ARSENAL 1 WATFORD 2

BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT THE EMIRATES

Arsenal suffered a major setback in their pursuit of the league leaders.  On a night when Arsenal’s title rivals also dropped points, they failed to capitalise on the opportunity presented to them as Watford played them off the park in the first half and could have scored at least four goals.  Yet again we saw Arsenal in a nutshell and they have failed to win again when it really matters. No wonder they have not won the league for 12 years plus. 

On their day they can blow teams away but the problem is a team like Watford can saunter into the Emirates with a game plan and come away with maximum points. Whether this problem can be fixed under Arsene Wenger, who served the second match of his touchline ban, remains to be seen.

Watford dominated the game in the early minutes andwere awarded a free kick deep inside Arsenal’s half in the 10^th minute. The ball was laid to Younes Kaboul, whose shot found the back of the net via a deflection off Aaron Ramsey, leaving Petr Cech with no chance.  Arsenal were caught cold but the good thing was there was plenty of time for them to respond.

Watford just did not let Arsenal get into their groove and continued to dictate the play. Etienne Capoue drove from just inside the Arsenal half towards goal and left two players in his wake and rifled a shot across goal, which Cech could only parry to the on coming Troy Deeney who smashed the ball in from close range to double Watford’s lead.   The irony was not lost on the Arsenal fans that the architect and provider of the goals were two ex-Spurs players.

The Arsenal fans showed their discontent by screaming trying to lift their team. The Watford fans though could not quite believe what they were witnessing having been on the end of a shock defeat in the FA Cup at the weekend at Millwall.

Things were to get worse for Arsenal as Ramsey’s misery was complete when succumbed to yet another injury(muscle) and had to be substituted for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Although Arsenal had possession now and again it was sporadic with not quite the end product required. Their tormentor in chief Capoue drove down the left again to the byline before dinking the ball to Sebastian Prodl whose header was tipped over by Cech for a corner.

Next it was Daryl Janmaat who forced a smart save from Cech with a shot from distance. Watford remained two up at the break. A telling stat was that Arsenal had no shots on target while Watford had six.

After the break Theo Walcott replaced Olivier Giroud who did not see much of the ball in the first half. Walcott almost had an immediate impact as he forced Heurelho Gomes to make two saves in as many minutes.  Gradually the Gunners were being roused from their slumber as Gomes made a point blank save from Alex Iwobi.

Arsenal were relentless now and Mesut Ozil went close as Gomes gathered his shot at the second attempt. Just before the hour mark Alexis Sanchez crossed from right to left and Iwobi hit a first time shot, which went in to reduce the deficit on his 50^th appearance for the Gunners. Arsenal now had hope.   They continued to press Watford and hemmed them into their half. Nacho Monreal let fly from distance but it was wide.

Stefano Okaka replaced Deeney who had ran himself into the ground with 6 minutes left.  Seconds later Lucas Perez hit a belter from just inside the Watford area, which was ferocious, cannoned off the underside of the cross bar and went out for a throwing.   With the injury to Tom Cleverley and numerous substitutions the referee added five minutes at the end but Arsenal just could not find another goal to at least salvage a point.

Arsenal don’t have time to feel sorry for themselves as they face a stern examination against the league leaders Chelsea at lunchtime on Saturday.  Although the Gunners have a team of ballers, they still lack that leader who can galvanise the team in the mould of a Tony Adams or Frank McLintock.

The delighted Watford manager Walter Matarazzi said:’ It was a great game. I also had great days at my former teams but I don’t like to remember the past.  This was as good as our performance against Manchester United. I would have liked to play the whole game in 90 minutes as we did in the first half. NIang was new and Behrami came back from an injury. We had at least five players who could not play 90 minutes today. I would like to dedicate this win to Graham Taylor”

Wenger said: “It was not good in the first half. They were sharper than us. We were unlucky to lose this game and did not deserve to lose it. They gained time intentionally. “