Advantage Arsenal after the weekend, but football is mad

Morning.

So, Arsenal remain top of the table after Liverpool were somehow held to a 2-2 draw by Man Utd yesterday. It was one of those games that reminds you for all you think you know and understand about football, there is always the potential for some mad, arbitrary stuff to happen. United didn’t have a shot in the first half, Liverpool had 15.

Man Utd’s defending for the Liverpool opener was non-existent, and at the break it looked the game would only go one way. Then a small mistake by Jarell Quansah was ruthlessly punished by Bruno Fernandes and United were level. Obviously it pains me to say this, but that’s a really impressive finish, and with their first shot the scores were level. Kobbie Mainoo made it 2-1, but Aaron Wan Bissaka made a clumsy challenge in the United box – and although he didn’t even touch Harvey Elliot, a penalty was given and upheld. Mo Salah made it 2-2.

Then it was about whether or not United could hang on. To say Liverpool were wasteful is something of an understatement. Darwin Nunez had a moment where he could have scored or cut back for an easy goal, but made a mess of it. Luis Diaz whacked over from close range late on. United looked like a shambles because they are a shambles, but the game and the result tell you that there is an inherent randomness to football that can always manifest itself.

In the Guardian, Jonathan Wilson writes, “Erik ten Hag’s genius has been to take an everyday pratfall and turn it into a philosophy.

“Lay people may think there is some correlation between how many shots a team has and how many goals they score, but Ten Hag is way beyond that. Liverpool had 87 shots in three games against United this season and didn’t win any of them.”

During the week, I tried to imagine what Mikel Arteta was thinking when he watched the Chelsea 4-3 Man Utd game on Thursday evening. The next day, he was asked about it in his press conference, and said something about how the quality in the Premier League was unbelievable and what a great league we all had. That was what he said publicly, I suspect his private thoughts were quite different.

Here is a man who does everything he possibly can to reduce the randomness in football. He knows you can’t get rid of it completely, and he also knows he can only control it from one side, so he prepares his team and his players to the Nth degree. The way Man Utd play would be anathema to him, but the way United play is something he’s going to have to contend with in a few short weeks.

Jurgen Klopp said after yesterday’s game:

Arsenal is a good football team and if United play like they did today Arsenal will win that game, I’m 100% sure.

That could be mind-games, to an extent, but it might also be objectively true in that right now the way Arsenal are playing, you could ask most people who would win a game in that context and they’d pick us. But you can’t legislate and prepare for the unpredictability and volatility of football. As yesterday demonstrated. It’s slight advantage Arsenal after this weekend’s results, but if anyone thinks there won’t be twists and turns between now and the finish line, you haven’t been paying attention.

For now though, we have to turn our attention away from domestic matters to European, because tomorrow night is the first leg of our Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich. Even just writing that down is exciting, and it shows you the progress we have made in recent years. Challenging for the title, and playing one of the biggest clubs in the world in a knock-out competition – this is where we have wanted to be for so long. While nobody can make assurances of how it’ll all end up, we should step back – just for a moment – and relish this. For all the tension, for all the potential pain because of what’s at stake, this is far, far better than raging against the mid-table machine.

Mikel Arteta will meet the press this afternoon, and we’ll bring you all the updates and stories over on Arseblog News. There’s a brand new Arsecast Extra chatting about the Brighton win for you below too, and over on Patreon we’ll have an episode of The 30, discussing the weekend’s Premier League action, and a Bayern preview podcast later in the afternoon.

Remember, in the month of April, we’re donating every penny of our Patreon revenue to UNICEF to help kids around the world, and we’re also supporting our friends at the ArsenalVision Podcast as they raise funds for the Arsenal Foundation.

Right, let’s leave it there for now. Have a great top of the table Monday folks.