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A much-changed Arsenal side travelled to Portugal this afternoon for their UEFA Europa League tie with Vitoria SC, with boss Unai Emery making a total of eight changes from the side that drew with Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend.
The Gunners defeated Vitoria 3-2 last month at the Emirates Stadium, with two late Nicolas Pepe free-kicks sparing their blushes after falling behind to the Portuguese side twice, but if their fans were expecting a better showing at the Estadio D. Afonso Henriques, they were sorely mistaken.
Emery’s side struggled greatly against their Portuguese opponents, and could’ve gone behind on numerous occasions before Vitoria began to tire somewhat in the second half. Eventually Arsenal took the lead through a Shkodran Mustafi header, only to leak a late equaliser from Bruno Duarte, who found the net with an acrobatic bicycle kick. After another late scare for the Gunners, the game eventually finished 1-1.
Here are 3 reasons why Arsenal drew with Vitoria SC.
#1 Nicolas Pepe’s fantastic set-piece delivery
French forward Nicolas Pepe – who cost Arsenal a hefty £72m in the summer – hasn’t quite lived up to his price tag yet, but at times we have seen flashes of what he’s capable of, and perhaps his most notable contribution came in the Europa League game with Vitoria in October. Arsenal were trailing the game 1-2 before two expertly taken free-kicks from Pepe found the net to steal away all three points.
Arsenal were struggling greatly to break down Vitoria in today’s game and failed to create any decent chances, but when Unai Emery’s side won a free-kick on 80 minutes on the left hand edge of the penalty box, up stepped their record signing again.
Pepe floated a wonderfully weighted cross into the box, and the ball found defender Shkodran Mustafi who rose to find the net with a clean header.
The goal essentially came against the run of play – it was Arsenal’s only attempt on target during the entire game – but it was almost enough to hand the Gunners another valuable three points.
Pepe had a relatively quiet game overall but if this goal is anything to judge by he remains one of the most dangerous players in the world right now from dead-ball situations.
#2 Vitoria show Arsenal no respect
It was clear from the off that Vitoria SC had little to no respect for the reputation and skills of their English opponents, and in all honesty it’d be easy to argue that they probably deserved all three points in this match. They flew out of the traps in the early going, with Pepe hitting the bar from long range and former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Marcus Edwards testing Emiliano Martinez with a drive from the edge of the box.
Later in the first half, the Portuguese side caught Arsenal cold from set-pieces, with both Davidson and Frederico Venancio wasting excellent chances after the Gunners’ defence was caught napping. Venancio’s header, in particular, was a gilt-edged chance that really should’ve ended in a goal.
It looked like Vitoria were going to pay for their profligacy when Shkodran Mustafi opened the scoring for Arsenal, but eventually, the Portuguese side were able to find a goal when a good run and cross from Edwards was cleared badly by the Gunners, allowing Bruno Duarte to acrobatically find the net with a bicycle kick.
It was no less than Vitoria deserved – they had 15 shots to Arsenal’s 7 in this game and will probably count themselves unlucky.
#3 Arsenal were completely devoid of creativity
To say this was an under-par performance from Arsenal would be an understatement; even if the game had ended 0-1, the pressure on boss Unai Emery would not have been relieved due to the nature of the match. The Gunners managed just 7 shots across the 95 minutes of play and Shkodran Mustafi’s goal was their only attempt on target.
Emery set up in a 3-4-3 formation, with a defence of Rob Holding, Sokratis and Mustafi behind a midfield of Kieran Tierney, Dani Ceballos, Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, with the trio of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe up front.
The idea appeared to be for Arsenal to attack through the wide areas of the pitch, with Ceballos and Willock providing the passes, but this didn’t work at all; the lack of bite in midfield left the Gunners’ back line exposed at times with Holding in particular struggling on the left side of defence.
To compound matters, Saka and Tierney were completely unable to link up on the left, while Maitland-Niles also struggled on the right, meaning that Arsenal had very little in the way of creativity and Martinelli was left chasing shadows.
Not to play down the level of Portugal’s Primeira Liga, but a Premier League team chasing a Champions League spot should be able to deal comfortably with a side like Vitoria, and the fact that they didn’t should be pretty damning for Emery.
At this stage of the season he ought to have some idea of his best XI and that just doesn’t appear to be the case. As pundit Martin Keown stated post-match, these are worrying times for Arsenal fans.
