Good evening.
Finally, we've done what was required. With minimal fuss. With minimum danger of dropping points. And though we left it until the 70th minute to open the scoring, no one can say we had another indifferent performance or that we are unable to score goals and comfortably beat the opposition we're expected to beat.
It looks like I'm exaggerating, right? After all, it's just Burnley, a newcomer, a team sitting at the very bottom of the table. They are yet to win a single match, ten games into the season. And now ask yourselves: just how many times have Arsenal dropped points to a team we were supposed to beat easily? I can count three games this year only: Leicester, Hull and Tottenham. We had three rather apathetic performances and, on the last two occasions, sparked into life only after finding ourselves a goal down. In front of our own fans. Against Leicester we haven't started playing real football at all and could even have lost that game. So taking for granted a win over an inferior opponent isn't an option when Arsenal is involved. We are notorious for shooting ourselves in the foot.
But yesterday we had a complete performance. Despite us opening the scoring late in the day I was never worried we'd win the game. I knew we would. I had this feeling as though we were already 2 or 3 goals up, so I sat back, relaxed and waited for the table to show we now had three more points. Let's start at the beginning, however.
The squad
Unchanged. Exactly the same group of players in the line-up. The only difference was Walcott and Sanogo slotting in for Wilshere and Campbell respectively.
And this made three things clear: Arsene, for some reason or another just doesn't trust Bellerin (at least for now), a Flamteta axis was introduced to give us more defensive solidity and Campbell most likely has no future at Arsenal.
With Bellerin I can understand Wenger's reluctance, as the Spaniard is only 19 years old, but this raises a more important question: why was Jenkinson allowed to leave if his understudy isn't trusted to perform even against the opposition of Burnley's calibre? I don't know and I don't think we'll ever find that out. Though sometimes I'd really like to get a glimpse of what's going through the manager's head when he makes one decision or another.
Wilshere being omitted for Walcott is clear: Jack is carrying a slight knock, while everyone was waiting for Theo to finally make his debut. Which Walcott did, to the stadium's delight.
Finally, Campbell. Another enigma. Arsene very obviously doesn't trust the Costa-Rican and his situaiton heavily reminds me of the one with Arshavin. My compatriot was just dropped at some point and never restored the manager's faith in himself. And though some named laziness and complete disinterest as the main factors for Arshavin's diminished role, reports from the training ground suggested otherwise till his very last days with the Gunners. So I'd rather put my money on a falling-out with Wenger, than anything else.
And I think that's the case with Campbell. He is clearly proud to be a Gunner, yet he rarely plays. He seems to be a nice and hard-working lad (not without talent, mind you), but Arsene just doesn't pick him. So as sad as it sounds, I won't be surprised if we part ways with Joel in January. I'm much more baffled by him staying in the first place.
The first half
We dominated it. That simple. Burnley put all men behind the ball and their attacks were few and far between and carried little to no threat.
Cazorla (a disappointment of the match to be) could have opened the scoring on the 10th minute after Welbeck's headed pass found the Spaniard on the edge of the box, but Santi's effort was tame.
Three minutes later Welbeck himself should have put us in front following a quick interchange which involved Gibbs, Sanchez and Danny, only for the Englishman's goal-bound effort to deflect off Trippier's hand for a corner.
We continued to pile on the pressure and this resulted in a flurry of chances. We should have been awarded a penalty on the 21st minute for a clear and deliberate handball from Boyd, before Cazorla spurned another opportunity to give us the lead. Oxlade's and Alexis's combined effort saw Cazorla primed for the kill, but the Spaniard flashed his effort just wide.
Then came the spell of Alexis Sanchez, First he turned on the edge of the box and unleashed a curled shot, which skimmed inches wide of the post with Heaton stranded, then the keeper blocked the Chilean's effort from a tight angle and, to cap it all off, Heaton made another fine save following a shot from Alexis. 0-0 at half-time.
The second half
Our first real chance came on the 65th minute and again Cazorla was at fault for not scoring. A cross from Sanchez was tapped into Welbeck's path by Chambers, Danny back-heeled the ball to Cazorla and Santi, with the goal at his mercy, hit it straight at the defender. Luckily, we scored soon after this episode.
