Arsenal can feel aggrieved by penalty decision but Inter Milan defeat sums up their season

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Evening Standard

·6 November 2024

Arsenal can feel aggrieved by penalty decision but Inter Milan defeat sums up their season

Lack of cutting edge sees recent slump continue

In many ways, this was a performance that summed up Arsenal’s season so far.

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Solid defensively, on the wrong side of a contentious refereeing decision - but ultimately lacking a cutting and ruthless edge in attack.

This was always likely to be a tight game given Arsenal and Inter Milan came into it having both not conceded in the Champions League this season.

The two sides had also scored just eight goals between them in six Champions League games and, in the end, Inter needed only one to win this game.

Arsenal will, rightly, feel aggrieved about it. Inter launched a free-kick into the box just before half-time and the ball fired into Mikel Merino’s arm.

The midfielder knew nothing about it, just yards away from where the ball was struck, but the referee Istvan Kovacs pointed to the spot.

The moment: Mikel Merino was adjudged to have handled in the Arsenal box

AFP via Getty Images

Hakan Calhanoglu made no mistake and Inter took the lead with their first and only shot on target of the game.

Arsenal had largely kept them at bay, apart from when Denzel Dumfries crashed an effort into the crossbar in the opening moments.

It was a stop-start opening 45 minutes, thanks largely to the fact it had 13 fouls, but Arsenal were shading possession and looked in control before Inter’s goal.

The frustration was in attack, however, Arteta’s side once again looked toothless. They finished the game with 20 shots, but just four were on target.

They carried a threat from set-pieces, as they always do, and Dumfries had to clear the ball off the line after Mehdi Taremi accidentally headed Saka’s corner towards his own goal.

In open play, though, the Gunners were not as threatening as they can be - certainly not like they were last season.

Kai Havertz drew an excellent save from Yann Sommer and Yann Bisseck made a heroic block to deny him as well.

They were two bright moments in a better second-half from Arsenal, who improved once Gabriel Jesus came on at the break in place of Merino.

The Brazilian upped the tempo and added more of a spark, which was also the case when Ethan Nwaneri and Oleksandr Zinchenko were thrown on with 10 minutes to go.

Martin Odegaard came on for the final few minutes, with Havertz leaving the pitch as blood poured from his head following a clash with Bisseck.

How Arsenal have missed Odegaard in these two months and the sight of him here, even if only for a few minutes, was one positive for Arteta to take back to London.