2020. David Luiz was lucky to have escaped sending off for a supposed pulling of Oliver Burke.
Approach changed in the second period and Bukayo Saka, the Nigerian who recently got a call-up from the England national team, headed in from Hector Bellerin's delivery. It was his first goal at the Emirates.
Substutute Nicolas Pepe doubled the lead after racing on to a fine pass to slot into the far bottom of the net. A two-goal lead calmed nerves for the hosts.Â
A curling shot by David McGoldrick earned Sheffield United their first goal of the season. Each side had six minutes to achieve an aim. For the visitors, they pushed to see if they would get an equaliser. They almost did but Arsenal got all points after the whole battle.
Today's game reminds us that we still need to bring in a creative player who can tear stubborn teams like the one we saw today into pieces. Will there be any more signings before transfer deadline day? We shall see.
We now head into the first international break of the season to return to league action against Manchester City on October 17. Until then...
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