The Chris Wheatley Show is a brand new weekly series talking all things Arsenal and the Premier League. This week, Chris Wheatley and host Jason Jones reveal all about Sheffield United 0-6 Arsenal, latest injury news and much more.
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:03 Hello, welcome to another episode of the Chris Wheatley Show,
00:06 Shots of TV's one-stop shop to keep you in the know on all things Arsenal.
00:10 I'm your host, Jason Jones.
00:12 I'm joined, as always, by Chris Wheatley.
00:14 This week, we'll be talking about another emphatic win for Arsenal on Monday evening.
00:19 As always, we'll be putting your listener questions to Chris as well.
00:22 So without further ado, Chris, it feels a little bit like Groundhog Day, doesn't it?
00:26 It's another Premier League weekend in the books.
00:30 Another huge win for Arsenal, 6-0 over Sheffield United on Monday evening.
00:36 5-0 up by half-time against the Blades.
00:39 And again, another really dominant display from Mikkel Artezma.
00:43 Yeah, absolutely.
00:47 I think Groundhog Day is probably the best description for last night's performance.
00:53 It's been a really good few weeks for Arsenal in terms of results, in terms of performances.
00:59 And they've done it once again against Sheffield United, who, got to be honest with you,
01:04 they look like they're going down without a fight.
01:06 And it was a really poor performance from them.
01:09 Defensively, they fell apart in the opening 35, 38 minutes.
01:14 In fact, I've got a list of stats, which I have to read some of these out to you.
01:18 I mean, Arsenal went five goals ahead by the 39th minute, which is the earliest an away side has had a five goal margin in Premier League history.
01:27 So breaking Premier League records at the moment with their performances, they're blowing teams away.
01:33 We saw this last season where Arsenal were doing so well, and then they fell apart towards the back end of the campaign.
01:40 But at the moment, they do look unstoppable.
01:43 And hopefully I'm not saying that prematurely, but, you know, the performance yesterday was superb.
01:48 And every single player on the pitch from back to front, as Martin Odegaard said after the game, were superb.
01:56 And I think in particular, the pressing off the ball has really improved from last season.
02:01 They've got new players in positions which are really showing their class, like Declan Rice, for example.
02:08 And they've also got players coming back from injury.
02:09 So Thomas Party came on in the second half.
02:12 He's back.
02:13 Would you believe it? From what just seemed like the longest layoff possible.
02:18 And he is back in the team or back in the squad.
02:21 And I think these are really good pieces of news for Arsenal.
02:25 They just need to keep it going, keep the consistency, because at the moment they do look, as I said, unstoppable.
02:33 I mean, you mentioned there that this time last season, you know, Arsenal were also going pretty well.
02:39 But I think it's fair to say that they've reached a new level in recent weeks, haven't they?
02:43 I mean, they are pre-scoring, tearing teams apart for fun.
02:47 And it is difficult to see when they're in the kind of form that they've shown, how any of the sort of, if you like, lesser sides in the division can lay a glove on them.
03:00 Absolutely. And I mean, we could spend the whole 25 minutes just talking about the stats from last night.
03:09 I'm going to list off another one. It's not because I'm being lazy.
03:11 It's just because some of these stats are incredible.
03:14 Arsenal are the first side in English league football to win three successive away games by five plus goals.
03:21 So, I mean, it's football manager stuff, isn't it?
03:24 It's FIFA stuff from Mikkel Arteta's side.
03:28 Players who weren't producing the goods earlier on in the season now, like Kai Havertz, for example, are now scoring and assisting in almost every game.
03:37 You've got Ben White playing at right back, scoring for Arsenal.
03:41 I think at the moment, it's just everything is flowing.
03:45 Everything is clicking for Arteta's side.
03:47 And to be fair, you have to say it's not exactly been an overnight process, has it?
03:53 It has taken a couple of years for this side to really get gelling, for Arteta to sign the right players, to get his players in the team.
04:03 And now everything is coming together.
04:05 It's just whether or not they can keep it going until the end of the season.
04:08 There's not that many games left.
04:10 And of course, they have that Champions League game against Porto to contend with.
04:15 The further they go in Europe, I think the more difficult it's going to be in the league, of course, because they're going to have their eyes on another competition.
04:22 But yeah, it's all positive.
04:24 It's all good. And I think at the moment, Arsenal fans are really happy with what they're seeing.
04:30 And as we've said in recent weeks, another game where Arsenal had six different goal scorers, if you include the own goal that Sheffield United scored.
04:39 But once again, really pleasing to see those goals being shared around the side.
