Arsenal and Manchester City successfully completed the “mission success” in Week 36 of the English Premier League (EPL) 2023/2024 season. The figures of Declan Rice and Erling Haaland emerged, becoming decisive players through super performance for their respective teams’ victory!
Competing first at the Emirates, Saturday, Arsenal successfully beat Bournemouth 3-0. There were complaints about the performance of referee David Coote and the VAR team, in fact the Gunners had the right to win after Declan Rice performed heroically, contributing one goal and one assist.
Bukayo Saka’s penalty in the 45th minute opened the scoring for Arsenal. In the second half, goals from Leandro Trossard in the 70th minute and Declan Rice at the end of the match ended the Cherries’ resistance, which had previously won two matches in a row.
Four hours later, when many people expected Manchester City to slip up in front of Wolverhampton, they showed a super performance to finish off their opponent. Citizen won 5-1 at the Etihad, which was marked by Erling Haaland’s quattrick (four goals).
Haaland’s series of goals in the 12′, 35′, 45+3′ and 54′ minutes were reduced by Hwang Hee-chan in the 53′ minute. Argentinian player Julian Alvarez didn’t want to be left behind after appearing from the bench with a closing goal in the 85th minute.
In these two matches, of course all Arsenal and City players have a very important role in the continuity of the competition between the two potential EPL champions. But if you look more closely, Declan Rice and Erling Haaland are the most decisive figures in their team’s performance in the last month of the season.
For the time being, Arsenal is still entrenched at the top of the EPL standings with a score of 83 points from 36 matches. Incumbent Manchester City is trailing below him with 82 points, having only played 35 matches. City’s postponed match against Tottenham Hostpur will be very decisive for The Citizen.
Mikel Arteta was faced with negative news before this match, with media reports that Gabriel Jesus was on the sale list at the end of the season. Not wanting to get lost in the abyss of mind-games, Arteta answered firmly that the news was a lie. However, Gabsus was not the main player in last night’s match.
Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka were again chosen by Arteta because of their stable performance at the end of this season. Fielding the best players is the “ninja way” for the Spanish coach, because they just need to focus on the EPL competition.
Arsenal’s elimination from the UEFA Champions League (UCL) and FA Cup, in my opinion, has helped a lot with their focus on competing with City until the end of the season. As I wrote in this article, the depth of the Gunners squad is only able to match Pep Guardiola’s squad if it focuses on the league only. They really reflect on last year’s failures.
Declan Rice showed that he was the best signing in the EPL this season. Crossing over to clubs in the same city, from West Ham to Arsenal, he was still not criticized by the Hammers public because he had been a proud captain for three seasons. Arsenal got the complete package, quality and leadership.
The match against Bournemouth started very convincingly for the Gunners. The speed of Odegaard and Rice’s decision making was matched by Thimas Partey’s strength as an anchor.
Bukayo Saka scored the opening goal via a penalty in the 45th minute. This penalty was quite controversial, because Kai Havertz, who was tackled by goalkeeper Mark Travers, allegedly deliberately braked on his back foot to be hit by the Irish goalkeeper. David Coote chose to take a moment to consult VAR, and he was consistent in his initial decision to punish the Cherries.
Bukayo Saka directed the ball slowly to the right side of Travers’ goal, able to outwit the young goalkeeper to close the first half with a one goal lead for Arsenal.
In the second half, Bournemouth tried to balance through a more open game. Mikel Arteta’s troops are certainly happy with this moment because they have more open space in the attack line.
As a result, Leandro Trossard was able to double Arsenal’s lead in the 70th minute. Declan Rice, who sprinted from the middle of the field, found space to meet the second ball in the Bournemouth penalty box.
The Cherries defender was still able to block him, but as soon as he lost his eye, Rice turned his body to pass the ball to Trossard. The Belgian winger didn’t waste this mature pass to send the ball curling into Travers’ net.
Declan Rice’s energy was truly extraordinary after his coming-from-behind comeback in the 90+7′ minute! While waiting for Gabriel Jesus to rub the ball in front of the penalty, Rice ran to open space on the right side.
