Good morning.
Yesterday we've demonstrated once again, why we are genuine title contenders. We played a weaker (on paper) side, but our concentration level didn't drop. The manager made five changes, but they didn't affect the fluidity of our performance. I thought Bendtner up front was a ridiculous decision, but it wasn't. All in all, another accomplished performance. Oh, and a clean sheet.
I thought of giving you a full rundown, as usual, but our domination was so utter and complete, that I decided, I should only focus on the most important events.
As I've already said, Arsene introduced five new faces. Jenkinson, Monreal, Flamini, Rosicky and Bendtner came in for Sagna, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere and Giroud. And within two minutes we were ahead.
Ramsey played a pass to Jenkinson, whose cross was met with a thumping header from Bendtner. It was the Dane`s first goal for Arsenal since 2011.
The fact, that we have scored inside 120 seconds didn't cool us down and Bendtner could have doubled the lead, following a corner, but his touch was to heavy. Ramsey, meanwhile, tried a distance shot and nearly pulled it off, only for McGregor to parry his effort. Ozil had a chance of his own, but nodded wide from a Bendtner cross.
Before Hull registered an attempt, we had already registered eleven. Their chance, however, was nearly put away by Sagbo, but, mercifully, failed to get his head to the ball. Huddleston then sent in a low cross, which was met by no one.
Inside two minutes of the second half, we scored again. A brilliant move down the left saw Monreal keep the ball in play, round off the defender and pass to Ozil. The German found Ramsey, whose slick return pass split Hull`s defense open and Ozil calmly put his chance away. Bendtner then had another chance from a corner, but his effort was cleared off the line.
After that, we fell back and allowed Hull to seize possession of the ball. They didn't come up with much, though. Livermore fired right at Szczesny, when he could have done better, and Bothroyd`s header sailed wide.
In the latter stages, Whilshere and Arteta came on to shore things up, but weren't overly troubled in their mission. Walcott also made a cameo as a central striker, but didn't impress.
Overall, a convincing performance and a deserved win. This is what the manager had to say after the match:
"We had a good night because we had a good control of the game. We had some great technical quality and keep a clean sheet. We rotated quite a bit as well. We couldn't take all the chances we created but overall it was a very convincing performance".
And on playing Bendtner:
"Look, [it is a gamble] if a guy has not played for a long time, and his last performance was not convincing against Chelsea, but he has worked hard in training and deserved a chance".
He also went on to say, that Walcott didn't train much during the week and I suspect it's the real reason for starting the Dane. However, I, personally, am glad for him. I always thought there is a good striker in him somewhere and were it not for his behavior, things could have played out differently for him at Arsenal. Maybe he still has a chance, I don't know. He's young, his relationship with Wenger may not be beyond repair and he definitely has talent. I guess we'll see, what happens to him, when the transfer window is finally upon us.
This win looks very important in retrospect. City, Chelsea and Liverpool had all won, so we are still four points clear. In an unexpected twist, Everton has beaten United at Old Trafford, so the Merseyside team is also in the mix.
Now we play Everton at home and then Napoli and City away. The chance to rotate was used well, let's hope we have enough petrol left in the tank to grind out positive results.
Until later