Arsenal has seized control of the fight for a place in the Champions League. On Sunday, Mikel Arteta’s team defeated Leicester 2-0 to regain fourth place in the Premier League table. Despite having three games in hand, they are still ahead of Manchester United, West Ham United, and Wolves. They’re also six points ahead of Tottenham, despite having played one match less than the Spurs.
In other words, they now have a chance to finish in the top four. As a result of winning five consecutive matches, Arsenal has been in excellent form this season. Their most recent triumph, a 2-0 victory against Leicester, was quite easy.
With a header from Gabriel Martinelli’s corner in the 11th minute, Thomas Partey gave them the lead for the first time. And with half an hour left to play, Alexandre Lacazette’s penalty practically ended the game for the hosts.
The Gunners had complete control of the game
Arteta after Watford last week: “The key is the capacity to control the game. With a two-goal lead, we have to make 300,000 passes to kill the game”.
The very next game:pic.twitter.com/wo6Tlmvuax
— Mo (@MoArsenal86) March 14, 2022
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Arsenal had complete control of the game throughout the last half-hour of play. They moved the ball around easily and effectively eliminated any chance of a late comeback for Leicester City.
Arsenal, on the other hand, did all they could to lose all three points against Watford last week. After taking an early lead, they allowed Watford to equalise only a few minutes later. Another nervy finish followed, with Moussa Sissoko pulling one back for the visitors when they were 3-1 up with a few minutes still to play.
Arteta was dissatisfied with how his team went about the game at Vicarage Road after the game.
“To win, we have to demonstrate maturity, knowledge, and the ability to dominate the game in the manner that we choose. After we were up 3-1, we had to make 300,000 passes in the opposing half before we could launch an assault on them. We didn’t do anything like that. The game was open. You got the impression that it would remain open until the very last minute,” Arteta said.
Arsenal, on the other hand, seems to have listened to their boss against Leicester.
The ball was moved around to the ‘Ole’s’ from the Emirates crowd after they had taken a 2-0 advantage. And now, a video showing Arsenal players joking about with the ball is going viral. While Leicester chases for the ball, it shows the north London side making pass after pass. That’s how you take command of the game now.
Moreover, after the victory, Arteta said that he was delighted with his team’s handling of the match.
“I was delighted with how well everyone understood what we needed to achieve. When they began to overburden particular places, we realised what we needed to do to remedy the situation,” he said.
