WHERE did Arsenal’s seven-goal thrashing of PSV come from? Do they have no respect for narrative? Are they unaware that their fate has already been decided for them, compelled to see their season ebb away to nothing, all while cursing their decision not to sign a centre-forward in the January window.
Against Nottingham Forest last time out, and at home to West Ham before that, they had dutifully towed the party line, failing to score in both and subsequently dropping five points. In the former they had even offered up a bonus trope, going down to ten men for the 18th time under Mikel Arteta.
In that costly defeat to the Hammers, the hosts peppered their opponent’s goal with 20 attempts but only two were on target. Their need for a competent, specialist forward to put away those chances was acute.
Then, from seemingly nowhere, they went to the Netherlands and looked sublime. The passing in the final third was sharp, the movement purposeful. There was synchronicity in their build-up play and furthermore their finishing was on point.
Despite being deprived of Saka, Martinelli, Jesus and Havertz this was a side at their ruthless best, full of confidence and overflowing with attacking flair. It was like a great team had remembered they’re a great team.
Admittedly, it would be remiss not to point out that PSV’s set-up played directly into Arsenal’s hands. Not for the first time this term, Peter Bosz’s tactics were all wrong and undoubtedly the Dutch were in part architects of their own demise. But still, 7-1, away in the Champions League. The Gunners will now head to Old Trafford this weekend reinvigorated and, more so, secure in the knowledge that a traditional arch enemy is currently in bad shape. As bad as PSV? Arguably yes, should we factor in United’s wealth of injuries, that has turned a serious but everyday crisis into something infinitely worse.
United are crumbling before our very eyes on a weekly basis. The idea of them. Who they are, and who they want to be. All of that is absent, leaving a vacuum partly filled with players wearing red shirts who run about a bit and very occasionally, almost by accident, pull off something good.
But we will get to the most dramatic downfall since the Romans lost their way imminently. Firstly, let’s take a look at some of the visitors who are expected to revel in the vast spaces afforded to them on Sunday courtesy of a poorly conceived press, individuals who did more than most on Tuesday evening to silence an emerging negative narrative in the period of just ninety minutes.
We have to start with Martin Odegaard, a talent that has regularly been lauded on these pages, but not so much lately.
In Eindhoven, the Norwegian schemer executed a masterclass, floating into half-spaces and adroitly knowing every option available to him.
Two goals, one assist, and three key passes was the summation of the carnage he created down Arsenal’s right, pairing up with the exciting teenager Nwaneri who was also excellent.
Then there was a vintage, commanding display by Declan Rice.
It we are to simplistically spell out the difference between the Gunners midweek to the side that accepted their fate against West Ham and Forest, it was the sheer number of times a player made darting runs off the ball into dangerous areas. It pulled PSV out of shape while making decisions easy for the player in possession and Rice was central to all this. His heatmap looks like someone has sneezed onto the screen. He was everywhere.
We should mention too, Leandro Trossard, a winger whose intelligence has the capacity to hurt united regardless. Add in a return to form and he’s a pertinent threat. We should not forget either that Trossard scored the only goal in this exact fixture last season.
It is these trio – along with Nwaneri who appears to be a plug-and-play superstar at the age of just 17 – who will likely cause damage to United though in truth that amounts to shelling a town already in ruins.
Since Ruben Amorim took over, cast as the club’s latest saviour, United have conceded two-plus goals in 62.5% of their league commitments. Only Leicester have gone behind more often, a direct consequence of their inability to start games on a positive footing.
Remarkably, they have scored just three times in their last 15 hours of first half football across all comps, one of them being a penalty.
They have failed to consecutively win league games across the whole of 2024/25 while up front they are hamstrung with a striker in Rasmus Hojlund who last scored when Joe Biden was the US president and the world was relatively safe.
It sounds cruel to suggest such a thing, mischievous for sure, but perhaps Arsenal have it better in not possessing a striker at all.
By exiting the FA Cup last weekend, it means United only have the Europa League to play for now, that and avoiding an embarrassing final league placing, potentially their lowest since succumbing to relegation back in 1974.
Just staying with that Fulham game for a moment, it was by no means their worst performance in recent months. But once again they were insipid, devoid of ideas, and hopelessly reliant on Bruno Fernandes to spare their blushes.
Once again too, we saw square pegs in round holes, with players requiring a precious half a second to work out where they were expected to be, and not having the confidence to do anything beyond that basic expectation.
If the Gunners can reproduce even two thirds of their output in the Netherlands there is only one winner here. And as one narrative dies a death, another hardens.
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