Arsenal maintain unbeaten run with late win against Terriers

The Gunners left it late to find the three points they needed to solidified their top four status this weekend with a 1-0 at home to Huddersfield Town.

Lucas Torreira’s emphatic bicycle-kick six-yards from goal with seven minutes to go is all that separated the two sides after 90 minutes of football which involved nine yellow cards and two injuries.

Huddersfield played the majority of the second half without their captain Tommy Smith, who was taken off with a leg injury following a tackle from Hector Bellerin.

The result at the Emirates and results elsewhere means that David Wagner’s Terriers side drop into the bottom three.

If there is one word to describe the first-half, the word would be odd. Seven yellow cards, a disallowed goal that confused those who know every line of the FA Rulebook, and a scrappiness that has not been seen in Arsenal all season.

Lacazette, who only featured in the first half before being substituted at half-time, was one of the more livelier players in the opening 45 minutes as the Frenchman found himself in good positions on a couple of occasions.

But in the 40^th minute the former Lyon striker looked to have put the Gunners in-front when a poor back pass from Tommy Smith set the Frenchman through on goal, and a quick rounding of the keeper saw the ball go in the back of the net. However, the linesman’s flag was raised for an offside call prior to the Huddersfield captain gifting Arsenal what would have been a certain goal.

Going into the break at a stalemate continued Arsenal’s unwarranted record of going into every single Premier League game this season not leading a single game.

The second half continued to be a struggle for Unai Emery’s side, who still found it hard to create chances against a resilient Huddersfield defence.

The introduction of Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the aforementioned Lacazette and Stephan Lichtsteiner and the switch to a 4-3-2-1 did little to help the hosts quest for a goal.

Even when Huddersfield lost defender and captain Smith to a leg injury 57 minutes in, the Gunners still couldn’t find a way to make their chances count. Aubameyang had one of his poorest games in an Arsenal shirt, and the striker was finding it hard to find any space to create the danger that has made him a contender for the Premier League golden boot this season.

With minutes to go and chances looking unlikely, all hope of an Arsenal goal looked lost, but then, Torreira stepped up to become the hero yet again. Aubameyang burst through on goal down the right-wing and chipped the ball into the mixer, where the Uruguayan midfielder eyed the ball up, and emphatically bicycle kicked into the open net to give the Gunners the lead.

Despite there being a whopping seven minutes of added time, Arsenal managed to hold on and seal the vital three points and to extend their unbeaten run to 21 games.