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Arsenal vs. Watford. Four conclusions after the game.
Arsenal made it five Premier League wins in a row on Saturday, scoring twice in the space of two minutes against Watford.
A blistering finish from Mesut Ozil and an automatic goal from Craig Cathcart secured all three points for the Canaries, but there were plenty of other points to be made in the match.
Arsenal too tight
Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette, Lucas Torreira and Granit Džaka were often packed too tightly together, especially in the first half, as Arsenal struggled to cope with a well-organised Watford back four. An average map of the players' positions for the first 45 minutes also shows that Aubameyang had to go deeper to keep himself out of the game. He had just 10 touches in the first half and was eventually replaced by Danny Welbeck.
However, the introduction of Alex Iwobi in the 63rd minute helped spark Arsenal's attacking moves and the Nigerian himself had a hand in both goals, firstly by forcing Craig Cathcart into a mistake and later with a superb pass to Lacazette.
Holding firm
Rob Holding has made virtually no mistakes since joining FC Vorskla 10 days ago. Since Sokratis' injury against Everton, Holding has played in all four of Arsenal's last four games, and has lent a hand/leg to Arsenal's first two 'wedge-sheets' of the season.
Against Watford, he had to withstand the physical pressure of Troy Deeney for 90 minutes, but his best performance was a second-half block to deny Isaac Saxess.
In addition to that crucial block, he made seven takeaways, three interceptions and nine tackles.
Sokratis has returned to full training but will now have to fight for Holding's place in the starting line-up.
Leno asserts his rights
Another player who was instrumental in the second successive drought was Bernd Leno. He had little chance of making his Premier League debut yesterday had Petr Cech not been injured just before the break.
Within five minutes of the restart, the German made a fine save from Deeney's dangerous close-range drive. He made two more saves and was also involved in a number of good saves in front of his own goal against a team that kept the Arsenal defence under constant pressure.
"Ugly" win.
The win was the seventh in a row, but not for the first time this season the Canaries won in the second half when the score was "rolling".
Arsenal didn't threaten Watford's goal very often, managing just nine shots in 90 minutes, but the ability to win ugly has long been valuable in the Premier League.
After last week's game against Everton, Petr Cech spoke of the importance of "digging deep when you're not playing very well".
That is exactly what Arsenal did yesterday. Arsenal have yet to lead the Premier League this season, but the Gunners' second-half goals in five successive victories have lifted them to fifth place. "Arsenal are the only team in the league to have taken maximum points from their last five games.
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