If the hope was that last night’s game was supposed to inject a little bit more swagger in to the Arsenal collective psyche last night, both for the fans as much as the players and coaching staff, I think it is fair to say that all didn’t go exactly to plan.

Ultimately, we got the job done. We all sit here today with another three points in the Champions League, seven in total, fourth in that stupid league format that it is now (albeit without a number of teams having played their third games tonight), so things are looking fine. But this feels like one of those ‘scratch beneath the surface’ kind of games. What I mean by that is that if you watched the game and saw how it played out, there are a few things that I think everyone will be a little concerned with, not least Mikel Arteta.

The team performance

I thought it was fine. In the first half we created chances, we were clearly the better team overall, we ultimately deserved the win. But this is a Shaktar team who haven’t been in great form, they haven’t really mustered anything of note in this competition, they shouldn’t have really caused us some of the problems they did. We got the goal on the 30 minute mark through Martinelli’s finish fortunately coming in off their ‘keeper Riznyk, which was a decent shot from him and a little luck deflecting in off the post, but we should have probably have had more in that first half. Calafioti blazing over from just outside the six yard box, Havertz had a chance where he ended up in the net as the ball flash across the goal, as well as Gabriel Jesus forcing the ‘keeper in to a smart save with his feet right on halftime.

The second half felt a little ‘bitty’, but we still created a few chances, with Martinelli forcing another decent save from the ‘keeper. But we gave them a little too much of a sniff I thought and although Raya didn’t really have much to do all game, he made a smart save right at the end of the game just to make sure the points were secured. Hey, you can’t talk about the fact that their ‘keeper made some smart saves, so when that happens up the other end you look at your team and immediately tut; that’s what ‘keepers are there to do. But it was just a bit of a sign of a little complacency and I thought the Leo Trossard penalty pretty much summed up the night – it was a very ‘meh’ attempt, following a ‘meh’ VAR call that I thought was a little harsh (barely even saw it in real time), on a night in which Arsenal were very ‘meh’. It was functional, it was keeping an average Shaktar side at arms length, but without that second goal it was never comfortable.

Individual performances

I thought there were some good performances on the night that hopefully we can see as positive signs. I thought Thomas Partey was excellent. He covered ground across the pitch, he won duels, his passing accuracy and progressive passive seemed to be backed to what we expect of him and I thought he looked comfortable and composed in the middle of the park. Gabriel Martinelli was the most lively of the forwards and although he doesn’t officially get credited with the goal last night, he gets it on moral grounds because his performance deserved it. I also thought Gabriel Jesus had a better outing than his last start against Southampton. He ran at Shaktar defenders, he fashioned some chances, he looked a little more menacing than his previous matches, so hopefully that’s a good sign.

Unfortunately there were a few more ‘meh’ ones though. I thought Trossard wasn’t great and didn’t really impact the game as we would have liked given he was played in a more central role and you naturally expect him to be better and more comfortable. But he misplaced a few passes, plus there was the penalty miss and when you layer that performance after his mistake and all-around anonymity at Bournemouth, it’s not great. I also think that Sterling didn’t offer too much from the bench and Merino looked a little heavy-legged to me. It felt like there was a lot of trotting around on the night from him, but that might be me being harsh from my low-level seat view in Block Five.

Injuries

This is probably the most worrying thing for me this morning. Calafiori – as we all know – has suffered from knee injuries and he jarred it last night with Mikel saying ‘a bit of a worry’ and given we’ve already missed him a couple of times this early in to the season and his Arsenal career, I have to say I’m already starting to get ‘injury-prone player’ vibes. Hopefully that’s not true. I’m praying it’s not true. I’m just telling you what I’m already feeling – are you feeling the same? Or is it just me?

There’s also the case of those players not in the squad. Being told Saka is unlikely to play on Sunday is a bitter pill to swallow. You can tell the difference in quality he gives between Sterling and Jesus and if he’s missing on Sunday it’s going to be a massively difficult task to overcome Liverpool. Especially if we have absences from tonight and then players still missing. By my count the worst-case scenario for Sunday could be Arsenal without:

  • Calafiori (from last night)
  • Tomiyasu (I know he’s always injured but think about the good games he’s had against Salah)
  • Saliba (suspension)
  • Timber (still not in the squad yesterday so you’d assume he’s also a doubt for Sunday)
  • Odegaard (still not in the squad so unlikely for Sunday I would have thought)
  • Saka (as per Arteta comments – unlikely)

It feels like we are being repeatedly punished by the football gods right now and very little is going our way. It’s one thing to challenge for a title when it’s the likes of Man City, but it’s a completely different kettle of a fish when you are repeatedly having four, five or six players out. We’re now getting to three months in to a nine month season and we’ve had injuries, suspensions and more – some of which we can control, but a lot we can’t it’s a real worry and personally I’m a little concerned that any attempted competing for a title is quickly going to be beyond us if we keep having players out and keep having absences to key players.

I’ll park too much worry on that front for now though, because after a win ultimately you have to be happy, but as I said when I started off this blog underneath the surface there are just a few bits to be mindful of that Arteta needs to find a solution on.

Catch you all tomorrow.