Gabsus saw this movement and provided a breakthrough pass to the mainstay of the England national team. Once he faked a shot, Rice threw the ball hard into Travers’ net. The goal that also ended the match at the Emirates that night.
David Coote is in the discussion on the timeline because of his three decisions in this match. Firstly because of Bukayo Saka’s penalty, where Kai Havertz cleverly blocked the swing of his back foot so that it hit Travers’ leg.
The second was Ryan Christie’s hard foul on Bukayo Saka in the first half. The two of them were involved in a fifty-fifty ball fight, but the sole of Christie’s shoe was indicated to be aiming at the English winger’s shin.
Saka complained to Coote by showing the scar he had, but it did not change Coote’s decision not to award Christie a card at all. The VAR referee also refused to review this incident.
The final controversy was Bournemouth’s goal being disallowed in the second half. Involved in a fight for an air ball, David Raya was unable to punch perfectly because it was blocked by Dominik Solanke. The ball went to a Bournemouth player, and Antoine Semenyo successfully put the ball into Raya’s goal.
According to his first decision and through a VAR review, David Coote was adamant that Solanke fouled David Raya due to his indication of “aggressive movement”.
A problem for football observers is that Arsenal often use screening tactics on this goalkeeper in many of their set-piece goals. Ben White is the main actor in this “basketball” strategy, when every corner kick he will block the opponent’s goalkeeper’s movement by standing in his running path. But in my opinion, Solanke was too aggressive at that moment.
A win that Arsenal really deserved. Mikel Arteta can only hope that Manchester City slips up in one of their remaining three matches.
Erling Haaland after scoring a hat trick in the match between Man City vs Wolves (4/5/24). Source: (Darren Staples / AFP) via kompas.com
The “Championship Player” joke actually blew up Haaland
Meanwhile at the Etihad, Pep Guardiola really wants his troops to be angry after the failure in the UCL against Real Madrid. Erling Haaland, who was rested against Brighton, started again and knocked out Jose Sa’s net with his quattrick.
This is proof of how Roy Keane, the British pundit who is also a former Manchester United captain, was wrong in saying he only had the quality of a Championship Division (England’s second division) striker.
Roy Keane’s inconsequential assumption was given because Haaland failed to stand out in important matches against Liverpool, Arsenal and Real Madrid, so his team failed to get positive results.
After last night’s match, Haaland was asked about this by the media in the mixed-zone, and he answered, “I don’t care what that person (Roy Keane) says.”
Yes, Keane’s teasing only made Haaland explode even more. The Norwegian striker is now ahead of Cole Palmer and Alexander Isak at the top of the top scorers with 25 goals, 5 goals ahead of both of them.
There are no surprises for Gary O’Neil and his team, because Pep has locked the midfield with a high-defensive line plus two pivots, namely Rodri and Mateo Kovacic. Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva have the freedom to disrupt Wolves’ defense without dividing their defensive focus.
City got a penalty in the 11th minute after Rayyan Ait-Nouri blocked Josko Gvardiol by lifting his leg too high. Erling Haaland successfully scored the opening goal by executing to the left.
In the 35th minute, Haaland accurately headed a pass from Rodri to double Citizen’s lead. It didn’t stop there, he successfully converted his second penalty in the 45th minute. This penalty occurred when Haaland’s movement was stopped by Nelson Semedo’s tackle.
In the second half, 53 minutes, Ederson made a mistake when he failed to block the crossing from his left side perfectly. The Brazilian goalkeeper’s punch went straight to Hwang Hee-chan, who immediately directed the ball easily into the empty net.
It only took a minute later, Phil Foden’s spoiled pass was controlled well by Haaland before firing a hard shot into the right corner of Jose Sa’s goal.
Julian Alvarez, who came on to replace Haaland at the end of the match, didn’t want to miss out on scoring a goal. His weak left footed shot was successful in heading into the narrow right corner of the Wolves goal. Manchester City won convincingly, dismissing the hopes of many parties to slip up in this match.
The toughest test for Citizen will actually be when they visit Spurs headquarters on May 15. The reason is, they have had a bad trend of not being able to win there since 2019 in the Premier League. On the positive side, Pep’s fleet was able to overthrow Ange Postecoglu’s troops in this season’s FA Cup at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
ASL
