HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1, ARSENAL 2
First half goals by Alex Iwobi and Alexandre Lacazette saw Arsenal beat Huddersfield Town to record their first Premier League win on the road since November 25, 2018.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Gunners had suffered four defeats and a draw since a 2-1 win at Bournemouth on November 25 but didn’t look convincing in beating the Premier League’s rock bottom club and could have thrown away a 2-0 lead in injury time.
It was no surprise that the Gunners failed to keep a clean sheet away from home in the league yet again after the Terriers scored only their sixth goal at home – albeit an own goal by Sead Kolasinac in injury time – having earlier been denied a penalty for a handball.
It’s been a long nine months since the heady days of May 2018 when the Terriers had already secured Premier League safety and could enjoy playing host to Arsene Wenger’s final match in charge of Arsenal.
Away draws against Manchester City and Chelsea had secured safety before the final day of last season but the Terriers have found this season much tougher.
Town boss Jan Siewert made four changes from the 5-0 defeat at Chelsea after declaring that the Terriers could still avoid relegation.
The reality is that Town are preparing for life in the Championship and there does appear to be a new, quicker, plan in place going forward but the Terriers were once again unlucky in front of goal.
Jonas Lossl was ruled out alongside Chris Lowe following illness with Isaac Mbenza ruled out for up to six weeks after tearing a calf muscle at Chelsea. Philip Billing stepped down to the bench.
Ben Hamer, Mathias Zanka, Jonathan Hogg, and Jason Puncheon replaced them.
The Gunners welcomed back Henrikh Mkhitaryan from injury and he replaced the sick Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to bring some much needed creativity to Arsenal.
Stephan Lichtsteiner, who was partly at fault for all of Manchester City’s goals when the Gunners went to the Etihad last weekend, was replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles at right back as Unai Emery made just two changes from the side that were well beaten by City.
Arsenal enjoy good fortune and lead Huddersfield Town
The Gunners made the early running after three chances in little over a minute after just 8 minutes.
Alexandre Lacazette was perfectly dispossessed by a backtracking Terence Kongolo after Alex Iwobi had put him clean through in the area.
Iwobi hit the side netting and soon after his cross for Lacazette saw the striker put the ball wide from 6 yards out in an attacking opening for the Gunners.
Iwobi was lucky to score in the 16th minute after his tame shot from Kolasinac’s cross took a deflection off the heels of Kongolo and deceived Hamer in the Town goal.
The Terriers were denied a clear penalty after 26 minutes when Jason Puncheon’s powerful shot into the area was deflected by Laurent Koscielny’s hand into a sensitive area of his groin but referee Jon Moss refused to give a penalty.
Moss also missed Elias Kachunga accidentally stamping on Kolasinac as he lay on the ground after losing his balance tangling with the Arsenal defender.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan should have increased Arsenal’s lead after being left unmarked when he received Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ cross on the edge of the area in the 39th minute but his shot was poor and Hamer made the save on his line.
At this stage of the season, the Town fans could laugh at the inept shooting by the Armenian – chanting “How s*** must you be, it’s only 1-0”.
The Gunners duly responded just before half time with Mkhitaryan turning away from three Town defenders on the edge of the box before releasing Ainsley Maitland-Niles who was running up the right flank.
The Gunners’ youngster crossed for a tap-in by Lacazette in the 44th minute.
Adama Diakhaby proves troublesome for Arsenal
Town by comparison had tried hard all game, with the very quick winger Adama Diakhaby proving difficult to track.
He was tackled by Koscielny at the start of the second half and had a fierce shot from the edge of the box saved by Bernd Leno a couple of minutes after the German keeper had saved a rising shot by Juninho Bacuna.
Including today, the Terriers have only scored 6 goals at home in the Premier League this term and this level of profligacy has cost them dearly.
Mohamed Elneny came on just before the hour mark for Lucas Torreira and almost made it 3-0 but his header from a Mkhitaryan cross went wide.
Iwobi had a shot saved by Hamer as the Gunners looked to make sure of victory after Mkhitaryan had slid him through.
Town had a late flourish when Leno spilled a long range effort by Diakhaby with nobody around to tap in the rebound.
Second half sub Laurent Depoitre shot wide with just Leno to beat from a difficult angle as Town finished strongly and the Gunners looked to be holding on to their lead with one eye on their trip to Belarus to play BATE Borisov on Thursday.
Town’s January signing Karlan Grant made his home debut for Kachunga with 7 minutes to go and almost had an immediate impact.
His late shot from a loose ball was cleared off the line by Nacho Monreal after Depoitre’s shot had been saved by Leno.
There was some late drama as Kolasinac contrived to put through his own net in the 3rd minute of stoppage time after Aaron Mooy’s forward pass was hit against Leno by Diakhaby and span away into the path of the Bosnian whose swiped attempt to clear went badly wrong.
And Bacuna was denied an unlikely equaliser for Town after Leno saved his last gasp effort.
GOALS – Huddersfield Town 1, Arsenal 2
Huddersfield Town 0, Arsenal 1: 16. Sead Kolasinac crossed to Alex Iwobi whose tame shot into the ground deceived Ben Hamer with a deflection off Terence Kongolo
Huddersfield Town 0, Arsenal 1: 44. Alexandre Lacazette had a simple tap-in from 3 yards after Henrikh Mkhitaryan released Ainsley Maitland-Niles for a cross from the right wing.
Huddersfield Town 1, Arsenal 2: 90+3. Sead Kolasinac put through his own goal after Aaron Mooy’s through ball was struck against Leno by Adama Diakhaby and span up into the path of the Bosnian defender.
MATCH STATS – Huddersfield Town 1, Arsenal 2
Huddersfield Town: Hamer, Smith, Zanka, Schindler, Kongolo (Durm 56), Mooy, Hogg, Bacuna, Puncheon (Depoitre 67), Kachunga (Grant 83), Diakhaby
Huddersfield Town Subs not used: Coleman, Billing, Pritchard, Stankovic
Booked: Schindler 36 (trip on Lacazette), Kongolo 49 (professional foul on Iwobi)
Goal: Kolasinac og 90+3
Arsenal: Leno, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Torreira (Elneny 59), Kolasinac, Iwobi (Willock 88), Lacazette, Mkhitaryn (Suarez 76)
Arsenal Subs not used: Cech, Lichtsteiner, Mavropanos, Nketiah
Booked: Maitland-Niles 55 (Trip on Kongolo)
Goals: Iwobi 16, Lacazette 44
Attendance: 24,182 (2,113 Arsenal fans)