So it was that Arsenal finally found a win after 3 games without one. Honestly I was beginning to think we’d forgotten how to win.
Since that awesome 3-0 triumph over Swansea in the league, we’ve lost rather heavily against Bayern Munich, drew against Sp*rs and lost rather disappointingly to West Brom. Yesterday we played Zagreb team that had won the corresponding fixture and we absolutely owned them. Many will say it was just Zagreb, but keep in mind that they have already won against us and I football if you do not play well the odds are that you will not win.
We played well and we won. They started the game brightly and in the first 3-4 minutes I was scared that maybe they’d breach us, but we stood firm, dealt with the early pressure and took our chances. In the end it was 3-0. Ozil continued with his sublime form this season and while he didn’t have an assist, he did score and could have had a hat trick but for some good goalkeeping and a small miss.
And Alexis
Thank goodness! I was getting scared, but two goals and a performance that belied the fatigue that most of us believe he must be feeling has me quite chuffed at the player we have. He was wriggly, dribbly and quite magnificent. He was MOTM for me (with Ozil a close second) scoring two and assisting one, it was all quite good.
I have to mention Joel Campbell too, I believe that was his best game for us, I wouldn’t say i’m suddenly a fanboy but I am more willing to give him the benefit of a doubt. If he can perform like that consistently then I think we’ll be friends. I guess it’s a bit to do with consistency or maybe the mental barriers he had up are now gone and he feels more comfortable with the team and all that.
We missed Coquelin, but actually watching a game without him where we performed well ws nice to see and has made me view his injury (3 months) a little differently, I don’t think we’re as screwed as I first thought. We’d miss his mind you, but I feel we should be able to cope till January where we hopefully get cover (*cough* Carvalho *cough*) and push on.
Ramsey’s return also brought a smile to my face. With Chamberlain back at the weekend and Walcott some two weeks away or so (I hope) maybe we just might be okay. If we can get Wilshere, Welbeck and Rosicky back early enough and not lose more players then maybe we can remain optimistic about things, and who knows, if Campbell can find some consistency we could suddenly have a LANS player at our disposal too. It remains to be seen though and we can only keep fingers crossed hoping for the best.
All in all a good night and now it’s back in our hands. We go to Greece on Matchday six knowing that a win by 2 goals or more will send us through and that would be quite an achievement, but at least we know it’s on us now, here’s hoping we do what we need to.
Till then.
