Arsenal take round one against Udinese in Champions League

by Theo Fan

A club in turmoil thanks to the loss of their best player to the Spanish giants Barcelona. Fans split over the lack of big money signings. A defiant refusal to play anything other than the stylish, beautiful football their philosophy dictates. A fitting introduction to the Arsenal side we all know, but this preamble could well be applied to the Gunners’ Champions League opposition tonight. Udinese Calcio finished 4th in last season’s Serie A and as such travelled to the Emirates Stadium for the first meeting of their two-leg Champions League qualifier against Arsene Wenger’s side. Under the Frenchman Arsenal have never failed to qualify for Europe’s most prestigious cup competition and looked to continue that positive trend as they hosted Italy’s “little zebras” in the capital.

With the recent loss of Cesc Fabregas as he finally departed for the Nou Camp the club’s supporters are once again showing their disunity as the “Arsene Knows Best” crowd go head to head with the hoards of fans pleading for their manager to spend big and bring in a big name, marquee signing. Their opponents Udinese can appreciate just how the Arsenal support are feeling after Barcelona kicked off their summer spending by snatching the Italian sides’ promising young striker Alexis Sanchez for a reported fee of just under £23million.

Although the Italian visitors came into tonight’s game as the underdogs their danger would not have been underestimated. Club captain Antonio Di Natale, speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, described Udinese’s clash with Arsenal as the biggest game in the club’s existence and also rated the satisfaction he felt at captaining the side in the tie alongside making his international debut, signalling just how seriously the Italian team were taking their visit to the Emirates.

Di Natale himself posed a big threat to Arsenal’s defence as Serie A’s top scorer for the past two seasons and the 33 year old would lead from the front as the lone striker in an unfamiliar 4-1-4-1 formation. This change from the usually preferred system of 3-4-1-2 was perhaps brought about by the absence of the spine of the team after the departure of not only Alexis Sanchez but also Gokhan Inler from midfield and Cristian Zapata from the centre of defence.

Their hosts on the other hand had plenty to think about themselves in the build up to this fixture. Alongside the fans’ unrest and the departure of their iconic captain the London side face one of the toughest opening months in the Premier League with a trip to Liverpool between now and the second leg followed by a journey to Old Trafford to face last year’s Champions League finalists Manchester United. The Gunners were without new skipper Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri due to suspension and Jack Wilshere thanks to injury.

Straight from the kick off it was the home side who took the initiative and immediately opened the scoring as Aaron Ramsey made a well timed run down the right hand side to pick up a ball over the top from Bacary Sagna. Ramsay’s run carried him unchallenged to the by-line from where he was able to produce a pin point cross towards Theo Walcott in the six yard box which he obligingly and skilfully turned past Samir Handanovic to give the Gunners an early lead.

In the following five minute spell Arsenal threatened to overrun a weak looking Udinese defence and could have doubled their lead on 9 minutes from a corner but both Thomas Vermaelan and Gervinho failed to take advantage.

The hosts continued their bright start and took advantage of some good wing play down the right hand side as they went in search for a second goal in the first twenty minutes of what was proving to be a much more open game than many had anticipated.

After their slow start Udinese began to grow into the game and repeatedly looked dangerous on the counter attack. An early set piece from Di Natale almost caught out Wojciech Szczesny in the Arsenal goal who was slow to react to the curling effort from range but thankfully for the Polish keeper the crossbar came to his rescue. The visitor’s best chance came when Colombian Pablo Armero powered his way through the heart of Arsenal’s midfield and defence only to be denied by Szczesny who stood his ground well to maintain the home side’s 1-0 lead.

Arsenal’s play was punctuated by a disappointing lack of cohesion upfront between Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh. Chamakh had a particularly under par game upfront and, whether through a lack of fitness or match sharpness, the poor form that plagued him for the latter half of last season made another appearance.

At the interval the scoreline remained 1 – 0. Worryingly for Arsenal Kieran Gibbs, who had had a pretty solid first half, was the first substitution of the evening due to a hamstring injury. He was replaced by Johan Djourou.

From the restart it was clear that Udinese had been given the instruction to advance their formation further into Arsenal territory and close down quicker when out of possession. Udinese’s more proactive play in the second half meant they were able to dominate large spells of the game and the hosts were forced to play on the break.

As many had anticipated Udinese began to suffer from a lack of match fitness late on with their season yet to get underway and with just under ten minutes remaining Arsenal, sensing their opponent’s fatigue, looked to secure a two goal leadto take into the second leg, but thanks to a brilliant Handanovic save from a Walcott strike at the end of a sublime piece of link-up play the final score ended 1–0 to the Arsenal.

The Gunners now take their slim advantage to Italy for the second leg having overcome Udinese despite a strong second half performance from their visitors. Positive performances from Walcott, Ramsey and Gervinho can look to be improved upon for the return fixture and more attention placed on the quality of Arsenal’s final delivery should see them safely through to the group stages of this seasons Champions League.

Udinese will look to turn over the deficit on home soil in a week’s time and will draw confidence from the positive performance they displayed tonight. With their danger man Di Natale popping up from every angle looking for a route to goal and support from Pablo Armero and Giampiero Pinzi the Italian side can consider themselves slightly unlucky not to have scored at the Emirates, but will fancy their chances at home in the second leg.

Theo Fan is a contributor to Just Football and can be found on Twitter @TheFootball_Fan

Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, Theo Walcott, Udinese