Chambers put in an umpteenth cross into the box and Alexis, of all people, was on hand to head the ball home. It was funny to watch the Chilean, who's rather short, to pull off a header with huge Trippier and Duff either side of him. Arsene later summed this goal up rather nicely:
After that goal it was all us. Walcott (applause for the debutant!) and Podolski came on with ten minutes to go and both contributed rather nicely. Podolski should have scored twice, but his first shot was brilliantly saved by Heaton and his second (from Walcott's cross) hit the woodwork. Both were cracking efforts, both showed how technical Poldi can be, as both were volleyed efforts, so I really felt for the German. Deserved to score, unlucky not to. Walcott, on a side note, also fashioned a chance of his own, but Heaton intervened once more to deny the Englishman on his debut.
In the end, it was Sanchez who stole the show. We stormed upfield in a lighting-quick counter-attack, Gibbs found Sanchez with a low cross and the Chilean did the rest. By which I mean rounding off two defenders inside a year and firing an unstoppable shot past Heaton. 3-0 it ended and, in all fairness, it should have been more.
The verdict
Overall, a very good day at the office. Coupled with Liverpool, West Ham and now United all losing, we now sit 4th, three points behind City. And no, United and Liverpool winning wouldn't have changed that, I've just added them to gloat once more time about how useless they both look.
As for us, you have to be dead inside not to enjoy the win. Yes, Burnley were far inferior to us yesterday, but a win, coupled with a clean sheet and a convincing performance is the best you can ask for. Now onto Anderlecht.
And I'll be back with you tomorrow (most likely) to discuss anything interesting that might pop up.
Until then, enjoy the win
Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)
Finally, we've done what was required. With minimal fuss. With minimum danger of dropping points. And though we left it until the 70th minute to open the scoring, no one can say we had another indifferent performance or that we are unable to score goals and comfortably beat the opposition we're expected to beat.
It looks like I'm exaggerating, right? After all, it's just Burnley, a newcomer, a team sitting at the very bottom of the table. They are yet to win a single match, ten games into the season. And now ask yourselves: just how many times have Arsenal dropped points to a team we were supposed to beat easily? I can count three games this year only: Leicester, Hull and Tottenham. We had three rather apathetic performances and, on the last two occasions, sparked into life only after finding ourselves a goal down. In front of our own fans. Against Leicester we haven't started playing real football at all and could even have lost that game. So taking for granted a win over an inferior opponent isn't an option when Arsenal is involved. We are notorious for shooting ourselves in the foot.
But yesterday we had a complete performance. Despite us opening the scoring late in the day I was never worried we'd win the game. I knew we would. I had this feeling as though we were already 2 or 3 goals up, so I sat back, relaxed and waited for the table to show we now had three more points. Let's start at the beginning, however.
The squad
Unchanged. Exactly the same group of players in the line-up. The only difference was Walcott and Sanogo slotting in for Wilshere and Campbell respectively.
And this made three things clear: Arsene, for some reason or another just doesn't trust Bellerin (at least for now), a Flamteta axis was introduced to give us more defensive solidity and Campbell most likely has no future at Arsenal.
With Bellerin I can understand Wenger's reluctance, as the Spaniard is only 19 years old, but this raises a more important question: why was Jenkinson allowed to leave if his understudy isn't trusted to perform even against the opposition of Burnley's calibre? I don't know and I don't think we'll ever find that out. Though sometimes I'd really like to get a glimpse of what's going through the manager's head when he makes one decision or another.
Wilshere being omitted for Walcott is clear: Jack is carrying a slight knock, while everyone was waiting for Theo to finally make his debut. Which Walcott did, to the stadium's delight.
Finally, Campbell. Another enigma. Arsene very obviously doesn't trust the Costa-Rican and his situaiton heavily reminds me of the one with Arshavin. My compatriot was just dropped at some point and never restored the manager's faith in himself. And though some named laziness and complete disinterest as the main factors for Arshavin's diminished role, reports from the training ground suggested otherwise till his very last days with the Gunners. So I'd rather put my money on a falling-out with Wenger, than anything else.
And I think that's the case with Campbell. He is clearly proud to be a Gunner, yet he rarely plays. He seems to be a nice and hard-working lad (not without talent, mind you), but Arsene just doesn't pick him. So as sad as it sounds, I won't be surprised if we part ways with Joel in January. I'm much more baffled by him staying in the first place.
