If Arsenal really are the symphony orchestra that Jurgen Klopp so colourfully described, there can be no doubt who has emerged this season as their lead conductor.
Aaron Ramsey had begun yesterday by being voted Arsenal’s player of the month for an unprecedented fourth successive time and ended it by scoring the winner in a hugely significant 1-0 win against Borussia Dortmund.
It was Ramsey’s 11th Arsenal goal in 17 games this season; more than doubling his haul in the previous three years and 92 matches for Arsenal. Most significantly, it also leaves Arsenal dominantly placed at the top of Champions League Group F, with victory in their final home game against Marseille almost certain to guarantee their passage to the last 16 for a 12th straight season.
Incredibly, the result also extends Arsenal’s away record to 14 wins and one draw since they beat Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in March. It is difficult to overstate the achievement of beating Dortmund away. Klopp’s side have won every game they have played this season at the Westfalenstadion and also beaten all opposition here in the Champions League since the end of the 2011-12 season.
It was hardly the revelation of the century but Dortmund would still have preferred to not wake up yesterday to further headlines about the future of their star striker Robert Lewandowski.The Pole is out of contract at the end of the season and made it absolutely clear that he would not be signing another deal, telling Bild newspaper that he wants to “experience something new”. That something new is widely assumed to be Bayern Munich but leading English clubs will also be making their own enquiries.
Arsenal ought to be prominent among those, with their reliance on Olivier Giroud likely to tell during the second-half of the season should they not add sufficient back-up. Such uncertainty has not been affecting Lewandowski’s on-field contributions and, with Marco Reus roaming infield and Jakub Blaszczykowski pressurising Kieran Gibbs down Arsenal’s left, the first clear chance of last night fell to Dortmund.
Per Mertesacker, though, has been one of several Arsenal players to noticeably raise his level this season and read the danger superbly to intercept Lewandowski inside his own penalty area. With 24 goals this season in only seven home games, the threat to Arsenal’s improved back four was always going to be considerable and Dortmund remained on the front foot.
The so-called Yellow Wall of Dortmund’s wonderful Westfalenstadion was in good voice but, in Mertesacker, they were initially finding themselves running into a wall of Arsenal’s own. His presence stifled another two Dortmund attacks before Neven Subotic volleyed narrowly wide after Aaron Ramsey had failed to clear Reus’s freekick. When Arsenal did get the ball, they were repeatedly finding themselves swarmed by three or four yellow shirts and completely unable to establish any sort of rhythm.
Blaszczykowski and Reus were also continuing to compliment Dortmund’s relentless work-rate with touches of the highest quality but, in Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, were discovering that Arsenal’s defence really does have rather more solidity than recent seasons. With Mikel Arteta guilty of a rare lapse in concentration, Mertesacker made what was his fourth vital interception of the first-half to then dispossess Reus.
Arsenal again rode their luck in the 37th minute when Blaszczykowski pounced after Koscielny had fouled Lewandowksi. Referee Bjorn Kuipers had correctly played advantage, with Blaszczykowski feeding Henrikh Mkhitaryan who wastefully side-footed what should have been a simple finish wide of Wojciech Szczesny’s right-hand post.
Arsenal did just begin to establish their passing game towards the end of the first-half, with Arteta growing in influence, but Dortmund’s energy off the ball meant that Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil and Giroud were finding themselves starved of meaningful service. Dortmund’s territorial advantage was such that Arsenal had reached half-time without having a single shot on target.
The basic pattern was unaffected by the interval with Dortmund continuing to create the best chances and Arsenal sometimes ragged, sometimes brilliant and occasionally lucky to keep the game goalless. The second-half brilliance initially came from Szczesny, who dived at full length to palm Reus’ header to safety and then got down quickly to block Blaszczykowski’s powerful low shot.
Arsenal were in need of something or someone to provide some respite and, just as they appeared to be wilting, it came from a predictable source. On what was their first meaningful attack of the second-half, Aaron Ramsey muscled his way inside the Dortmund defence and directed his header past Roman Weidenfeller.
Tomas Rosicky, returning to the club where he spent six years, and Giroud had also played a critical part in the build-up to the goal with a swift interchange of passing. Dortmund were stunned and Arsenal then twice came within inches of adding a second. First Ramsey forced a goal-saving block from Sokratis Papastathopoulos and then Giroud’s shot was saved on the goalline by a combination of Nuri Sahin and Weidenfeller.
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