By Paul Stevens.

Lille Match Review

By Paul Stevens

Five-star Arsenal blew Lille away, but the Gunners did not have it all their own way.

Arsenal eventually ran out 3-0 winners on match week two of this year’s Champions League but a host of missed chances in the first half, paired with an energetic and stubborn Lille team performance, contributed to a less than impressive 0-0 scoreline at half time.

The first nineteen minutes of the match were almost a complete non event. Then in the twentieth minute, Jurien Timber found Bruno Guimaraes inside the Lille penalty area just eight yards from goal. Somehow, the Brazilian sent his shot flying into the Clock End rather than finding the back of the net.

Two minutes later and Timber again provided a dangerous moment, crossing the ball and finding Mikel Merino in the box. The usually clinical Spaniard uncharacteristically directed his header straight at Lille goalkeeper Berke Ozer.

Lille then gave Arsenal an almighty shock by flying into an attack that forced the ball into the Arsenal net. The Lille celebrations were eventually cut short when Hakon Haraldsson was deemed to be in an offside position moments before forward Ayase Ueda found the back of the Arsenal net.

Much of the first half then drifted by without incident. However, as half time approached, Eberechi Eze had a big chance to open the scoring, but the Arsenal forward could only direct his shot into the midriff of the Lille goalkeeper. Had he produced a more elegant, lofted style finish, Arsenal would have taken a lead into the break.

Arsenal came out for the second half with a much-improved work rate and intensity and began for force Lille into many mistakes. The off-the-ball pressing from the home side began to take a toll as many of the Lille players constantly gave the ball away. The hour mark came and went and still the scoreline remained 0-0, but the Emirates crowd could feel an Arsenal goal was coming, and the fan support began to grow. In the 63^rd minute Mikel Arteta had a triple substitution lined up ready on the touchline. Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz were about to enter the pitch. Before the Arsenal Trio came on, Noni Madueke played a brilliant forward pass to Timber inside of the Lille penalty area. The first touch from the Dutchman was truly special. Timber almost dragged the ball forward with a delicate flick and immediately burst forward as his marker scrambled to match his movement. Before the Lille defence could recover, Timber burst forward and feigned a powerful shot. This action sat the Lille goalkeeper down and Timber applied a sensational and exquisite chipped finish that sailed over the prone goalkeeper before smashing into the back of the Lille net, one nil to the Arsenal!

Arteta’s embarrassment of riches then came into the pitch, and within three minutes two of them combined – to brilliant effect – to make it two nil. The move started with Myles Lewis-Skelly pressing his opponent into a mistake deep inside Lille’s final third. The ball broke free to Martin Odegaard, who instantly played a short pass infield to Guimaraes. He swiftly fed the ball forward down the Arsenal right, finding Bukayo Saka, who let the ball roll past him as he turned. Saka’s next action was to roll a first-time ball across the 18-yard line into a central area where Eberechi Eze met the ball with a first time left footed strike that crashed into the Lille net.

The icing was emphatically put onto the cake just five minutes later, following a simply wonderful team move that flowed through the Lille defensive lines, down the Arsenal right. With the French side sitting in a compact defensive shape deep inside their final third, Arsenal’s crisp passing and exceptional movement was too much for Lille to handle and the Gunners found a third goal.

The attack began with Odegaard, who crept forward on the right side. Arsenal had a tight knot of four players packed around the right corner of Lille’s penalty area. Odegaard found Saka with a short pass. Saka returned the ball to his captain, who moved forward into the box. Odegaard paused briefly on the ball as Havertz broke forward and the Norwegian suddenly slid a pass forward unlocking the Lille defence. The Lille team almost stopped, trying to catch Arsenal in an offside trap, but the French side’s line was ragged and failed to match the Arsenal striker’s movement. As the Lille defence realised their mistake, they tried to react to the increasing danger, but it was far too late. Havertz approached the by-line and suddenly cut the ball back to the corner of the six-yard box, where Saka took a small touch with his left foot before cooly slotting the ball into the far corner of the Lille goal. With just four quick passes, Arsenal had moved the ball from the edge of the box to the net with ruthless efficiency. 3-0 and game effectively over.

Stat Focus

With the dominant Arsenal display, it is no surprise to see the home side lead in just about about every metric when it comes to the match statistics, but it is interesting to compare the two halves when we look at the stats for this match. The overall stats for the first half are almost identical to the second, 57% possession compared to 60%. A first half XG (expected goals) of 0.84 verses a second half XG of 0.87. In terms of shots and shots on target, Arsenal recorded six with three on target in the first half and ten with five on target in the second. The only notable difference came in the big chances created verses big chances missed metric. While both halves had two big chances created, Arsenal managed to convert the second half chances rather than miss them, as happened during the first half.

Star Player

Going into the fixture, our player focus was Bukayo Saka. Furthermore, in recent days, boss Mikel Arteta had also called for Saka to reclaim his clinical edge in-front of goal. In his 25-minute spell on the pitch, Saka responded in emphatic fashion. In fact, Arsenal’s right winger had recorded a goal and an assist in less than four minutes. It is so good to see Saka on the pitch playing with a freedom and confidence to match his undoubted ability. It is so good to see the almost telepathic link-up flourish between Saka, Odegaard and Havertz. The Arsenal trio just work so well when they share the pitch. All that remains for Saka is to take this newfound level of performance and add consistency. If he can accomplish this over the full campaign, we could see the most productive season in his long Arsenal career.

A Look Ahead

Arsenal’s next match is a return to Premier League action, when the Gunners travel away to face a Nottingham Forest side, who are as unpredictable under new manager, Oliver Glasner, as their earlier five games suggest. Forest has recorded two draws against Liverpool and Tottenham – two of the traditional big six sides. In their next game, they recorded an impressive 2-1 win away at Aston Villa followed by back-to-back losses either side of the international break.

The Tricky Trees (as Forest are nicknamed) lost 1-0 at home to newly promoted Coventry before the break. They then suffered a 3-1 defeat in match week six, away to Oliver Glasner’s former club, Crystal Palace, despite taking the lead in the third minute of that match.

Forest currently sits 15^th in the table, having taken just five points from a possible eighteen. Even so, Arsenal gave a tough test in another tricky away game in the Premier League, as they look to close a three-point deficit to Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.