Inter Milan 1 Arsenal 3
Big win for Arsenal at the San Siro. From the outside it might look like this game wasn’t important for Arsenal as they’ve basically already secured a top 2 spot in the Champions League table but having dropped points in the last 2 Premier League games without scoring a goal it was important for Arsenal to try and create some momentum against the leaders in the Serie A and that’s exactly what they did. Gabriel Jesus grabbing two goals to stake his claim for starting on Sunday against Manchester United then Victor Gyokeres sealing the win with a lovely finish past Sommer is exactly what Mikel Arteta would have wanted beforehand, whilst Arsenal weren’t entirely comfortable for the entire game giving Inter chances on the counter which Peter Sucic took advantage of scoring a brilliant goal to level the game at the time. The Inter frontline on the day were poor squandering chance after chance with Lautaro and Thuram struggling to keep their shots on target to worry Raya in the Arsenal net, overall a good win for Arsenal to more than likely secure their 1st spot in the Champions League table.
What a night for Gabriel Jesus. It’s taken a while to get his chance in this Arsenal team but he took the opportunity with both hands tonight. One criticism I’ve had of Gabriel Jesus is that he isn’t ruthless enough in front of goal to be a top top striker in this Arsenal team, we all know his ability on the ball can be breath-taking at times but when it comes to consistently scoring and taking chances he struggles. That wasn’t the case at all tonight with Jesus taking both chances that came his way with the first being a great finish on the turn after a deflection kindly fell his way to open the scoring, the second came from an unsurprising source for many Arsenal goals with a corner whipped to the far post were Trossard nodded it back into the six-yard box were Jesus was waiting to head it into an empty net. If Gabriel Jesus can find his form in front of goal he has to be starting in this Arsenal team as he’s by far their best option up front when he’s at his best, it will be interesting to see who Mikel Arteta starts up front on Sunday with both strikers scoring tonight.
Inter yet again can’t win a big game. This seems to be becoming a trend under Cristian Chivu were Inter can’t win the big games in the Serie A and Champions League. Losses in the Champions League to Atletico Madrid, Liverpool and Arsenal, dropping points in the Serie A to Juventus, Napoli twice, AC Milan and going out of the Super Cup to Bologna on penalties is a bad look for an Inter team that has prided itself on winning these games in the past few years, the only ‘big’ game that Inter have won this year was against Roma back in October and whilst it doesn’t look to be affecting them in the league so far as they sit 3 points clear of AC Milan in 2nd you get the feeling that it’s going to hurt them in the Champions League as they won’t be finishing in the top 8 this season. Chivu has to find a way of winning these big games or Inter will be going out of the Champions League sooner rather than later.
Peter Sucic looks like a top player. Inter were always going to be hurt in the midfield with the absence of Hakan Calhanoglu but I thought Peter Sucic looked really good in that team and was the best midfielder on the pitch in my opinion, he took his goal superbly curling past Raya from outside the box but I was more impressed with his overall game on the day against a strong Arsenal midfield albeit without Declan Rice. With Nicolo Barella struggling for form this season so far it’s important that Sucic steps up with that youthful energy that Inter lacks when he’s not playing, I wonder if he can secure that starting spot in Calhanoglu’s absence with Inter having a plethora of options in the midfield with Frattesi and Mkhitaryan waiting in the wings to try and take that spot.
The importance of finishing 1st in the Champions League table cannot be understated. For those that don’t know Arsenal will now play every 2nd leg at home in the knock-out stages all the way up to the final because of their success in the group-phase this season. This is a massive advantage for Arsenal as we all know teams much prefer to play the second leg at home including Arsenal who are unbeaten at the Emirates so far this year, this is a new rule UEFA have introduced this season to give the group-phase more meaning and Arsenal have taken full advantage of it which they will have to make count come the knock-out stages in the next few months.