Leicester and Chelsea's victories in the early matches of round 9 forced Arsenal to defeat Sheffield Utd to reclaim 3rd place in the rankings. Entering this match, coach Unai Emery continued to remove midfielder Mesut Ozil from the squad. The German player is not even on the bench.
Up front, although striker Lacazette has recovered from injury, coach Emery has not rushed to use the French striker. He surprised when he gave young talent Willock the opportunity to be in 10th place.
In addition, the full-back duo Bellerin - Tierney are also not allowed to start despite being ready to play.
On the home side of Sheffield United, coach Chris Wilder made two changes compared to the 0-0 draw against Watford. Both changes came from the attack, with David McGoldrick and Lys Mousset replacing Oli Mc burnie and Callum Robinson.
With personnel changes, Arsenal did not start well at Bramall Lane. The Gunners actively played offensively but had difficulty in defending - a very uncomfortable counter-attack by Sheffield Utd. It was not until the 21st minute that Emery's side created the first significant chance from a counter-attack. Kolasinac crossed an ideal ball for Nicolas Pepe but the Ivorian star missed the ball.
Having held the ball and attacked many times without scoring, Arsenal had to pay the price. In the 30th minute, from a corner kick, center back O'Connell headed the ball to striker Mousset's feet and the new player from Sheffield United taped the ball into the Arsenal net from close range.
With just a moment of brilliance in a set piece, Sheffield Utd created an advantage. And from that advantage, coach Chris Wilder's team became more disadvantaged with their defensive - counter-attacking tactics.
In contrast, Arsenal fell into a deadlock. They are forced to use long-range shots in the hope of making a difference. This option almost brought the Gunners an equalizer in the first half's extra time, but Xhaka's powerful volley from 25m was blocked by goalkeeper Henderson.
Impaired in attack, coach Unai Emery was forced to adjust personnel early in the second half by sending midfielder Dani Ceballos onto the field to replace Joe Willock. This change did not make a big difference for the Gunners' attack. In the 61st minute, Sheffield Utd almost doubled the gap with a powerful shot from John fleck. Goalkeeper Leno was helpless but the ball went just wide of the goal.
The impatience made Arsenal attack even more deadlocked. Therefore, coach Emery was forced to increase the personnel of the front line by bringing on the striker duo Lacazette and Martinelli (replacing Xhaka and Pepe). With these two changes, Arsenal put more pressure on Sheffield Utd's goal.
However, what Arsenal needed was a goal and it did not come. Throughout the match, they launched 9 shots but only 3 were on target. Against Sheffield Utd's tight defense, the Gunners were helpless and had to accept defeat. After this defeat, Arsenal is stuck in 5th place in the rankings with 15 points, 2 points behind the Top 3. Meanwhile, rookie Sheffield United continued to show an impressive performance and climbed to 9th with 12 points, only 3 points behind Arsenal.
