Saturday was a great day (see below) but Sunday made the weekend much better. I was able to watch both Arsenal Men and Arsenal Women and that is not always possible because of the number of times Arsenal Men are moved to a Sunday.
I started slowly again on day two watching a bit of Bristol City women v. Durham in the Womens Championship. I switched to the Chelsea Women v. Manchester United match and saw Chelsea proving that they are probably the best team in the Womens Super League at the moment.
We had visitors over so I had to miss the last part of that match as the roast meal and the entertaining took over which I allowed as I had the two matches coming up at 4:30pm and at 6:45pm. My daughter cooked a delicious roast. Gammon and Turkey. ... (shut it!)
The visitors agreed to sit down and watch the start of Arsenal against Tottenham Hotspur (There! I have said it now) although they were leaving around half time. Given what happened I think they made the best choice.
Arsenal came out of the gates steaming at 100 miles an hour and set about taking Spurs apart. I said at the time and I stand by the statement "We always do that". Generally after 15 minutes of wasted effort we sit back and let the other team win but NOT TODAY. Twenty minutes in we slowed slightly but TODAY the goals came.
Saka broke down the right hand side and crossed to Aubameyang but Smith-Rowe was fast approaching and slid the ball into the net. We love this young lad who wears his socks rather like a certain Jack Grealish. He is definitely one for the future and while he is on his way there he is producing what we need TODAY.
Smith-Rowe broke down the left fed by Aubameyang and then looked up briefly while sprinting forward and delivered the perfect pass for Aubameyang himself to pop the ball into the net and put Arsenal 2-0 up.
Goal three was the Bukayo Saka moment. He approached the penalty area from the right hand side and FOUR Spurs defenders let him walk through them and score the third of the THREE ARSENAL FIRST HALF GOALS.
The visitors left at half time and I hope they were buzzing with the Arsenal performance. We must invite them again as once they left Arsenal went backwards and started worrying about the opposition who offered very little. It was still enough to score, though, and the match finished 3-1.
ARSENAL 3 TOTTENHAM 1
Then it was on to the women who were taking on Manchester City who were a great threat last season but appear not to be this season.
The first goal was a keeper error as she rushed out of her area and did not clear the ball. Beth Mead picked up the loose ball and passed to Vivianne Miedema and only has to bisect two defenders to put the ball into the net.
The second goal was a "Kim Little Special" as she used her dancing feet to skip through the three defenders who were on her to put the ball in the back of the net. The girls were trying to outperform the men was my thought at this point.
The third goal was a "Katie McCabe Special" as she raced away ahead of the defenders then as she received the ball the defenders got past her so she side stepped and slotted the ball home. A very satisfying third goal for the Arsenal.
The fourth goal came when Kim Little was tripped in the penalty area. In the men's game it would probably have resulted in a "took too long to go down" decision but it was a correct one and Kim herself took the penalty. She had to wait for a couple of substitutions but said afterwards that she uses breathing slowly to calm the nerves. She did. GOAL! 4-0!
Leah Williamson completed the scoring with a clear header just inside the post so very well directed. This was a comprehensive Arsenal victory over a side that did make chances to score. It was not all one way.
ARSENAL 5 MANCHESTER CITY 0
A TRULY GREAT WEEKEND FOR ME AND MY FOOTBALL TEAMS
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