00:00Hello, and welcome back to the Chris Wheatley Show. I'm Matthew Gregory. The chap on the
00:08other side of your screen is Chris Wheatley, and he's here to keep you up to date with
00:12all things Arsenal. He'll be answering some of your questions later, but before we get
00:17to that, we've got a small matter of a quite brilliant game to discuss. Manchester City's
00:21late equaliser forced a 2-2 draw in the title showdown at the Etihad, but Arsenal possibly
00:26deserve to win. Played rather well and led for a long period of time. So Chris, there's
00:31got to be some mixed feelings. Are you more happy and impressed with the positive parts
00:35of the performance, or are you more disappointed that, you know, it ended up with some drop
00:40points?
00:41Well, I don't think I've heard the phrase dark arts mentioned as much as I have in the
00:45past 48 hours, and still waiting for the actual definition of what that is. But I think Arsenal,
00:53they certainly did a great job in terms of getting a result at the Etihad. No one really
00:57expected them to go there and win. But in the manner and the performance and just kind
01:04of the all-round performances from each player were excellent. I think the thing that impressed
01:09me most about that performance from Arsenal was the way they battled until the end. Of
01:16course, Manchester City got a late equaliser, but I think, you know, 10 men, it was pretty
01:21tough for the team to defend 10 men behind the ball for most of the second half. So yeah,
01:27it was a really good performance from Arsenal. I think I was just impressed the way this
01:33Arsenal team, as we spoke about in the last episode, is just completely different in terms
01:38of personality, character, everything about them is completely different now. And that's
01:44really what impressed me most.
01:45Yeah, it felt like kind of an evolution, because we saw, you know, the way things were last
01:50season, we saw the way Mikel Arteta set up against Manchester City, both home and away,
01:54he was very conservative, he was very defensive. Obviously, it kind of ended up that way when
01:59after the sending off. But, you know, it felt like there was a bit of an evolution in the
02:03way Arteta went about the game in general. Really, there were times when they were taking
02:06it to Manchester City, it didn't feel like they were just trying to absorb things and
02:10sit back. Did you see sort of an evolution in the way Mikel Arteta is setting up for
02:14these big games?
02:16Yeah, I think so. I think he was a lot more cautious than last season, for example. I
02:22think when they lost 5-0, Granit Xhaka got sent off, I think Arsenal, they had a different
02:29team, of course, they had Rob Holding at the centre of defence, he got bullied by Erling
02:32Haaland in that game. I think now there's maybe upgrades in the team, of course, they
02:38have arguably the best centre-back pairing in the Premier League, although they did get
02:42kind of caught out for Haaland's opener, which was, I think, disappointing from a
02:47defensive point of view, because I think they probably spent a lot of time talking about
02:52how they're going to deal with Haaland. And then he kind of, in the opening minutes, went
02:58straight through. It was a good pass, but it was so easy, really. I think Haaland is
03:04a really, really intelligent player, of course, but I think they would have been disappointed
03:09with that. But yeah, I think Arteta has really, really mastered the tactics against Manchester
03:16City, because I think a lot of teams maybe wouldn't have played like that, especially
03:24in the first half. But I think they were really brave. I think they were really brave in every
03:29area. And I think that, again, we're going to have to talk about that set-piece where
03:33Gabriel almost mirrored what he did against Tottenham last week in the North London Derby,
03:39scored a really good header. Again, there's that set-piece routine inspired by the set-piece
03:45coach, Nicolas Jover. And yeah, just minutes before, he actually headed just over identical
03:54kind of set-piece, and he did it again. He went one better, he scored. And to give Arsenal
04:02that 2-1 lead before half-time, it was a really, really good goal. And I think that's
04:06something that Arsenal have obviously improved on this season.
04:09Do you feel that in general, that there's sort of feels like there's maybe a slight
04:14gradual shift in the balance of power between the two teams? Of course, Manchester City
04:18won the title last season, they ended up as champions again, but the gap definitely at
04:22very least is getting narrower and narrower. Do you think we're heading towards a point
04:26where Arsenal can realistically be seen as even potentially a better team than Manchester
04:31City? Is that the kind of upward curve you think you're seeing for right now?
04:34Yeah, Kanji in particular said that City is still going to win the league. Bernardo Silva
04:40said that Arsenal compared to Liverpool, they haven't won the league title for a long time.
04:44They haven't won a European title. So they're not as much as a rival as Liverpool are. I
04:49think there was a lot of bashing from those City players after the game. But in my view,
04:55I think the shift is starting to turn a little bit. I think what we've seen from Arsenal,
05:01especially against City in the North London Derby last week as well, they are really just
05:05putting in real aggressive, top solid defensive performances and attacking performances, which
05:11are really getting them over the line. I think it was probably even more impressive against
05:16Spurs because they got the win. But you know, against arguably the best team in the world,
05:21I think they really are now starting to show that they can match up to this City team.
