A combination of poor finishing and poor refereeing saw Arsenal frustrated at Watford.
Per Mertesacker came into the heart of the defence for the stricken Shokdran Mustafi, while Mohamed Elneny deputised for the absent Aaron Ramsey. Alex Iwobi kept his place in attack, lining-up with the returning Danny Welbeck. Mesut Ozil was only fit enough for the bench, while Alexis Sanchez was left out of the squad entirely.
The opening five minutes saw the ball pinged about in midfield by both sides but little in the way final third action. Alex Lacazette looked sharp up front and made a few early runs that weren’t found by team mates. There was a lengthy stoppage in the first ten minutes as Watford forward Richarlison received treatment for a finger injury.
Arsenal sparked into life when a good forward pass from Xhaka found Iwobi in space. Iwobi moved the ball out wide to Bellerin, who’s cross skimmed the top of Lacazette’s head. We recovered the ball, and Xhaka floated the ball over to Kolasinac in behind on the left. His cut back was intercepted before Welbeck could turn it in.
18 minutes gone, Watford had their first real attack of the game. A ball into the channel found Decoure. He cut inside, took on Bellerin and flashed the ball across goal. Pereyra got his head onto it, but couldn’t steer it on target. The chance marked the start of a sustained period of Watford possession. Five minutes later, a dangerous cross from Femenia narrowly evaded Richarlison.
Hallf hour in, with the game lulling people into sleep, Elneny had a decent go from distance. His shot went just over, exciting us briefly, before we hit snooze and went back to sleep again. Some neat interplay between Lacazette and Iwobi raised the pulses briefly, but the attack broke down when Welbeck was adjudged to have fouled Mariappa. Lacazette looked Arsenal’s most likely player to make something happen. He flicked the ball past one defender, then scooped the ball towards Welbeck, but he couldn’t make contact.
Seven minutes before half-time, Arsenal won a corner. Xhaka swung it in, Mertesacker ignored Cleverley trying to hold him down and thumped in a header to give Arsenal a lead. Our BFG isn’t quite as useless as the commentators tried to make him out to be.
On the brink of half-time, Xhaka’s controlled shot from the edge of the box forced a good save from Gomes. Iwobi picked up the ball and found Welbeck. His cut-back picked out Bellerin, but his left-footed shot went wide. A minute later, Xhaka had another, identical shot from distance that was also saved by Gomes.
It was 1-0 at the break. Arsenal were winning, and that was about the nicest thing you could say about the first half.
The tempo didn’t raise much in the second half. Watford had a decent chance when Richarlison got away down the left hand side, but his attempt at an Henry-esque in-step finish went wide. Both sides threatened to show some menace on the counter, but always messed up the final pass.
The lack of quality in the final third continued. Iwobi spotted a gap and streaked up the middle of the pitch. He found Lacazette on the edge of the box, who tried to play in Welbeck down the right but over-hit his pass.
An hour in, Welbeck went down injured, almost as if he was rushed back from injury, and was replaced by Mesut Ozil.
Ozil made an instant impact, picking up the ball in space in front of the Watford defence. He slipped a pass inside the Watford defender for Iwobi, but his effort was well-saved by Gomes. Nearly seventy minutes gone, Wenger made his new favourite substitution – Giroud for Lacazette.
Arsenal had a fantastic chance to finish the game. Space opened up for Ozil on the break, but he shot straight at Gomes. Moments later, Richarlison took on Bellerin down the right and went down. Neil Swarbrick awarded Watford a penalty. Replays showed it wasn’t a penalty but honestly, who, at this point, is surprised?
If only there was some technology out there that could be used to prevent such awful decisions.
Momentum swung Watford’s way, and Arsenal found themselves under pressure. The poor decision making in the final third continued, as another counter attack was squandered by a refusal to pull the trigger.
Moments later, Watford nearly took the lead. Etienne Capoue found himself unmarked on the edge of the penalty, and his effort deflected off Mertesacker, deceived Cech and bounced onto the post.
Five minutes to go, Wenger was going to throw Wilshere on for Iwobi. Instead, he brought on Holding for Koscielny, who seemed to have cramp. Watford continued to look the most likely team to win, as Carrillo blasted a shot into the stands. A beautiful, raking cross field pass from Monreal was the only positive thing Arsenal had done in the last ten or so minutes.
Then, in stoppage time, the inevitable happened. A deflected pot shot from distance bounced off Cech and fell to a Watford player. His shot went straight into Mertesacker, and happened to fall straight into the path of an unmarked Cleverley. He rifled the ball into the roof of the net, giving Watford the three points.
That was just about the most Arsenal way to end a game you’ll see this season.