Match report – Player Ratings – Arteta response – Listing of quotes
Arsenal are through to the fourth round of the FA Cup after a 4-1 win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park yesterday.
Mikel Arteta made ten changes from the side that started against Liverpool, with Gabriel the only one left from that match. And early on you could tell there was a lack of cohesion. The home side scored in the third minute as I tried to work out what the hell we were doing form-wise. Kepa saved a shot but didn’t push it far enough, and Portsmouth skipper Colby Bishop was there to force the rebound. Arteta’s face when that goal was scored was quite impressive, so much so that I almost felt sorry for the boys who had to face his wrath at half-time. Almost.
To their credit, Portsmouth were brave early on, piled on the pressure and caused us some problems. We were sloppy in possession and a bit ragged, but we responded quickly to going behind by equalizing within a few minutes. Eberechi Eze delivered a corner, which was initially given as a goal for Christian Norgaard, but it turned out to be an own goal by Andre Dozzell.
There were still some moments of danger in our defensive third which will not have pleased the manager, but we started to play successfully through their press and then the momentum really changed our way. A nice pass from Ethan Nwaneri to Noni Madueke created another corner. The latter’s front post throw was good, and Gabriel Martinelli’s header was even better for a 2-1 lead.
Mikel Merino, our best player in the first half, created another chance for Martinelli, which he shot just wide. The Brazilian should have scored his second of the match when Ben White’s fantastic delivery found him with just a touch, but he put the ball off the post. It was all Arsenal, and when Madueke made a mistake in the penalty area the referee awarded a penalty. The former Chelsea man came forward to collect the ball, puffed out his cheeks, did the kind of stuttering run-up that makes you look like a loser if you miss… and promptly fired the ball wide of the right post. A very poor penalty, but somewhat in keeping with his all-round performance, which was busy but ultimately lacking in conviction… apart from his corners.
In the second half, after receiving some ‘words of encouragement’ from Arteta at half-time, we stepped it up, although White had to produce an excellent block in our penalty area to deny Portsmouth a shot on target. Almost immediately we extended the lead. Madueke was fouled in midfield, Myles Lewis-Skelly’s quick thinking saw him find Gabriel Jesus, and his ball to the back post was this time cleared clear by Martinelli to make it 3-1.
A three-way substitution in the 69th minute was notable for the return of Kai Havertz, and the German quickly got involved with some nice, safe touches and link play. It was his good pass to Madueke that resulted in a corner after the winger’s shot was deflected behind. Madueke scored again, Martinelli produced another excellent header to complete his first ever hat-trick for Arsenal.
Marli Salmon became the club’s youngest ever player in the FA Cup, and Portsmouth finished the match with 10 men after suffering an injury when they had used all their substitutes. Ultimately a comfortable afternoon despite the early scare, and some useful minutes for certain players who, if I’m being a bit diplomatic, looked a bit rusty at times.
Then Mikel Arteta said:
We started the game exactly the way we didn’t want to, by giving them momentum and an early goal and hope, and then we had to fight back, credit to them for making it difficult for us especially in the early stages of the game. The more we started doing the simple thing well, and became a little more dominant, the more the quality took over.
And he praised Gabriel Martinelli’s attitude in a week when the spotlight was too much on him because of that incident in the match against Liverpool. Which, if you watched on TNT Sports, they seemed to bring up every 2 minutes for no good reason:
I love it because of every context you throw it into. Sometimes he doesn’t play, sometimes he performs well or not well the next. Today he scored three goals, tomorrow he will train one hundred kilometers per hour. He’s not going to change that – and that’s Gabi.
Martinelli is now our top scorer this season, with 9 goals in all competitions, and hopefully that’s a race between our players that will yo-yo a bit like others find their shooting boots. The return of Havertz is of course also very welcome and the manager said about him:
The last few minutes I’ve just been watching him move and his awareness, the way to move, when to move in relation to where he’s moving, it’s just a joy to watch. We missed him enormously; he is back with us and now we have to keep him on the pitch because he is a very important player for us.
He did get a shot with almost the last touch of the game but it was blocked, but in the end it was more important than a goal to get him back and get some minutes under his belt. What else? Well, I know I wrote last week about Ethan Nwaneri and a possible move, but I liked his performance yesterday. Once we gathered our collective composure, something I think Merino was fundamental to especially in the first half, Nwaneri impressed me with the way he used the ball. There was one absolutely perfect pass to Eze, passed through a busy area of midfield, that was so good. He could have chosen the easy option, but I like that he tried and executed the harder option.
So a promising run-out for him, and I also liked Ben White’s performance at right-back. He didn’t get much defensive help from Madueke, who seemed determined to make his life a little harder than it had to be, but he did well, should have had an assist for that Martinelli chance, and gave us a classic Ben White when he just pushed a guy over after being nutmegged. I love Jurrien Timber, but I missed those nuggets from Benny Blanco.
We now move on to the draw for Round 4, which will take place later this evening. I hope it’s another relatively friendly one, but we’ll find out in due time. As always, wait for an Arsecast Extra. We have already put out the call for questions Blue Sky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com. So fire off the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you have a Arseblog member on Patreonleave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server. The capsule should be out around noon today.
For now, have a good time.
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