Arsenal have traded St James’ Park for San Siro but the scoreline has stayed the same. In a few days they have lost to Newcastle and Internazionale. They have lost Edu, too, and if the corridors of power are emptier, the numbers of reverses are growing.
And yet, while they repeated their result at Newcastle on Saturday, it was a defeat with a difference. Meek on Tyneside, Arsenal rediscovered their resolve. After their worst performance of the season came one of the better ones. There are no prizes for winning the shot on target and corner counts, but Arsenal chalked up resounding triumphs, of 5-1 and 13-0.
But they lost the game to Internazionale. Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty formed part of a trilogy of misfortune for Mikel Merino; denied a spot kick at one end, blameless as he conceded one at the other, removed at half-time, it was not one Spaniard’s day. Nor another’s; Mikel Arteta has his own issues with referee Istvan Kovacs, getting first a yellow card and then a final warning for his appraisal of the Hungarian’s efforts.
More intriguing, perhaps, was Arteta’s message to his own team. There are times when he can appear too cautious. Not away to the 2023 Champions League finalists and 2024 Scudetto winners, however. When Merino departed at half-time, Arteta was short of midfielders – Martin Odegaard returned to the bench after 12 games out, but only made an injury-time cameo, while his reappearance was offset by the loss of Declan Rice – so he took the handbrake off, brought on Gabriel Jesus, moved Kai Havertz a little deeper and played, in effect, a front five. If Thomas Partey looked lonely at times as 4-3-3 could become 4-1-5, Arsenal penned Inter in. The Serie A champions, to use the verb beloved of many an Italian manager, had to suffer. They did, with Yann Bisseck and Denzel Dumfries outstanding, and their determination and concentration underlining why only they and Atalanta have a clean sweep of clean sheets in the Champions League this season.
Arsenal’s full-blooded efforts suggested they passed a test of character and yet came in vain. Dumfries cleared Mehdi Taremi’s header off the line, sparing the striker an own goal. Havertz had a curler clawed away by Yann Sommer and a shot deflected wide by Bisseck. Arsenal may have lacked the moment of class or invention, maybe something a fully-fit Odegaard could have offered, but not the application. They camped themselves in Inter’s half.
It may have altered the mood, if not the result. In the context of the group, Arsenal may not need the equaliser they sought here. In the context of their week, however, they needed a response.
They got one, when the initial omens were worrying. They began with the sound descending from San Siro’s steepling stands, the early energy coming from Simone Inzaghi’s side on the pitch. Dumfries rattled the underside of the bar after 100 seconds, Calhanoglu shot narrowly wide after 150. Welcome to Milan.
And yet Arsenal’s wingers, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, made their initial incursions as they grew into the game. Inter had made far more passes, but Arsenal first drew level and then moved past their hosts, ending with a 60 percent share of possession. Which, again, does not alter the standings.
The temptation for Arsenal would be to view it as a game of two decisions. First Merino unceremoniously clattered by Sommer as he headed Martinelli’s enticing cross just wide. No spot kick was awarded. Then Teremi volleyed the ball onto Merino’s hand, the Spaniard too close to react. A different decision came on the stroke of half-time and Calhanoglu stroked the ball past David Raya.
And if Inter spent much of the remainder of the match on the back foot, the result offered a vindication. They have faced last season’s top two from the Premier League already, drawn away at the champions Manchester City and beaten Arsenal at home. Each, notably, has been with what could seem a weakened team.
If the new Champions League format was supposed to stop managers confident of qualification fielding weakened teams, the presence of Nicolo Barella, Federico Dimarco and Marcus Thuram on the Inter bench suggested Sunday’s table-topping clash with Napoli assumed more importance for Simone Inzaghi. Yet Inzaghi can excel at perming from his squad; his decisions were vindicated again and now the Champions League table, showing Inter in fifth, looks healthy for them.
For Arsenal, a first defeat in the competition this year comes among different sorts of losses. Some two decades ago, Edu was a scorer in the Invincibles’ semi-final 5-1 win over Inter at San Siro. Once again, Arsenal conceded one; this time, they did not get the five. But if they could not take a point back from Italy, at least they could return with an illustration of their doggedness.