The first half
We dominated it. That simple. Burnley put all men behind the ball and their attacks were few and far between and carried little to no threat.
Cazorla (a disappointment of the match to be) could have opened the scoring on the 10th minute after Welbeck's headed pass found the Spaniard on the edge of the box, but Santi's effort was tame.
Three minutes later Welbeck himself should have put us in front following a quick interchange which involved Gibbs, Sanchez and Danny, only for the Englishman's goal-bound effort to deflect off Trippier's hand for a corner.
We continued to pile on the pressure and this resulted in a flurry of chances. We should have been awarded a penalty on the 21st minute for a clear and deliberate handball from Boyd, before Cazorla spurned another opportunity to give us the lead. Oxlade's and Alexis's combined effort saw Cazorla primed for the kill, but the Spaniard flashed his effort just wide.
Then came the spell of Alexis Sanchez, First he turned on the edge of the box and unleashed a curled shot, which skimmed inches wide of the post with Heaton stranded, then the keeper blocked the Chilean's effort from a tight angle and, to cap it all off, Heaton made another fine save following a shot from Alexis. 0-0 at half-time.
The second half
Our first real chance came on the 65th minute and again Cazorla was at fault for not scoring. A cross from Sanchez was tapped into Welbeck's path by Chambers, Danny back-heeled the ball to Cazorla and Santi, with the goal at his mercy, hit it straight at the defender. Luckily, we scored soon after this episode.
Chambers put in an umpteenth cross into the box and Alexis, of all people, was on hand to head the ball home. It was funny to watch the Chilean, who's rather short, to pull off a header with huge Trippier and Duff either side of him. Arsene later summed this goal up rather nicely:
"It’s more the result of determination and desire than doing something special technically. He has the attributes of a fighter and of a quality, talent player."We were 2-0 up minutes later. Cazorla swung in our seventeenth corner (not kidding, look it up), a scuffle ensued and Chambers smashed the ball into the net from close range for his first senior goal. Well done, Calum.
After that goal it was all us. Walcott (applause for the debutant!) and Podolski came on with ten minutes to go and both contributed rather nicely. Podolski should have scored twice, but his first shot was brilliantly saved by Heaton and his second (from Walcott's cross) hit the woodwork. Both were cracking efforts, both showed how technical Poldi can be, as both were volleyed efforts, so I really felt for the German. Deserved to score, unlucky not to. Walcott, on a side note, also fashioned a chance of his own, but Heaton intervened once more to deny the Englishman on his debut.
In the end, it was Sanchez who stole the show. We stormed upfield in a lighting-quick counter-attack, Gibbs found Sanchez with a low cross and the Chilean did the rest. By which I mean rounding off two defenders inside a year and firing an unstoppable shot past Heaton. 3-0 it ended and, in all fairness, it should have been more.
The verdict
"We had a strong team pressure and we had to intensify that in the second half, which we did. Slowly you could see that the chances were coming and at the end of the day, it became easy when it was 2-0. They did very hard and we did make mistakes at the back. Overall I think it was a very satisfying win. Recently at home we haven’t got the results we wanted but for the confidence of the team it’s also important to win without conceding a goal."Arsene also commented on Sanchez being deployed centrally:
"Since he’s played through the middle he looks more goal dangerous. Now it looks to me that he’s really dangerous through the centre of the pitch because he’s in full confidence, he’s physically strong, he likes to take people on as well and he makes perfect runs. Through the centre of the pitch maybe he’s more dangerous."I never expected Arsene to solve the problem of Ozil's absence in such a way, so hats off for the manager. He took a risk and it paid off. Hope Alexis will continue playing there.
Overall, a very good day at the office. Coupled with Liverpool, West Ham and now United all losing, we now sit 4th, three points behind City. And no, United and Liverpool winning wouldn't have changed that, I've just added them to gloat once more time about how useless they both look.
As for us, you have to be dead inside not to enjoy the win. Yes, Burnley were far inferior to us yesterday, but a win, coupled with a clean sheet and a convincing performance is the best you can ask for. Now onto Anderlecht.
And I'll be back with you tomorrow (most likely) to discuss anything interesting that might pop up.
Until then, enjoy the win
Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)