After Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Fulham at the Emirates,
the Gunners have won five on the bounce, outscoring their opponents 5-0. And as
has become a habit this season, it was not as easy as it might have been. In
fact, after a bright start that included a goal line clearance from Fulham to
keep out a soft Ozil shot, the momentum went back and forth for the rest of the
first half and into the second. In stepped Santi Cazorla to double his goal
tally for the season (to four) and put the game to bed, with a five minute flurry.
The first goal started and ended with the Spaniard, as he passed off to Giroud
who sent it through to Wilshere, with the English International laying the ball
back across the seam for Cazorla to finish into the far corner. The second came
after Ozil had sent Monreal through on the left. Monreal’s shot was deflected
out to Cazorla who scored here with his left foot from a few yards outside the
box. From here, Fulham pushed forward for a goal, but Arsenal held firm with
some great defending before the introduction of Podolski, who must have
reminded Wenger that he is back with two impressive shots, good link up play,
two good runs and even a defensive stop. Given that everyone in the top six except
Liverpool won this weekend, it was a vital three points and kept the precarious
one point lead over Man City and two point lead over Chelsea, who beat Man
United soundly 3-1. Some thoughts from the game and weekend …
1. Wilshere and
Cazorla: earlier in the campaign, it was hard for non-English pundits not to
recognize that Wilshere was not playing to his potential. He was giving the
ball up far too often, on the ground more often than he was creating scoring
opportunities and looked rather ordinary. But with the turn of the year, it
appears his form has turned as well, all for the good (as I mentioned in last
week’s post). His renaissance is good news for the Gunners as the busier part
of the second half kicks in in a couple of weeks. Equally important is the
improvement of Cazorla in the final third. While he has still been impressive
from the middle forward this season, his production in front of goal has been
wanting. But the two goals Saturday should do him a world of confidence and
hopefully help Arsenal continue to claim the best midfield in the EPL.
2. Leadership: one of
the things the Gunners have arguably missed ever since Viera left was a leader on
the pitch that could ensure that players are keeping their positional
discipline, not making needless mistakes and hear it when their effort level
goes down. Now the Gunners have two, in the guise of Mertesacker and Flamini.
And their presence has arguably been a key reason for the team’s position at
the top of the table.
3. Farming System:
Chelsea announced this week that they are sending Bertrand out on loan to Aston
Villa, meaning they have 23 players currently farmed out to other clubs. Man
City has reached those heights, but isn’t far off. It is an absurd state of
affairs and something that has to be looked at as it has three potential
downsides – a. It allows mega rich teams to stay within the Financial Fair Play
regulations when it is clearly skirting them, b. Midtable and Lower table teams
are simply becoming the training grounds for the elites, who then take the
players back and maintain their dominance and 3. It can curtail far too many
careers, as players never get comfortable in a system and start to fade from
their potential.
4. The race: the race
at the top is still red hot, with Chelsea, Man City and Tottenham all winning,
and Everton with a strong chance to take all three points against West Brom
tomorrow. Only Liverpool faltered this weekend, falling two goals behind before
stealing a point with a questionable penalty call (which seem to be going
exclusively to the top teams this term). Man City and Chelsea are generally
just outscoring their opponents while they continue to ship goals and Everton
seems to draw too many matches to be a real threat to the crown. But the best
news for Arsenal is their impressive defensive and road records this term. If
they can play to their strengths in the showdowns with the other top six teams,
there is no reason they can’t finally end that drought.
Next up is the FA Cup fourth round tie against Coventry City
at the Emirates Thursday, before an away match at the reeling Southampton and
back home to face Crystal Palace. Arsenal should win these three before heading
to Anfield for a showdown with Liverpool on February 8. COYG!
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