05:26Look, I think the biggest indication that the power is maybe starting to turn a little
05:31bit is the comments from the City players after the game. They were really rattled.
05:36I think Erling Haaland as well. I've never seen him like that. You know, the tapping
05:40of Gabriel's head, you know, swearing at a 17 year old player who's making his debut
05:47for Arsenal. You know, he really seemed rattled. And I think that's the biggest indication
05:52yet that the shift is starting to turn. They've got under the skin of City and not many teams
05:59are able to do that. You know, in previous seasons, they were losing 5-0, as I said,
06:03Granit Xhaka was sent off. And it was almost like an arm around the shoulder, Guardiola
06:09to Arteta and, you know, smiling after the game because they know that Arsenal weren't
06:14really much of a threat. But now I think that's starting to change. And that's really what
06:19we saw at the weekend. I think Arsenal now are looking like they can win the Premier League title.
06:24Yeah, I suppose we're now talking about Arsenal as a team that can make Pep Guardiola start
06:28assaulting his own chair. We'll ask a little bit about some of the individual performances
06:33shortly, but I did want to just sort of ask a general question. Do you think Arsenal deserve
06:37to win that game? Or do you think 2-2 was still a fair reflection of the, you know,
06:42the overall balance of play?
06:44I think they deserve to win it. I think really, the way they defended in the second half,
06:50really valiant defending. I think the thing that again, that impressed me most was the
06:56way that they really fought and battled for each other. City did have some good chances,
07:02but I think overall, I think Arsenal will be disappointed that they didn't get the result.
07:09I mean, City scored such a late goal and it was such a scrappy goal as well. I think
07:14that was probably the most disappointing thing. You know, you look at Arsenal's goals, they
07:18were really well worked, especially Califiora. I completely forgot to mention him, but he
07:23scored his first goal for Arsenal and it was an absolute wonder strike. So I think when
07:29you even compare the goals, I think there was certainly a bit more from Arsenal there.
07:35But yeah, I think Arsenal did deserve it. But look, 2-2 at the Etihad, as I said, against
07:40the best team in the world. I think they will be coming away from that at least happy that
07:46they did get something from the game.
07:48Yeah, you mentioned Califiora. I wanted to ask about him. Obviously he scored that sublime
07:52equaliser, but what did you make of his all-round performance? That's his first start for the
07:56Gunners. I mean, what did you make of him as a defender, as a part of the machine?
08:02Yeah, I think he got called out for that Harland goal, didn't he, early on. That was
08:05probably a bit disappointing. So I think he was desperate to kind of make up for it. And
08:10he certainly did. It was, as I said, a magnificent strike. I haven't seen such a kind of clean
08:16hit from an Arsenal player for a while. And that was really, it was a really perfect strike
08:22from a defender as well, which I think was even more impressive. I think with Califiora,
08:27he's probably a bit disappointed because he hasn't been starting games. And I think now
08:32with Alexander Zinchenko out for the next few weeks, I think that's really given him
08:37his chance to shine in the Arsenal team. So I think, yeah, it was a really good performance
08:42overall from him. As I said, didn't start off the best, but he's probably a little bit
08:46rusty. He got into the game, scored a great goal, and I think he'll be really happy with
08:51his performance because as I said, it's not an easy place to go to. I think he was up
08:56against some really top attacking players. And I think he certainly did really well in
09:03the end.
09:04I wanted to ask as well about how you thought Arsenal sort of getting on without Martin
09:08Odegaard. I mean, it looks like he's going to be out for a little while. The club haven't
09:11officially put a timeline on his return after suffering an ankle injury on international
09:16duty with Norway. But it's obviously having to make Arsenal play in a slightly more conservative
09:21way through the middle of the pitch. Do you think that's having a negative impact or do
09:25you think they're riding that wave quite well at the moment?
09:28So we're just speaking about Odegaard and I think in terms of Mikel Arteta, he was talking
09:32in his press conference this morning. It's going to be three weeks, maybe a bit longer
09:37for Odegaard. We'll probably see him back after the international break. But yeah, I
09:41think to answer your question, Matt, he is certainly being a big miss in the Arsenal
09:45midfield and not just for his midfield ability. I think it's also his leadership that is certainly
09:52missing. He's the captain, of course, and I think a lot of the players in the Arsenal
09:55team look to Odegaard for that kind of leadership. But I think it's really worth noting that
10:03the performance from Arsenal in the last two games without their main man is really has
10:09to be admired because I don't think a lot of teams can be missing such a key player
10:13and get results like that. So I think, yeah, it is a big miss, but Arsenal are showing
10:19that they don't necessarily need him to start every game. And I think it's a good sign that
10:26Arsenal have a lot of depth in their squad at the moment. So, yeah, I think that's good
10:31news and it's positive that he'll be back in the next few weeks.
10:37Well, that's all we've got time for in part one. We'll be back very soon with some chat
10:40about the dark arts and your questions. We'll see you shortly.
Comments