Arsenal vs Luton: Instant Reaction

Thoughts at full time

Straight into it.

Headline: Who can make an impact?

I think this was the question that Mikel Arteta had today for the players that he rotated in.

He raised some eyebrows with his rotation both in the amount and the specific players he chose but it was something that was needed and it was perhaps the last chance to have this many changes with Arsenal playing every 3 to 4 days potentially through May 4th.

This will probably go more into the stocks section but I think we came away with a pretty good idea and a bit more a clue for who is or won’t be in the manager’s plan during this pivotal stretch of matches.

First things first, this was a job done and business taken care of.

Coming off of an emotional and exhausting match against Manchester City this was probably a harder match than it looked on paper. It wasn’t a trap game because that usually is one before a bigger game, but it was still a potentially banana skin that could have tripped the team up.

This was also the same match number last year where Arsenal were playing West Ham in a similar spot and threw it away on the way to also drawing with Southampton and then losing to Manchester City where everything collapsed. Arsenal did not let that happen tonight.

This match was not all that exciting. One of the things I wrote in my notes was this was pretty but not penetrative passing. I think that is a pretty apt description of what went on here. Arsenal got into the final third often enough but when there the final ball wasn’t on or Arsenal looked more content to just keep the ball as a form of defense.

It doesn’t matter in the end because the points were the most important thing but it might have been a nice cherry on top to add a third goal for goal difference perspective but that is a real entitled type of nit to pick.

Arsenal got the job done, they got rest to key players, that got players who will be needed match fitness, and they were able to keep the intensity of the game low. They weren’t able to really pad the goal difference much.

That is a 4 out 5 performance and I think that is a perfectly good rating for this game, even if might have been another boring one for the neutral.

Stock Rising: Emile Smith Rowe