Szoboszlai sizzler settles Sunday snoozefest

What a hit son!! What… a… hit!! Who could forget that bit of iconic commentary from Andy Gray, when Stevie G – our most iconic player this century, scored one of his most iconic goals. Some goals instantly etch themselves into history, never to be forgotten. The aforementioned Gerrard screamer against Olympiacos was one of them… and now THAT free kick from Szoboszlai has just become another. For years to come fans will say “Remember THAT free kick Szoboszlai scored against Arsenal?” and nobody will need to think about it. Just… WOW!!

In truth, it was a turgid game and made for a tough watch, especially first half. Both teams huffed and puffed without creating any real chances of note, with Arsenal probably having the better of a forgettable first half. Second half we improved and got more of a foothold in the game, especially after the introduction of Jones and it was Curtis who broke free, only to be brought down over 30 yards from goal. A tactical foul which Arsenal will have thought they made just in the nick of time. A free kick, dead central and 32 yards from goal isn’t a threat… right?

Wrong!!! Up step Dominic Szoboszlai, who had been our one real shining light of the game, as he put in another superb display from RB. Prior to the goal, you could see he was in the mood and full of confidence, when he played an outstanding long diagonal that Trent would’ve been proud of. It was the way he played it though. The nonchalant technique of a player who’s in the zone and when I saw him line up that free kick, I just had a feeling… you know that feeling? I had the exact same feeling moments before Alisson scored that header – another iconic goal never to be forgotten.

Anyway, I saw Dom lining the ball up and thought “No… he couldn’t… could he?” Oh my god, could he!! We’d all heard of his outrageous ability from long range but we’d never really seen it… until now!! The most perfect strike you could ever hope to see. If he’d put an A4 piece of paper in basically the only part of the goal that he could score in from that position, the ball would’ve gone right through it. Normally from a dead ball situation that was more than 30 yards out, you’d be looking at the goalkeeper but Raya did nothing wrong, it was just the most outrageous strike that he could do nothing to keep it out.

No debate about McMOTM then, undoubtedly Dominic McSzoboszlai (fine Scottish name) takes the award this week but there are some other honourable mentions from the game. Kerkez finally showed the form from last season that made us activate his release clause, Konate looked like his old self and second half, Wirtz looked to be starting to get up to speed with the pace of the PL. No doubt that Dom is out in form player of the moment though.

The game has almost been forgotten however, in the excitement of transfer deadline day. We finally got Isak here the line but while I write this, news has just broken that the Guehi deal has fallen through at the 11th hour. We can thank West Ham for that, as they nicked Igor straight out of a Palace medical to gazump the Eagles for a player they looked to have secured. I fully expect us to punish West Ham for that when we play them. I expect this will just be a postponement however and the deal will get done in January.

Even without Guehi though, it’s been a stunning window for us and that was a massive 3 points yesterday against our biggest rivals, as we won the first 6 pointer of the season and go into the international break top of the league. Now all we have to do is stay there. Walk on!