[themaclad]

Preston North End 0 Arsenal 3 Jesus, Nwaneri, Havertz



Attendance: 21,811 (5,642 Arsenal fans).

Referee: Mr P Bankes.



Sadly the gap between the elite clubs and the rest of us is massive as last night showed, thought we might have a chance and then you see the Gunners line up and you realise that you don't.
A rainy night in Preston, excellent large away support and a chance to watch a decent team.
They dominated the ball for basically the first 20 minutes although we probably had the chance to go 1 up, free kick which Lindsay headed over, possibly could have done better.
Soon after the first went in, looked a soft free kick, ball to back post headed back to Jesus, right foot 10 yards up in it does, the second was different gravy Sterling did well to keep the ball in, ball eventually ended up at the feet of 17 year old Nwaneri bent it in, this lad is impressive.
Manage to survive until half time when they brought on Havertz and Partey which really is taking the piss, actually we did actually come into the game a bit more with Okkels starting for the first time showing what a decent player we may have bought.
He did give them a few difficulties forced the keeper into a save, Riis was also unlucky couldn't get enough direction on a shot, however by that time we were three down, Havertz having buried a header.
Nwaneri hit the top of the bar, Watmough also headed against his own bar, rode our look a bit, but we saved the best to last, Sterling six yards out after they had ripped through , goal bound shot superbly cleared off the line by Potts.
Put it down to experience and onto Brizzle.

THE BOSS

Paul Heckingbottom felt his side got stronger as the Carabao Cup tie against Arsenal went on.

North End were beaten in the fourth round of the competition by the Gunners, as the Premier League title challengers left Deepdale with a 3-0 victory.

The side from London were two goals up at the break thanks to Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri, before Kai Havertz made it three to all but seal their place in the quarter-finals.



Hecky said: “We worked really hard. I thought as the game went on, we got stronger.

“We obviously changed shape at half-time and it gave us a better footing in the game. We were better with the ball in the second half and it would have been nice to get a goal that I think our play deserved in the second half.

“You can certainly see their quality. Arsenal produced exactly what I expected before the game, no surprises, probably even more so once I saw the teamsheet.

“They’re a really intense team and their levels very rarely drop, and you could see that tonight.”

Mikel Arteta chose a strong squad to line up at Deepdale and they took control of the game in the early stages, as they enjoyed the majority of possession.


A change of shape at half-time by the Lilywhites, though, meant they enjoyed more forays forward and came close to scoring on a few occasions, with Jeppe Okkels arguably the liveliest player on the night.

Hecky said: “In the first half we worked really hard without the ball but couldn’t get much control even when they had the ball. Having said that, the first goal from our point of view is really poor.

“It’s a free-kick in a very similar position to a corner and we’re all marking different players to who we should be and then it just drops in. It’s a second ball. It’s really poor. Regardless of how much possession they’ve had, it’s a cheap goal.

“Their second and third goals are unreal and showed the quality they have. At half-time, we changed shape, the challenge from us was to show how good we are with the ball.

“I thought in the first half that’s what let us down really. Not the effort, not the energy, not the work-rate. We were too loose and gave the ball away too cheaply, too quickly and second half we moved it much better.”

The manager opted to make six changes from the weekend’s draw against Plymouth Argyle, with chances offered to the likes of Okkels and Josh Bowler.

Hecky said: “We’ve got seven games in three weeks so there’s not a chance we could play to any sort of level like that physically with 11 players, so every game we’ve changed players.

“We’ve suffered an injury to Robbie [Brady] which means that we probably need a lot more from our wingers who’ve not been involved as often lately. We need them to come and seize the opportunity.

“All in all, it was a team and energy-wise to compete as best we could tonight, but likewise we needed to give players to minutes to strengthen us in future games and also take minutes off players who are maybe carrying one or two little injuries at the minute.”