Match of the weekend: Watford defeats Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal
After being a goal down for majority of the game, Watford show Arsenal what it means to play for the badge. The Hornets take all the shares after the Gunners fail to see a 1-0 lead out.
Watford beating Arsenal has to go down as the match of the weekend. The Saturday night clash was filled with action and entertained far better than the awaited, Liverpool and United encounter.
A penalty shout and ball watching by the Gunners was the difference for Marco Silva and his men. Hard fought and showing more determination than the visitors, the Hornets will to win matched the amount of talent the Gunners had on the pitch.
It certainly was a joy to watch a team playing well in the beginning stages campaign, come back from behind.
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What went wrong for Arsenal and what went right for Watford?
Again a team with less possession takes all the points. Arsenal was up till 71st minute of the game and then did everything in their power to show they can lose any match.
The introduction of Troy Deeney seems to be the pivotal point of the game. He came on, scored a penalty, and gave Mertesacker a hard time in defence. Ozil had a chance in the 61st minute of the game to make it 2-0 but was unable to convert from close range. Any striker would relish the chance he had late on the game.
Gomez denied both the German and Iwob,i with two match-winning saves and certainly deserves the man of the match award. On the other end of the pitch, Arsenal’s Xhaka formed part of the reason they conceded in the embers of the game.
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Match stats:
| Watford | Stat | Arsenal |
| 46% | Possession | 54% |
| 78% | Pass Accuracy | 80% |
| 11 | Total Shots | 9 |
| 2 | Shots on Target | 6 |
| 2 | Corners | 5 |
| 15 | Tackles | 18 |
| 1 | Offsides | 0 |
| 8 | Fouls | 10 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
Ball watching and reacting slower than a snail moving backwards, Xhaka basically watched Watford from just outside of the big box, score the winning goal.
Up front he saw chance after chance get put to the side by the big Hornet in the poles. He can’t really be questioned for his presentation in attack.
But it’s the big Swiss’ defending that needs to be scrutinised. He could be the sole reason that Watford had more men in the box in 92nd minute of the game. This gives evidence the game was filled with drama till the final whistle.
Watford deserved winners of the match and should be on a massive high, knowing they sit in 4th place. Wenger hasn’t done a bad job before the defeat over the weekend. It would certainly be unfair to be shouting, Wenger out after star players didn’t come to the party.