Post-Match Report

Huddersfield 1-2 Arsenal: How it happened

Alex Iwobi scores at Huddersfield
Alex Iwobi scores at Huddersfield

Huddersfield Town -

John Smith's Stadium
Premier League
Premier League
  Huddersfield Town
      
              S. Kolašinac (90 + 3 og)
          
   crest
Huddersfield Town
S. Kolašinac (90 + 3 og)
1 - 2
  Arsenal
      
                  A. Iwobi (15)
                   A. Lacazette (44)
            
   crest
Arsenal
A. Iwobi (15)
A. Lacazette (44)

By Chris Harris at John Smith’s Stadium

WHAT HAPPENED

We stayed in the thick of the chase for a top-four finish thanks to goals from Alex Iwobi and Alex Lacazette.

 

Iwobi gave us the lead with a goal that required good technique - and a stroke of luck.

 

Keeping his eye on a deep cross from Sead Kolasinac, the Nigeria international did well to keep over the ball and send it goalwards.

 

A fortuitous clip off the heel of Terence Kongolo wrongfooted goalkeeper Ben Hamer, and he couldn’t recover to keep the ball out.

 

Huddersfield - starved of goals this season - ramped up the pressure at times with a string of dangerous crosses into our box.

 

They were particularly threatening on the right with Adama Diakhaby, but our back three - marshalled expertly by Laurent Koscielny - got heads and bodies in the way.

 

We played on the counter-attack and, eventually, our quality told again.

 

This time Henrikh Mkhitaryan led a lightning break and, after losing possession, he immediately retrieved the ball and found Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the right.

 

He rolled the ball across the six-yard box and Lacazette tapped in from close range.

 

That sucked the life out of the home side, but they kept coming at us.

 

Bernd Leno made a decent save to deny Diakhaby and Nacho Monreal cleared off the line, but the Premier League’s bottom club did get a goal back in stoppage time as we were made to work for the points.

Lacazette doubles our lead

Lacazette doubles our lead

THREE THINGS WE NOTICED

Coming soon

HOW IT HAPPENED

See how our latest Premier League game unfolded with our play-by-play commentary

WHAT IT MEANS

This result keeps us in sixth place.

 

We’re a point behind Manchester United and level on points with Chelsea - who face Manchester City on Sunday.

 

Premier League table, February 9

Premier League table, February 9

TEAM NEWS

Unai Emery was without three prominent attacking players for this game.

 

Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were both ill, and Aaron Ramsey missed out with a slight knee problem.

 

On the flip side, Mkhitaryan and Maitland-Niles were fit to return to the squad.

 

Joe Willock was also drafted in, starting on the bench alongside loan signing Denis Suarez.

 

 

WHAT’S NEXT

Our next two games are both in the Europa League.

 

We travel to Minsk to face BATE Borisov in the first leg of our last-32 tie on Thursday. The Belarussian side visit Emirates Stadium for the return leg on February 21.

 

Our next Premier League game is against Southampton at home on February 24.