Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal Vs Preston North End: Recap, Highlights And Analysis

By Andrew Dowdeswell

Credit: Ronnie Macdonald via Flickr
Credit: Ronnie Macdonald via Flickr /
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Arsenal began their FA Cup campaign travelling to Preston North End. Here is the full recap, all the highlights and analysis from the 2-1 win.

That was lucky! Preston North End were by far the better team for much of the game, with Arsenal wholly lethargic throughout, seemingly uninterested in trying to win the game, happy to go through the motions. Preston, though, were excellent and if not for yet another late Olivier Giroud goal, a replay would have to be organised.

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Playing a similar team to the one that struggled so greatly against a high-pressing Bournemouth side, Arsene Wenger suffered the consequences of his side failing to learn their lesson. Simon Grayson clearly watched the game with a keen eye, noting the approach that Eddie Howe commanded of his players and replicating it with great success early on.

Arsenal looked rattled, had little control of the game, consistently failing to maintain possession, even deep in their own half. Preston took advantage of such naive play and found the all-important breakthrough just eight minutes into the game. Aiden McGeady span inside, beating Aaron Ramsey far too easily. With Gabriel Paulista playing everyone onside and Nacho Monreal utterly unaware of the run made in behind him, McGeady slid a ball inside the full-back. After a rather fortunate ricochet, the ball fell to the feet of Callum Robinson who had the simple job of sidefooting past David Ospina.

As the first half progressed, Preston continued to dominate. The Gunners were utterly abject, lacking any sort of fight, desire or ability, especially defensively. Gabriel was ridiculously trying to play an offside trap without communicating such a plan to any of his teammates, repeatedly getting caught. Preston should have scored on at least one such occasion.

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They also had a goal disallowed when Robinson was again quickest to respond to a loose ball in the penalty area to nod home. Thankfully, Robert Madly had rightly whistled for a foul on Ospina as he clambered for clear the cross. All that happened moments after Shkodran Mustafi cleared Paul Gallagher’s dink off the line. Arsenal created one meaningful goalscoring opportunity, one which Aaron Ramsey should have buried after some neat, intricate play. Instead, the Welshman delayed and delayed the shot until getting crowded out.

It was a truly horrific half of football from Wenger’s side, one of the worst that I have had the displeasure of seeing, and with a severe lack of experienced and established options on the bench, the picture was certainly bleak.

Thankfully, the bleakness subsided rather quickly. Immediately playing a higher line at a higher pace, Arsenal equalised thanks to the much maligned Aaron Ramsey. Monreal found his way forward down the left wing, clipped a cross in. The ball fell to the feet of Alex Iwobi who, after some neat footwork, laid the ball back to Ramsey. The Welshman then struck a clean shot into the near post past the stationary Chris Maxwell.

The second half continued in even fashion. Olivier Giroud became more of a physical presence in an attacking sense while Gabriel continued to make mindless decisions, endangering his side’s chances on multiple occasions. Giroud also had a goal disallowed for offside after meeting a lovely dinked ball from Lucas Perez, who certainly improved in the second half.

It was those two who linked up the eventual winner. A lumped ball up to the head of Giroud was flicked on. Perez got their first, played a beautifully aware backheel back into the path of the Frenchman who poked past the onrushing Maxwell. It was a well-worked goal but not at all deserved.

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Wenger has Giroud to thank for qualifying for the fourth round of the FA Cup for the 21st time out of 21 attempts. This was not a good performance by any stretch of the imagination but they are still alive in a competition that they have won twice in the past three years.

Highlights