Arsenal escaped the BayArena with a 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen after Kai Havertz converted a late penalty to cancel out Robert Andrich’s second half header in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.
It was a below-par performance from Mikel Arteta’s side, who had travelled to Germany on the back of a perfect record in the competition this season. Yet the equaliser ensured Arsenal will return to north London with the tie level and the advantage of playing the second leg at the Emirates where they have already dispatched Bayern Munich. Arsenal’s current form, however, feels a world away from what we saw that night against the German giants.
The Gunners began cautiously in Leverkusen during a boring measured opening period. Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi anchored the midfield effectively, helping to contain the hosts but never really going anywhere else during a first half in which clear chances were scarce. The sides went in at the break with an xG of 0.32 v 0.38, which seems high, if you ask me. Martin Odegaard was sorely missed and it’s unlikely he will be back any time soon.
Arsenal saw more of the ball with 55 per cent possession, but their passing, particularly in the final third, was poor. Their only best moment of the first 45 came when Gabriel Martinelli, found by Viktor Gyokeres at the far post after an Eberechi Eze dummy, struck the crossbar. It was a rare fast-flowing move that cut Leverkusen apart. They can do that. They just don’t do it very often for some reason.
“It was a game with different moments in the game,” Arteta said after the match. “In the first half, we had parts where we were very dominant, but we lacked in the final third, especially a lot of simple things to finish actions much better and those giveaways allowed them to run in transition. They’re a team that is very dangerous on that. We had the massive chance with Martinelli where we hit the bar, and if that had gone in, then obviously it’s a different game.”
After the break, Leverkusen came out firing and found the breakthrough almost immediately. A corner – conceded after a great David Raya save – was not properly cleared and Andrich arrived unmarked at the far post to head home from close range, punishing Arsenal for another lapse of concentration after the restart. Some fans though Eze was fouled in the box as the corner swung in, but I think he went down far too easily.
Should Andrich have even been on the pitch? Probably not. His two yellow-card challenges on Gyokeres in the first four minutes received only one. That non-call seems even more peculiar after the referee was happy to book Martin Zubimendi and Kai Havertz for fouls he’d imagined.
Regardless, his goal left Arsenal facing their first European defeat of the campaign and forced Arteta to act. Noni Madueke replaced a poor Bukayo Saka as the manager searched for a response to his side going behind for the first time in the competition.
The change proved decisive. Madueke was lively from the off, and looked to make something happen. He played more passes in half an hour than Saka had in an hour (19 v 20), with much more success in finding his teammates (84% v 95%) As he drove into the penalty area with just minutes remaining, he was brought down by Malik Tillman, and Umut Meler pointed to the spot.
“Whether I start the game or I’m on the bench. I feel like my skillset is unique, so I just try to play my game and thank God to play for this Arsenal team,” Madueke said.
“I just picked up the ball and my instinct told me to go, so I just went. Obviously when you see VAR, you just think: ‘oh my days’. But I knew it was a penalty.”
Havertz stepped forward and calmly fired the ball past Janis Blaswich, who had gone the right way, to bring Arsenal level in front of the fans who sung his name for a decade and had been waiting for this chance to say goodbye.
“We improved with the finishers,” Arteta said after the match. “A different threat started to create in and around the box, and Noni created the moment to score.
“It was a big moment in the game, in the tie, and for [Kai] to stay calm and composed to make that decision – big credit to him.
“That’s the big quality of this team, the amount of goals and assists across the team. It’s unbelievable, it’s the biggest strength of us, and we have to maintain it.”
The tie now moves to the Emirates with the score level and Arsenal still firmly in contention to reach the quarter-finals, but they will need to find a better performance than they managed here.
So high have their standards been this season that Arsenal’s form appears to be dipping at a crucial point of the season. Everything seems tougher than it should. It’s easy to forget that they’ve still only lost three games all season in all competitions.
I’d love it if Arteta could find a way to get them to relax and run free. At this point, however, I think we’d all take him getting them over the line any way he can, first.