Arsenal won… away from home… on a cold night in the north east.
Maybe they do have a bit of backbone. Maybe.
A 2-1 win gave Arsene Wenger a week’s reprieve but their cause was definitely helped by Middelsbrough’s weird goalkeeping.
As is very often the case these days, the man responsible for highlighting the opposition’s weaknesses was Alexis Sanchez, who converted a free-kick three minutes before half-time.
Although nobody was knocking the way in which Sanchez managed to get the ball up over the wall and then down beneath the crossbar, it didn’t take a genius to work out why Brad Guzan’s name was flying high in the Twitter trends lists at half-time.
Although the home side’s wall covered the side of the goal to Guzan’s right, his decision to stand so far over on the other side of the goal invited precisely the kind of free-kick of which Sanchez scored from.
As well as plenty of other people that were left criticising the American at half-time, Gary Neville’s assessment also didn’t paint Guzan in the best of lights.
“Is it the corner of the goal? No,” Neville began.
“A great goalkeeper – the Courtois of this world, Lloris, De Gea – probably would have saved it, but he wouldn’t have saved it, no.”
Gary Neville is so savage on Guzan 😳😂 pic.twitter.com/eTpmzQ1mGE
— Daniel Cutting (@dcfreestyle) April 17, 2017
Gary Neville just butchered Guzan. 😂 @SkySportsMNF #MIDARS
— Jon (@jonhotspur88) April 17, 2017
G. Neville "a good keeper like Courtois, Lloris or De Gea might save that but Guzan … Nah" 😂😂 #MNF #MIDARS
— Simon Cooper (@SiCooperCoach) April 17, 2017
