Arsenal easily defeated a terrible Sheffield United team at Bramall Lane to win the Premier League for the seventh time in a row. Against the bottom team in the league, the Gunners led 5-0 at the interval after taking a 3-0 lead after just 13 minutes. Mikel Arteta’s team scored goals through Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Declan Rice, and Ben White, plus an own goal from Jayden Bogle.
Arsenal moves two points behind leaders Liverpool thanks to the victory. Withames left, Sheffield United are 11 points from safety,, while the Gunners are in the middle of the title fight. It took Arsenal five minutes to score, and the only surprise was how long it took them. Before the ball, they split United open down the left.
The lead was increased in the thirteenth minute when Bogle mishandled a low cross from Bukayo Saka into his own net, tangles his legs, and the ball bounces off his ankle. Martinelli then immediately extended the lead with a deflection after Jakob Kiwior cut back.
Havertz made it 4-0 in the first half as spectators began to pour out of Bramall Lane once more when he tucked into the bottom corner after a Martinelli through pass.
Arsenal easily navigated past United, and on minute 39, Rice finished low past the struggling home goalkeeper Ivo Grbic after another nifty sequence of short passes.
At the half, the visitors did not let up as right-back White scored with a powerful shot following another clever play.
While United, who looks certain to be relegated, is the first English league team to lose four straight home games in all competitions while giving up five goals or more, the Arsenal have become the first team in the league to win three straight away games by a margin of five goals or more.
With Manchester City’s derby victory on Sunday and Liverpool’s dramatic success at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Arsenal needed to bounce back to stay ahead in the title race.
They most definitely did by destroying their meek and constrained opponents with merciless efficiency and showing no mercy.
Arsenal struck the bar and had a shot deflected inside within the first two minutes, setting the tone.
Saka, who will always carry regret for his first-half mauling of Auston Trusty down the left, cut in from the right, regaining possession of the ball through a deflection, and sent a shot off the woodwork before Martinelli’s attempt was blocked.
A few minutes later, Arsenal had the ball in the net and was rolling. They had hit the 10-shot threshold by the 22nd minute. They possessed the ball for 80% of the first half.
Arsenal’s assault is blazing in 2024, but Sheffield United’s lack of talent will be well recognized. In just seven Premier League games this year, they have scored 31 goals and won every one of them.
The only drawback for Arsenal was that Martinelli needed assistance from the pitch in the second half with an injury to his right leg.
This was an unorthodox back four for Blades boss Chris Wilder, who was trying to force some sort of cohesive tune out of his struggling team. Trusty, a former Arsenal defender, was on the left flank.
Wilder hastily switched to a back five after the third goal, yanking off the unfortunate Ollie Norwood, but it felt like moving deckchairs on the Titanic—too little, too late.
The fan reaction will be more concerning for Wilder and United. Within the first fifteen minutes, a large number of people had left Bramall Lane, and those who were left could hardly be persuaded to jeer their side.
On the pitch, there seems to be more wrath, but in the stands, there’s a sense of resignation.
Anel Ahmedhodzic, the captain of the Blades, violently threw Martinelli to the ground during the build-up to the fourth goal, as the Brazilian attempted to pass the ball to the German. Havertz scored as advantage was used.
Ahmedhodzic’s play was awful, and it’s clear where his team’s priorities are at the moment.
(BBC)
