bookd.
France4 - 6England
EnglandFrance4 - 6EnglandEngland
Norway1 - 2England
England
Argentina3 - 2Cape Verde Islands
Cape Verde Islands
Mexico2 - 3EnglandEnglandArgentina2 - 0Austria
ArgentinaNorway3 - 2Senegal
Norway
Ecuador0 - 0Curaçao
One of the more enjoyable scoreless draws I've seen in a while
Curaçao
Arsenal1 - 0Burnley
Such is the life of an Arsenal fan right now that even just the prospect of conceding possession (48-52 second half vs 72-28 first half) was enough to make the Emirates crowd and I squeeze our collective sphincters. No shots on target conceded and just 7 touches in our box should've felt like a walk in the park but the ghosts of seasons past still loom large – so close from being exorcised, yet not quite shed. Burnley were rough, stubborn and incredibly disciplined but never looked likely to convert that into a credible opportunity on the counter. Viceversa, we had tons of possession for large spells but could never quite find the right final ball. It speaks volumes that my MOTM after 45' was Ødegaard, usually the hallmark of a dominant creative display, but I ended up falling back on Mr. Reliable Declan Rice – 5 (!) tackles, 7 recoveries, 7/7 duels won... It wasn't pretty, it wasn't praiseworthy, but it did the job. Arteta's passion and relief at the final whistle was all of us.
Arsenal
Italy2 - 1Albania
Italy
Chelsea0 - 1Man City
Caught the second half. After an apparently dull first 45, Chelsea grew into the game and almost looked like clinching it before an elegant Semenyo flick decided it 20 minutes from time. He probably wasn't the best player on the pitch, but that moment of magic was a thing of beauty. Overall it was a lot more back and forth than I predicted, which made for a decent watch.
Man City
Celtic3 - 1Heart Of Midlothian
The first half had a nervous quality to it, despite having all the goals in the encounter going into the last 5'. Celtic were the only ones to shake it off in the second half, though, with subs changing the course of this one: Hearts suffered two crucial injuries in quick succession to unnerve their defensive stability, whereas Celtic turned up the heat with a dead-on double substitution (Saracchi and Osmand on for Trusty and Tierney). I'm not too sure where the confusion surrounding Maeda's winner came from, especially in commentary, as Osmand was absolutely miles onside and Maeda came back quite clearly onside just in time for the tap-in in the second phase. Hard to pick a MOTM, as both teams played their hearts out for the full 90, but I'll give it to Osmand for his tangible contribution off the bench in both Celtic winners. A quick shout-out to the crowd that created an immense atmosphere to the point where it felt almost like a CL match.
Celtic
Barcelona2 - 0Real Madrid
Not a classic for the ages, with a wiltering second half and just 18 shots overall, but nonetheless interesting to watch Real's long balls, switches and individual dribbling up against Barcelona's intense high-line, ball-to-ground, vertical system play. But it was when Real played high themselves and Barcelona went direct in behind with through balls into the space that the first half came to life. The visitors tried to be brave in possession but were often caught out with individual errors and punished in transition, whereas they couldn't pounce on the few chances they forged for themselves. It was ultimately a worldie free kick and some good lineup play for the second that sealed it. The Blaugrana closed out the second 45, with their opponents managing just two harmless shots after the break. Given the scoreline, it surprisingly always felt more likely that Barcelona would extend their lead rather than the other way around. Without Courtois it could've been more than just 2-0.
West Ham0 - 1ArsenalCommentator Jim Proudfoot accurately described this as "a game of moments rather than genuine quality". Most of the match came and went like a blur, but we came out the gates with the promise of a good match, with a suffocating Arsenal start miraculously not resulting in an early lead. The White injury changed the mood after half an hour, with Arteta opting to shift Rice over to RB to cover for him. All credit to him for quickly identifying and rectifying this mistake, first by subbing on Mosquera at RB, then by bringing on Ødegaard and Havertz, most notoriously subbing off previously subbed-on Zubimendi. The creative malaise slowly dissipated as our captain raised the standards in the press and assisted our much needed opener, amidst a couple of dangerous West Ham chances either side of half time. Inevitably the discourse will concentrate on the disallowed goal in stoppage time but ultimately there should be no controversy: it's an obvious foul and the correct decision was reached.
