Here’s Aaron Bower’s match report.
Lacazette tells BT it was really important to win after the last two games and thinks his team played well. He says he missed an “easy chance” on Thursday so really wanted to score today and says that his first goal is the kind they need to conjure against teams who defend deep and in numbers. Asked about injuries, he says the schedule is really hard for the players, but he hopes “B” isn’t too bad and is looking forward to Thursday.
I wonder if Martinelli has played himself into Arteta’s team for Thursday. Nothing I’ve seen over the last couple of years tells me that Lacazette and Aubameyang go in the same team, though it may sometimes work because both are good players. It should be one or t’other, then Saka and either Martinelli or Pepe, but if Odegaard and Smith Rowe don’t make it, I’d go with both and keep Saka in midfield.
Arsenal move into the top half and now sit ninth two points behind Everton in eighth, but having played two games more. Blades are now seven points off West Brom in second bottom, having played a game more.
That was far too easy for Arsenal, who go to Prague in decent heart – especially if Saka isn’t too badly hurt. Blades, though, are just waiting to go down and for the season to end.
90+4 min Ampadu is late on Nketiah, earning himself a yellow card.
90+3 min As for Blades, they’ve played like a side who know they’re down. There’s been very little intensity to their work, and they’ve not put Arsenal under any kind of pressure - which is suboptimal, but understandable.
90+2 min Arsenal keep the ball. As I keep saying, their top level isn’t a bad level, the problem is that they don’t have enough good players nor, this season, do they have a reliable scorer, so if one or two have bad days or injuries, they struggle. In particular, how much they missed Partey when he was injured should not be underestimated.
90 min There’ll be four added minutes.
89 min On which point, I wonder what’ll happen to him next season. On the one hand, he has a goalscorer’s knack but on the other, he doesn’t offer a whole lot else and needs to play. I’m Arteta, I’m trying hard to keep him; I’m Nketiah, I’m thinking hard about bouncing.
89 min Off goes Lacazette, who’s been excellent; Nketiah replaces him.
88 min Nice from Blades, Stevens racing onto a fine pass from Fleck, but Mousset can only slice his attempted shot square.
Partey, who’s been quiet tonight, turns Osborne beautifully on halfway and measures a luscious through-pass to Lacazette who leaves Ampadu agape. Strutting towards goal, he looks at Ramsdale and opens up his body again, shaping to go near post before sweeping just inside the far. Lovely goal, as Barry davies might’ve said.
84 min That Martinelli goal I mentioned - here it is. There’s something ludicrously thrilling about someone running clear like this, because you expect them to score but there’s so much that can go wrong so suspense builds to a crescendo.
83 min A change apiece: McBurnie can’t carry on so Mousset replaces him, while Arsenal send on Elneny for Martinelli.
82 min Pepe, who’s been decent today, slides a pass in behind Blades’ defence but on the side, Martinelli can’t catch up with it.
82 min Mousset was about to come on for Blades, but the injury to McBurnie means he has to wait a while longer while Heckingbottom decides who needs to come off.
81 min Meanwhile, McBurnie accepts treatment and looks ok to continue.
80 min Mari is booked, perhaps for the tackle that injured McBurnie.
79 min Blades knock it about and in the process McBurnie goes down. Baldock finds himself on the ball close to the corner flag but can’t find a crossing lane so it goes backwards, then a clip over the top finds Baldock again, this time at the back post. He should shoot, but instead caresses across the face, problem being that McBurnie is too hurt to run onto it.
77 min “Re 55 mins, pretty much everyone was saying that there was no one better than Chris Wilder to try to get Sheffield United promoted again next year,” says David Wall. “Assuming that’s true, that he’s been devoted to them throughout his life, and that the change of manager has hardly brought any improvements, is there any chance both owner and former manager would swallow their pride and get back together at the end of the season?”
I doubt that, but far stranger things have happened. I don’t know exactly what went on so it’s hard to know how things are, but professionally, I’m sure Wilder fancies a change much as personally, I’m sure he loves managing his club.
75 min Lacazette plays a wall-pass off Ceballos and diddles Ampadu with a stepover-nutmeg combo before wearing the inevitable foul. It’s just outside the box, left-hand side, and Willian hammers the free-kick into the wall as though he’s been doing it all his life...
74 min Chambers, who’s attacked pretty well today, swerves a cross into the middle, and Ampadu does really well to hook it away before Lacazette can stick it in.
Blades try to pass their way out of defence but dead centre and just outside the box, Lundstram turned a blind pass straight to Pepe. He strutted past Osborn with embarrassing ease, passed a shot towards the far corner, and when Ramsdale could only palm out, Martinelli was there to pass into the empty net.That’s his first goal since that glorious run at Chelsea and one he only scored because of Saka’s injury – he looked to be going off prior to it.
71 min Saka has ice clingfilmed to his thigh; that looks positive to me.
69 min Willian replaces Saka as we see a replay of what happened; it actually looks like he took a knee off Brewster then went down a few second later. Assuming that’s so, and he’s just got a dead leg, I’m sure he’ll be fine for Thursday night.
68 min Eeek! Now Saka goes down, and he’s say on the grass rubbing his knee. There was no one anywhere near him at the time, which is not a good sign, and those he doesn’t look badly hurt, he definitely doesn’t look happy.
67 min Yup, Willian is warming up.
67 min Martinelli chases a long ball and doesn’t look in agony but doesn’t look comfy either. He’ll be off as soon as they can get someone ready, I reckon.
65 min Heckingobttom sends on McBurnie and Brewster for McGoldrick and Burke. I wondered if he’d keep one of those two in order to keep an extra man up, but he’s persisting with the 3-5-2.
64 min Martinelli runs at Ampadu, who sees him off well. But as they compete for the ball, the former seems to jar either knee or ankle on the turf, and he goes down for a while. It looks worrying because he’s only just come back from such a nasty injury, but I think he’ll be fine.
64 min Martinelli and Saka were both great in the first half but have been quiet in the second. I don’t think we’ll see the latter out there for much longer, because he’ll be key in midfweek.
62 min There’s nothing going on here.
60 min In commentary, they’re wondering about the effect playing in front of empty stands has had on various teams. They posit Blades as one who feed off the energy of the crowd and the same is so of Liverpool, I think; no, this isn’t an it means more point, or a judgment on whose fans clap loudest, it’s just that some styles of play are more physically and mentally demanding. Similarly, Man City play in a clinical, bloodless manner so it’s no surprise they’ve done so well – though having loads of good players to rotate along with a brilliant manager is also helpful.
59 min There’s still over half an hour to go, but this game is already winding down, both teams relatively happy with the status quo. I daresay both managers will be contemplating changes.
57 min Chambers skitters down the right and finds Pepe, then makes a strong run outside him. But Pepe looks the other way, rolling square to Lacazette who opens his body to bend a beauty into the near-post top corner ... except he goes high and wide.
55 min I wonder if Paul Heckingbottom has a chance of getting the Blades job permanently. I’m sure if he’d strung together some results then he’d be set, but that’s a lot to hope for given the circumstances in which he took over. Replacing Chris Wilder is not something you’d wish on anyone.
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