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26 minutes ago
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Key events
88 min: It’s all petering out now. Arsenal fans care not a jot, as they run through their champions songbook.
86 min: … so having said that, nine seconds later, Torp crosses from the left and finds Rudoni in the middle, six yards out. Rudoni has to score, but slaps a header straight at Raya. That should have been the consolation.
85 min: Onyeka sprays a long pass down the left for Awoniyi to chase … but there’s simply no way past Mosquera, who escorts him away from danger. Coventry haven’t threatened a consolation at all.
83 min: Coventry welcome back Hamer, who replaces Tchaouna.
82 min: Califiori is replaced by Hincapie. Arsenal’s squad depth is outrageous.
81 min: Zubimendi whips a cross in dangerously from the right. Havertz prepares to head home from close range, but Amenda flicks clear, just in time. A goal-saving clearance.
80 min: Arsenal pass the ball around with style and sass. Coventry hold their shape.
78 min: Madueke rides a couple of challenges to keep possession down the right, before slipping Merino into space in the box. For once, Merino’s goalscoring radar is off, and his poor shot is easily blocked.
76 min: Merino and Eze come on for Odegaard and Tzolis, who has already earned hero status if the cheer his name receives is anything to go by. Which it is. Deservedly so, given his eye-catching performances so far.
74 min: Van Ewijk throws long from the right. Mosquera heads clear. Rudoni nearly nips in from the left, but can’t reach the ball. Coventry still haven’t put Raya to work.
72 min: Madueke is quickly into the action, swaying down the inside-right before feeding Odegaard infield. Odegaard opens his body and shoots, but his effort is blocked. Arsenal come again, and Lewis-Skelly nearly releases Calafiori into the box with a cute pass down the inside-left channel. Rushworth is out quickly to smother and claim.
70 min: Coventry respond with a double change of their own. Thomas-Asante and the disappointing Simms are replaced by Rudoni and another debutant in Awoniyi.
69 min: Rice and Saka make way for Madueke and Zubimendi. Arsenal in full squad-management mode now.
67 min: Thomas takes a speculative whack from distance. He doesn’t connect properly, the shot dragged harmlessly left, but it looks like the ball takes a nick off Mosquera on its way out of play. Coventry don’t get the corner, and surround the referee, Grimes nearly getting himself booked (or worse) for telling it as he sees it, perhaps even the gentle laying on of hands. The referee stays calm and makes do with a lecture.
65 min: Tzolis continues to tear it up down the left. He reaches the edge of the box and tries to slip in Havertz on the underlap; Thomas comes across to concede another corner. Rice swings it in. Rushworth clears. Tzolis meets the dropping ball and fires through the crowd. Rushworth parries, but can’t claim, and Amenda is forced to hoick clear. It’s not been a banner evening for the Coventry keeper.
63 min: One of Coventry’s debutants, the midfielder Yirenkyi, makes way for Torp.
62 min: Rice plays the corner short, but Coventry intercept and break en masse. But Dasilva can’t decide who to pass to, and the counter fizzles out.
61 min: Tzolis and Calafiori combine down the left, the latter eventually cutting back for the winger, whose first-time screeching shot pings off Grimes and out for another Arsenal corner.
60 min: Simms’ miscontrol was Coventry’s first touch in the Arsenal box this evening. It’s been a baptism of fire all right.
59 min: Dasilva drives hard down the left, cutting infield and reaching the edge of the box before trying a one-two with Simms. It doesn’t come off as Simms miscontrols. But that little cameo from Dasilva, a rare burst of Coventry energy, will give the visitors succour.
57 min: The corner finally comes in from the left. Thomas competes but White clears. Arsenal counter, and Odegaard tries to release Tzolis into the box with a defence-splitter down the middle. But he overhits the pass, and Tzolis was offside anyway.
56 min: The corner’s still not been taken, because the referee’s smart watch is jiggered. He trots off to change it.
55 min: Tchaouna crosses deep from the right. White clears. Coventry come again, with Van Ewijk down the same flank this time. His cross is too long for Simms in the middle. But Dasilva doesn’t give it up, and wins a corner with a barrelling run down the left.
53 min: … but nothing comes from the resulting corner.
52 min: Rushworth redeems himself by tipping a fiercely whipped Lewis-Skelly curler over the bar. That was heading into the top left. Coventry are really hanging on now.
50 min: Odegaard celebrated that one sheepishly. He knows it’s really on the keeper. But it was another smooth Arsenal move. They’re putting it together tonight.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Coventry City (Odegaard 49)
Saka feeds White on the overlap out on the right. White reaches the byline and cuts back from Odegaard, who has to score from eight yards … and does, but only after scuffing a shot towards the bottom right that should be stopped. However Rushworth, diving the wrong way, flaps a weak hand at the ball, which apologetically rolls over the line.