Arsenal
Crystal Palace2 - 1Shakhtar Donetsk
Hot Potato Derby. Shakhtar had mostly sterile possession and attempted to apply the pressure when possible, whereas Crystal Palace sat back, absorbed the blows and countered lethally in typical Glasner style. A similar tale to the first leg, where both sides seemed more comfortable being the counter-aggressor than the dominator. Eguinaldo's stand-still banger briefly excited the visitors but Sarr's exquisitely finished vertical transition took the life out of the Ukrainians, as the game quietly petered out from then. You could only imagine Palace would now be odds on favourites to win the whole thing with three English sides in as many European finals.
Crystal Palace
Netherlands0 - 1Spain
Watched this one a big projector on the side of a family friend's house. Good times.
SpainArsenal4 - 1Tottenham
ArsenalReal Madrid1 - 2Arsenal
Arsenal
Arsenal6 - 0Ludogorets
Arsenal
PSV Eindhoven1 - 7Arsenal
ArsenalArsenal5 - 1Man CityArsenal
Aston Villa2 - 4ArsenalArsenalArsenal3 - 2Bournemouth
All context aside, the happiest I've ever been as an Arsenal fan for any one-off moment. N.B. 11 shots (!) and 11 crosses (!) from Martin Ødegaard is the perfect representation of the monumental effort put in from the team on the day.
Arsenal
Bayern1 - 1PSG
Predictably this encounter was overshadowed by the first leg and it always felt like the impact of that match would force both sides to reckon with the regrettable realization of having to actually defend. Unfortunately for Bayern, they didn't receive the memo and PSG pounced on their eager high line with the earliest of surprise leads. The flow of the game was then invariably underpinned by the host's now comfortable two-goal cushion as Bayern dictated most of the possession, although this didn't stop PSG from being dangerous themselves, as throughout the match they'd ultimately create a similar amount of chances and shots on target. Bayern's offensive frustrations and PSG's stout defending (coupled with a noticeable rub of the green on a few debatable refereeing decisions) meant entertainment was lukewarm and increasingly sporadic as the clock ticked on, with Kane's neat equaliser coming far too late. Big ups to Kvara, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Neuer, João Neves, Zaïre-Emery and Doué.
PSGArsenal1 - 0Atletico Madrid
Four stars are for the historic result, the immaculate vibes and the deafening atmosphere in and around the Emirates, although I appreciate a neutral wouldn't be so lenient. Hats off to Arteta for sticking with the same XI that saw off Fulham and it paid dividends. The highlight for me is that we finally seem to have found the way to unlock Gyokeres: have him physically batter his marker throughout the game (Pubill was lucky to avoid a red) and then quickly, directly thread him in either channel with a punchy forward pass from deep to get us up the pitch and bring our other attackers into play. A great example of this was the Bastoni-esque ball from Saliba into the Swede that lead to the only goal of the match. Both Saliba and White have both seen creative resurgences lately, with Trossard also putting in another blinder. MOTM narrowly goes to Rice, though, who was the king of the midfield with 4 tackles, 3 recoveries, 5/6 duels won and more good build-up. To Hungary we go!
ArsenalArsenal3 - 0Fulham
Saliba and White were quietly solid and refreshingly brave in possession. Trossard was tidy and impactful in the left half-space. Gyokeres dominated his battle with Andersen and was clinical when called upon. The stars of the show were our left-footers, though. Lewis-Skelly finally debuted in his native position and dominated the physical battle, maintaining composure and personality like we saw last season. Calafiori was the glue that tied everything together in both build-up and final third with his dashing runs and inversions with Trossard. Saka dribbled, created chances, showed his world class first touch and was all-in-all electric up against a sloppy Robinson. I was most impressed by our build-up structure comprised of Gabriel, Saliba, Rice and MLS in a sort of "cross" shape, with the CBs split and the midfielders one ahead of the other. We saw Gyokeres and Saka stretching the defence with Calafiori, Trossard, Eze and White ready to receive. So drilled, competent and focused.
Arsenal
Everton3 - 3Man CityI wish I wasn't an Arsenal fan because having skin in the game made this much more stressful than enjoyable. Outside of the end result, the entertainment came mainly from moments of brilliance and individual mistakes, rather than sustained periods of quality. You'd have thought that after Doku's first wonder strike, which topped off a dominant first half, City would've closed this one off. Instead, they struggled to contain their opponent's renewed enthusiasm after the break and left themselves way too open in transition. Ultimately it was Guehi's blunder that gifted Everton the equaliser but it wasn't undeserved. From then on it was back-to-front chaos until the last 10', when Haaland's kick-off goal infused the visitors with a new sense of belief. Everton had multiple chances to kill the game off or run down the clock, but in the end they did neither. Big ups to Röhl, Iroegbunam and Garner. Thierno Barry, tap-ins aside, has the football IQ and technical deftness of an elephant.
Man City