04:44 Yeah, yeah. From back to front.
04:45 And I think Martin Odegaard even said that after the game, as did Mikko Lortetta, that the players are really confident at the moment.
04:54 And it makes you more confident as a team because everyone is scoring rather than just a focal point up front.
05:01 Everyone is sharing out the goals.
05:04 And I think that's a really plus point of this Arsenal team.
05:08 When you look at Manchester City last season, you could say they were overly reliant on Erling Haaland.
05:14 You know, the amount of goals he scored.
05:16 He was such a key player in terms of getting the league title over the line.
05:21 Arsenal are doing things differently.
05:23 They've got a number of players who can really score goals and get numbers in the final third.
05:30 And I think that's one thing that has really been a plus point from the team this season.
05:34 So, yeah, it's looking really good.
05:38 It's looking really positive. And yeah, I think Arsenal are very, very happy at the moment with how things are going.
05:46 I saw some interesting comments from Chris Wilder in the post-match singling out certain Arsenal players.
05:53 Could you perhaps tell us a little bit more about that, Chris?
05:57 Yeah, he singled out Bakayo Saka as the main kind of threat in that Arsenal team.
06:03 I think the exact quote was, "Saka took us to pieces down that side.
06:08 Whatever you need to do, whether it's 5-4 or 4-5, you've got to try to stem the tide, especially when they're in full flow."
06:14 So, you know, he really singled out Saka, who, of course, has got 50-plus assists and goals during his career at Arsenal.
06:23 And he really has been one of the star players from this season.
06:28 It's funny because football, we've been talking about players maybe not delivering the goods or not as good as last season.
06:33 And then they come up with goals and assists and they quiet those critics.
06:39 And yeah, Saka is one of those players who's really done superbly this season.
06:43 Chris Wilder obviously thought he was a huge threat in the game, and he was.
06:48 And I think it was, yeah, I think without being too disrespectful to Sheffield United,
06:55 they do look like a championship side in the Premier League at the moment.
07:00 And I think Arsenal are going to have a lot tougher tests to come, of course.
07:05 Manchester City coming up in a few weeks, Porto as well.
07:09 So I think at the moment you can only play the team that is given to you, but Sheffield United.
07:15 So I'm sorry to say they really, really did look poor yesterday.
07:20 Yeah, I have to agree with you, Chris.
07:22 I think that, I mean, you look how far adrift they are already, you know, 12 games to go, a dozen games to go.
07:28 And I don't see a way that they get out of this, to be perfectly honest with you.
07:32 And I think that the worst thing you can say about them is that they seem to have made that realisation as well,
07:37 that the heads have gone down and they are playing like a team who very much accepted their fate.
07:44 Obviously, at the other end of the table, though, everything is to play for.
07:47 Arsenal still chasing very closely Manchester City and Liverpool, just a matter of points in it.
07:53 As you say, they've got that game against Manchester City coming up.
07:56 I mean, that's going to be absolutely pivotal in this title race, isn't it?
08:01 It is. And I think it comes at the, perhaps the perfect time for Arsenal to play.
08:06 It's just after the international break.
08:08 I heard Jamie Carragher saying that it could be a positive for Arsenal, the fact that it comes so soon after the international break.
08:16 Players don't have too long to train.
08:18 They have to get back in the groove. And that could be a plus for Arsenal.
08:24 Can they go to the Etihad and win at the end of the month?
08:28 It's a good question. And I think it's certainly a possibility because you look at the way Arsenal are playing at the moment.
08:34 They, as I said, everything's clicking, everything's looking good.
08:39 But of course, Pep Guardiola knows how to win big games.
08:42 He knows how to win league titles.
08:45 And if there's anyone who is going to win a league title or at least challenge until the very end, it is Pep Guardiola, of course.
08:52 So it's not just that Manchester City game.
08:55 Of course, that is going to be a tough one.
08:56 But they've got away games against Brighton, a home game against Villa, an away game against Warbs,
09:03 and then an away game against Tottenham, April the 27th.
09:06 So, yeah, it's going to be a tough run in at the end of the season.
09:11 And even looking at the last two games, you've got Manchester United at Old Trafford away from home on May the 11th.
09:18 And then Everton, who are obviously fighting for their lives with a points deduction as the final game of the season.
09:25 So I think Arsenal do have one of the most difficult run ins possible.
09:29 There's games there which are certainly no guaranteed three points in the bag.
09:33 But yeah, at the moment, if you're going off current form, you're going off the way the team are playing at the moment,
09:40 they certainly do have a good chance of going all the way.
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