Arsenal Keep Pace in Title Race (4-1 over Sunderland)

Arsenal cruised to an easy 4-1 victory over Sunderland today on the eve of the toughest stretch of their season, beating a team in the midst of an impressive stretch themselves (7-2-2). The scoring started early, with a 5^th minute opener from Olivier Giroud, following a lovely buildup that started with Arteta, went through Sagna, Wilshere and Podolski, before the German pushed the ball forward to Rosicky at the edge of the box. He one-touched it through to Wilshere who sent the ball across the slot to an open Giroud, who finished into the far corner. It was only the second time in the last 10 games that Arsenal have scored in the first half, after doing so regularly earlier in the season. But they were just getting started in a half they completely dominated, ending it up 3-0.

The second came in 31^st minute, when a sloppy back pass was picked up by Giroud and slotted past a charging Mannone. The brace brought Giroud’s total to 16 goals for the season, with 12 in the league. After a number of spurned scoring opportunities, Arsenal made it 3-0 in the 42nd with one of the goals of the season, a series of one touch and one-twos from Cazorla to Wilshere to Rosicky back to Wilshere and finally to Rosicky, who chipped over Mannone from close range. It showed the potency of this offense when they are in sync, with goals from Wilshere, Rosicky, Ox and Bendtner adding to the Ramsey and Giroud load all season. Sunderland was clearly off the pace, and possibly thinking ahead to their Capital One Cup final with Man City next weekend, but it was a nice bounce back after the disastrous result against Bayern Wednesday.

The second half started with Sunderland in the ascendancy, but Arsenal got back into their rhythm after a few nice opportunities went wanting, with two excellent reaction saves from Szczesny. In the 57^th the score was pushed to 4-0, when Koscielny pounded in a free header from close range on a corner from Cazorla. Arsenal gave one back in the 81^st, when a punch out by Sz fell directly to Giaccanni, whose lovely shot found the corner. But the game was already decided, and the Gunners made sure of it from there.

It was an important victory, as Chelsea had earlier pulled out a 92^nd minute 1-0 victory over Everton, gifted to them by goalie Tim Howard on a Frank Lampard free kick, and Man City took down Stoke 1-0, after a tough first 60 minutes. Next up for the Gunners is that same Stoke side at Britannia, and a strong start will be important, before they can settle into the two rows of defenders that are incredibly difficult to break down. From there, the schedule gets downright scary – with the away leg at Bayern, away trips to Tottenham and Chelsea, a return home to face City and then Everton at Goodison Park. If Arsenal can come out of that stretch with maximum points, the title is all but theirs, but that is, of course, a huge ask. A victory or draw against Chelsea at the Bridge might be the key matchup, as the Blues seem to be shaping into form and getting lucky when it counts.

A few thoughts from the game …

1)  Giroud/Sanogo: many, including me, thought Wenger made a huge mistake by not picking up another striker in the last two transfer windows. And I still believe we might have picked up a few more points and maybe scored first against Bayern if we had, but Giroud is on incredible form this year with the combination of his hold-up play, passing around the box (and thus assists) and goals. And Sanogo showed that he can play at the highest level against Bayern, unlucky not to score in the first half, though his raw talent still needs time to develop. The key is keeping Giroud healthy on a team that has one of the worst injury records in the league over the past few seasons.

2)  Podolski Dreaming: the question many Gooners have been asking since his return is why the German scoring machine doesn’t get more time on the pitch, as for example, in the match against Bayern Wednesday. If Ramsey were back, one could see the difficulty in choosing him, but his direct approach and ability to finish are a welcome addition to the precision and slow buildup play around him (excluding Ox and Gnarby). While Podolski didn’t score, he was part of each goal and played excellently on both sides of the pitch, continuing the enigma of why Wenger doesn’t favor him in the biggest games, or generally as an impact sub. Hopefully that will change as they head into this tough stretch that will decide the team’s fate.

3)  Wilshere Revival: this game was another opportunity for the young Englishman to shine, particularly in Ozil’s absence, and though he was slotted in to play beside Arteta on the defensive side of the midfield, he was constantly pushing forward with nice dribbles, passing and forward momentum, assisting on a goal and contributing to two others. His play has improved so dramatically since the turn of the year that he now lays claim to being an almost automatic starter in a crowded midfield – a nice transformation from earlier this year when he was giving the ball away recklessly and spending more time rolling around then contributing to the team. One hopes the late injury fears were unfounded and that Wenger’s decision not to pull him (even though they would have had to play a man short for 10 minutes) won’t backfire.