48 min: Thomas-Asante runs purposefully down the inside-left channel and looks to have been skittled unnecessarily by White, just outside the area. But he’s not getting the free kick. Coventry livid, as is krishnamoorthy v, who splutters: “Saka talking during half time!? What next? Hydration breaks and cheerleaders with pom poms?”
47 min: Arsenal start the second half as they finished the first, by hogging the ball. They’re in total control of this, and have been ever since the 48-second mark. In other news, here’s Justin Kavanagh: “I notice Arteta is starting the new season in the driver’s seat, so to speak, in much more relaxed-fit, extra-length pants than last season’s school uniform variety. He’s earned a breather.
Arsenal get the second half started. No changes. Meanwhile Andrew Goudie, age undefined, writes: “Just to reinforce your demographic profile. A friend of mine told me that he once went to Highfield Road and realised at the turnstile that he hadn’t brought any cash. In a panic, he asked if they would take a cheque, which they did.”
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Bukayo Saka has a half-time chat with Sky Sports, because yes, football has come to this. “It’s a great start from us … we’ve had a great 45 minutes … we’ve played really well … flowed well … the Arsenal we want to see this season … we want more … we want to score more goals … that’s the attitude we’re gonna come back out with.”
Half-time postbag. “A Frank Lampard team in the Premier League looking bright going forward but far too open and easy to score against going the other way? I, for one, am shocked” – Louwrens Botha
“I am sure the pundits will slag Coventry as not being worthy of the Premier League but Arsenal is going do this to many opponents this year. Look at what they did to Man City. They are a wagon” – Mary Waltz
“Uncontroversial Comment of the Evening: Arsenal looking pretty good” – Charles Antaki
HALF TIME: Arsenal 2-0 Coventry City
The Gunners are playing very well, with Coventry hanging on a bit. The champions versus the newly promoted, it’s all fair enough.
45 min +1: … Odegaard wins another with a speculative shot that’s deflected right. And from the second corner of the sequence, Rice is afforded far too much time out on the right, and curls powerfully towards the top left. Rushworth isn’t necessarily getting to the shot, even at full stretch, but the ball drifts wide.
45 min: OK, well scrub that. Tzolis bustles in from the left and prepares to shoot, only to be clumsily clanked by Yirenkyi, who having already been booked wants to watch himself here. The referee waves play on, and Odegaard wins a corner on the right. From which …
44 min: Arsenal have powered down, pinging the ball between themselves at the back, waiting for the whistle, their first-half work long done.
42 min: Tchaouna, who has been Coventry’s brightest attacker, to undeservedly damn with faint praise, nearly halves the deficit in spectacular style. Taking up possession with his back to goal on the edge of the Arsenal D, he hooks a gentle overhead up, down and towards the top-right corner. It very nearly beats Raya, who backtracks in a panic, but the ball just clears the crossbar and lands on the top of the net. What a goal that would have been!
41 min: I can’t be the only viewer of a certain vintage who occasionally squints at the camera and convinces himself that the red sponsorship on Coventry’s shirt reads GRANADA BINGO … just because I want that to be the case?
39 min: No penalty. The shot fairly clearly hit Van Ewijk on the back. Maybe a smidgen of elbow, but it was tucked into his body, and the defender wasn’t even facing the ball.
38 min: … and the ball’s cut back for Calafiori, who shoots into a crowded box. It’s blocked and cleared … but VAR wants to check for a possible penalty.
37 min: Saka wins another Arsenal corner down the right. He takes it himself. It’s half cleared. But Arsenal come back through Tzolis down the left …
35 min: Grimes curls the free kick to the far post, where Mosquera clears easily enough, Yirenkyi behind him, waiting to power a header goalwards. Arsenal break upfield, and Tzolis is fairly crudely shoulder-barged to the floor by Van Ewijk, who is fortunate not to go into the book.
34 min: … and now he brings down Simms, who spins him on the left. A free kick, just outside the box, and a booking for Gabriel, who is now grimacing for a totally different reason.
33 min: Gabriel may be having a bit of bother with the foot Simms stood on. He’s wolfed down a painkiller, and is flinching a little bit whenever he kicks the ball.
31 min: Arsenal respond by pressing Coventry back in their final third. Odegaard, buoyed by his fine World Cup, looking lively.
29 min: Coventry settle down a little bit, and string together a few passes in the Arsenal half. Tchaouna at the heart of most of it. They don’t really advance much, but that’s not really the point with the game in its current state. Small acorns.
27 min: Lewis-Skelly barges Yirenkyi off the ball. Coventry’s new midfielder tries to win it back, but only manages to clatter his in-flight opponent from behind, and into the book he goes.
26 min: The second xG reading of the season: Arsenal 1.04, Coventry 0.01.
