Arsenal have long memories and teams need to be prepared should they speak about the club in any way. This group of players is bound to remember what has been said.
Alexandre Lacazette took to social media after the 2-1 win over Brentford to aim a pointed tweet in the direction of Ivan Toney. The Brentford main striker tweeted after the 3-1 win over a depleted Arsenal side that Lacazette missed through suffering from Covid-19.
Available for the match yesterday, however, Lacazette got the assist for Emile Smith-Rowe’s opener and imitated Toney on social media with a similar post of his own.
Arsenal now face the visit of Wolves on Thursday which has its own narrative and loose ends to be tied off.
Arsenal won 1-0 away at Molineux a week earlier after going down to ten men after a bizarre decision from Michael Oliver to dismiss Gabriel Martinelli for two yellow card offences in the same phase of play.
The victory sent the Arsenal fans and players into a fit of celebration and they weren’t shy about showing their pleasure at the acquisition of three points.
This came as an obvious frustration to Wolves and their players with Ruben Neves describing Arsenal’s celebrations rather hyperbolically.
"We saw the way they celebrated the win and that shows the level we are. I didn't see Arsenal celebrating like this in the past 10 years - it was like they won the league."
Then, speaking with BBC Radio 5 Live, Conor Coady had his say on the Gunners’ celebrations. Stating that they would use it to motivate them in the next match.
“We’ve seen them, we heard them. We’ve obviously seen the whole thing, I know Ruben has obviously spoken out after it. They celebrated quite hard, didn’t they?” Coady remarked.
“It probably obviously shows how big the game was to them, and to us – it was big to us as well.
“Listen, we spoke about it all week, we prepared right, we made sure we were ready and I actually thought we played quite well if I’m being honest.
“We had the ball, we created different things, but listen Arsenal are a top side. So, we’ve seen the celebrations, I’ll be honest with you, from our point of view, we really didn’t like them.
“It’s something where we’ve got two weeks’ time now to try and put it right going back to the Emirates and try and put on a good game again.”
Thankfully for Arsenal, Wolves’ next game was against Tottenham Hotspur and Bruno Lage’s men dealt Antonio Conte his third loss in a row with a 2-0 win, helping Arsenal significantly.
Wolves’ social media page then tweeted out a satiric video of the post-match celebrations with the tagline, “Celebrating the right way.”
May I speak on behalf of my fellow Arsenal supporters when I say we would like to apologise to the fun police for our transgressions. It is therefore imagined that Arsenal can expect zero reaction from the Wolves players and fans should they score on Thursday based on what has happened this past fortnight, or at a minimum perhaps some polite light applause.
Ridiculous. However, Wolves’ reaction may now have done more for the Gunners thanks to Arsenal’s number 9’s reveal.
Lacazette’s tweet has greater meaning than just a dig back at Toney. It is evident that this Arsenal side remembers what other teams, coaches and players say about them and they use it as motivation to achieve their goals.
The words of Neves, Coady and the Wolves social accounts will be highlighted to the squad. Ensuring they know that more than just three points and Champions League hopes are on the line next week. Arsenal have the chance to really enjoy themselves should they win.
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