Watford keeper Ben Foster gifted a goal to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Vicarage Park last night – and it turned out to be the only goal in the game as Arsenal secured their first away clean sheet of the season.
However, Foster was given some succour from his opposite number, Bernd Leno, who told him it wasn’t his fault as Aubameyang is “too quick”.
Just 10 minutes had gone when Daryl Janmaat passed the ball back to Foster who took a touch and tried to clear, only for the ball to come off Aubameyang’s ankle and into the net.
Talking to Sky Sports after the game (Sky Sports, Tuesday, 8am), Foster said, “I’ve said I’m sorry to the players and to the fans and I think I should have just Cruyff-ed it to be honest but it’s not really my style.
“Daryl has played the ball back to me and I tried to drag it onto my left and clear it out wide, but God he’s fast. Fair play to him, he’s absolutely rapid.
“I was walking off the pitch at the end, speaking to Bernd Leno and he said, ‘It’s not your fault he’s too quick’, and I totally agree. It’s a good goal I think.”
OPINION
Foster is right, it was a good goal. Supreme opportunism, but Aubameyang won the ball cleanly and there was absolutely no hint of a foul. Foster, to his credit, held his hands up after the game but said the mitigating circumstance was the Arsenal player’s speed. And he was backed up by his opposite number who joined Foster in solidarity after the game. Aubameyang is quick and he was clever last night but there’s really no getting round the fact that Foster shouldn’t have let him get that close. It ended up being a very costly mistake for Watford, who couldn’t get back into the game and now have to suffer the ignominy of being the first team not to score against Arsenal at home this season. The three points have done Arsenal a power of good at the top too, putting them into fourth and level on points with Chelsea with a game in hand. The Champions League spot is theirs to lose now and the away clean sheet couldn’t have come at a better time, with a visit to Napoli in the second-leg of the Europa League quarter-final on Thursday. Another one there will see them sail into the semi-finals.