Huddersfield Town v Arsenal (2018-19)

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Huddersfield Town v Arsenal (2018-19)

Huddersfield Town Arsenal 1 2
Report
Event	Premier League 2018-19
Date	9 February 2019
Venue	John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield
Player of the Match	Alex Iwobi
Referee	Jonathan Moss
Attendance	24,182
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Huddersfield Town v Arsenal was a match which took place at the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday 9 February 2019.

Arsenal manager Unai Emery said finishing in a top-four spot will be "difficult, but we can" after his side's first away win since November at Premier League strugglers Huddersfield.

The result saw the Gunners, who remain sixth, move within a point of fourth-placed Manchester United and level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea, who face Manchester City on Sunday (16:00 GMT).

"We have played 26 games and there is one point between Manchester United and us," Emery said.

"If we ask 'is it easy or difficult for us?' then yes, I think it's difficult, but we can. We are on our way."

Once Alex Iwobi's strike deflected into the bottom right corner off defender Terence Kongolo, the visitors rarely looked like relinquishing the points in Yorkshire.

Alexandre Lacazette's tidy finish from Ainsley Maitland-Niles' cross ensured victory despite a late Huddersfield fight-back.

After Iwobi and Lacazette had squandered chances to increase Arsenal's winning margin, Adama Diakhaby and Laurent Depoitre both went close to scoring for the hosts.

And while Saed Kolasinac's own goal represented the Terriers first, in 597 minutes of football, it was not enough to retrieve a point.

Huddersfield remain marooned at the bottom of the table, 13 points from safety with 12 games remaining.

Arsenal arrived in West Yorkshire in the middle of an indifferent period of form, with three defeats in seven outings during 2019 underlining long-standing defensive issues.

However, bottom club Huddersfield, with one home win all season, were the perfect opponents to get back on track against.

For all the Terriers' admirable qualities, their shortcomings, particularly in attack, allowed Unai Emery's side to brush off the absence of top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and win without being at their best.

The Gunners had won their last three matches against Huddersfield without conceding a goal and looked likely to repeat that feat until Sead Kolasinac inadvertently diverted Adama Diakhaby's effort into his own goal in added time.

In attack, Arsenal's thrust was generally provided down the flanks courtesy of right wing-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles and team-mate Kolasinac on the opposite side.

The Bosnian, who had the second most touches of any Arsenal player [70] behind Maitland-Niles [94], was the architect of the opening goal.

His strong running on the left was followed by a precision cross which allowed Iwobi to volley first time, albeit fortuitously, off Kongolo, into the bottom right corner from 10-yards out.

Maitland-Niles then fashioned the second goal, racing clear on the right and sliding a perfectly weighted ball across the face of goal for Lacazette to score his 12th goal of the campaign.

The Huddersfield supporters must feel that their season is one long broken record.

This reverse, their 11th in 12 games, represented the 10th occasion that they have lost by a single goal. And, as in many of the others, they competed gallantly throughout and were deserving of their late goal but fell short in attack.

While a muted first period only brought a penalty claim - waved away by referee Jonathan Moss - after Jason Puncheon's shot had hit Arsenal captain Laurent Koscielny, they did improve after the break.

Gambling by putting more men forward left them susceptible to Arsenal on the counter, but also allowed them to finally carve out some clear chances.

Juninho Bacuna could have dramatically levelled matters at the death and Adama Diakhaby was inches away from turning in from a corner midway through the half.

Had Laurent Depoitre's right foot shot from 18 yards out found the bottom corner before Kolasinac's own goal, it would have set up a grandstand finish.

Instead, the Terriers, who had not beaten Arsenal since 1971 - 11 years before their new coach Jan Siewert was born - succumbed to a familiar fate.

Match

Details

9 February 2019 15:00	Huddersfield Town	1–2	Arsenal	John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield Attendance: 24,182 Referee: Jonathan Moss
	Kolašinac  90+3' (og)	Report	Iwobi  16' Lacazette  44'

Huddersfield

Arsenal

12 Ben Hamer 02 Tommy Smith 25 Mathias Jørgensen 26 Christopher Schindler 05 Terence Kongolo 56' 10 Aaron Mooy 06 Jonathan Hogg 07 Juninho Bacuna 11 Adama Diakhaby 09 Elias Kachunga 83' 42 Jason Puncheon 66' Substitutes: 08 Philip Billing 13 Joel Coleman 16 Karlan Grant 83' 20 Laurent Depoitre 66' 21 Alex Pritchard 27 Jon Gorenc Stanković 37 Erik Durm 56' Manager: Jan Siewert

19 Bernd Leno 20 Shkodran Mustafi 06 Laurent Koscielny 18 Nacho Monreal 15 Ainsley Maitland-Niles 11 Lucas Torreira 59' 29 Mattéo Guendouzi 31 Sead Kolašinac 07 Henrikh Mkhitaryan 76' 09 Alexandre Lacazette 17 Alex Iwobi 88' Substitutes: 01 Petr Čech 04 Mohamed Elneny 59' 12 Stephan Lichtsteiner 22 Denis Suárez 76' 27 Konstantinos Mavropanos 49 Eddie Nketiah 59 Joe Willock 88' Manager: Unai Emery

See also

• 2018-19 Premier League: Match day 26

External links

• Match report at BBC.co.uk