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Saturday’s win at Aston Villa was huge for Arsenal, especially given the context of what happened against Unai Emery’s side last season.
This was the first away game of the season and with trips to Manchester City and Spurs, a win was essential to give the team an early shot in the arm in terms of belief and confidence.
If Arsenal had lost, everyone would have been talking about Villa being better again, so there was a lot of pressure on them going into the game.
So the way they passed was very impressive. Yes, they had to ride their luck at times and Ollie Watkins had his shooting boots on and they could have ended up losing.
But you have to make the most of the luck you get and Arsenal did just that with those two goals from Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey.
David Raya’s save from Watkins at 0-0 was really big. Trossard’s arrival clearly changed the game, but if Raya hadn’t done that at the start of the second half the game would have been very different.
It was a great stop. Watkins obviously should have done better, but Raya’s reaction speed to pull himself back to make the save was amazing.
That’s the second weekend in a row that Raya has saved Arsenal. The Spaniard has had a good start to the season and is proving his worth in the team.
Trossard was very good after his introduction. He is a ruthless finisher and he showed that again when he scored with his first touch.
It is clear that he is not happy about starting games on the bench. You could see that there was a little frustration during his celebration and that is understandable.
He is a great player and arguably Arsenal’s best coach. I think he will start against Brighton this weekend, but you can see why Arteta likes to bring him off the bench because his shutout record is so good.
All in all it has been a strong start to the season by Arsenal. If they can make it three wins against Brighton on Saturday, they will go into the break feeling very happy.
I would be very happy for Eddie Nketiah if the Crystal Palace deal goes through. At the time of writing, it has not yet been finalised, but the move is expected to go through, which would see Arsenal receive up to £30 million for the striker.
It’s a good deal for Arsenal, but I also think it’s a good deal for Palace. I can see Nketiah doing good things when he settles down.
Apparently, it looked a few days ago that he would be going to Nottingham Forest, but Nketiah decided that the move was not for him after the two clubs agreed on a fee.
Some of the reaction I saw to that decision was ridicule, although I really shouldn’t be surprised by what other people think is okay to say on social media.
The player has the right to decide where to go. Apparently, Nketiah didn’t think Forest was a good fit and wanted to continue with Palace, who have been interested in him for a long time.
If the deal goes through, he will now be able to stay in London as he looks to find his job again. Good luck, I hope you do really well there and I think you will.
It’s hard to say right now if Arsenal will pull anything out of the bag this late in the transfer window. I think they should, because I really believe that they are a bit too easy on the attackers.
They let Emile Smith Rowe go and now Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira are expected to follow him out the door. I know that these three played very little football last season, but they were still attacking in ways that Arteta could have turned to already.
So I really believe someone has to come in to give Arteta another attacking option. If that doesn’t happen, it will feel like a small window for Arsenal in my opinion, without the good additions of Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino.
Nico Williams is a defender we know they like, but that would be a tough task to do this late in the window. Yes, he has an exemption clause that prevents him from being fired, but it’s unclear whether he would want the clause to come into effect.
So if Arsenal are going to do something, it looks like he’s one of those surprise signings that could catch us off guard.
Arteta indicated that something could still happen after the game against Villa and I’m sure he will be looking for more because he will want as strong a team as possible ahead of such a difficult season.
I didn’t look at the business being done by other clubs this summer and feel any jealousy.
To be honest, I think it’s been a very good window in terms of top teams solidifying their options.
I don’t see anyone with top four hopes and I think he has done a lot to close the gap on City or Arsenal.
I’m surprised Liverpool haven’t done anything yet. If Pedro Neto stays fit, I think he could be a good addition to Chelsea, but without him none of their shooting has caught my attention.
It will be interesting to see how Dominic Solanke does at Spurs. I know he cost a lot of money, but he really impressed me last season. He has matured into a good striker in the Premier League and it wouldn’t surprise me if he scores a lot of goals again.
I support Emile Smith Rowe to be a huge success for Fulham. He is already showing what he can do there and will only get better as he gets up to speed.
Another player who has caught the eye in the first few games is Savinho. At £30m he looks like a bargain. Although that’s not really surprising, given where City signed him.
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