Arsenal 2-0 Hull: this is getting too easy

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

Hull preview: last chance

Morning everyone.

Tonight we have another one of those midweek games, but it's the last one (at least for the next couple of weeks), when the manager can loosen his grip on the squad.

That's not to say we are to take the opposition lightly. Before the game, Arsene spoke of warning signs:

"We are lucky at the moment, we get good warnings. We had a good warning before we went to Cardiff, and we have another good warning from Hull's performance against Liverpool".

Hull is clearly a capable side, but given we are title contenders, we should be able to cope with those challenges. I always thought it's not hugely important to win every game against a big team like Chelsea or United (though the latter is getting smaller by the minute), as long as you beat lesser opposition on a regular basis. Sure, you cannot drop points against your direct rivals in every game, but a slip up or two won't hurt that much, if we won five games in a row before finally dropping points.

This year, there's no messing around. Whether we play home or away, the attitude is the same. The fact we are playing against Liverpool, Borussia or Cardiff doesn't influence our approach. We seem to take every opponent seriously, which saw us smash lesser teams to pieces, deliver convincing performances against equals and even scrape out results against sides that (at the moment of playing them, at least) looked slightly better. And that, in my opinion, is how things should be done, if we want to go the distance this season.

Back to Hull, however, and we have a freshly injured player in Sagna. The manager said, the knock is only a light one, so fingers crossed, he's not just playing it down, so as to escape the ensuing panic.

And panic is the right word, cause, however hard-working and honest Jenkinson is, he is not ready to play on a consistent basis just yet. And we have a lot of crucial fixtures up next, so keeping Sagna fit should top our priority list, at least for tonight.

The same should apply to Giroud, Ramsey and probably Ozil. They've played a lot of minutes recently, so a little breather can't hurt. All three are integral to our set-up, to lose them now would be a massive blow. This game is a last chance to rest them, something Arsene said he'll do. Flamini for Ramsey, Rosicky for Ozil and Walcott for Giroud seem obvious choices. We'll have to adjust our style of play to fit Walcott's qualities, which are quite different to those of Giroud, but we have to tackle this problem sooner or later anyway, because the Frenchman is only a human being, of blood, flesh and all that, so we can't possibly expect him to play every game. We should consider spending some money on someone like Djeko, whose play style is similar to Giroud's, so as not to find ourselves in a difficult spot, when the Frenchman is rested.

Speaking of money-spending, there already are various reports, linking us with every player on planet Earth. I try my best to not spoon-feed you this crap (honestly, the transfer window is closed, what transfers can we accomplish right now?), but even the manager has to withstand the press attacks. Arsene was quizzed on a possible move for Morata or Pato, but his response was as negative, as it was short. We are not in on them.

However, he also mentioned, we may not buy a striker at all. A bit surprising, given our current situation, but the manager's confidence was probably boosted by Walcott's return, Podolski's comeback (he may feature next week already) and Sanogo's, erm, existence. We may have forgotten about the Frenchman, but Arsene clearly hasn't. I still think, he's (Yaya, that is) not ready to play at this level, but our manager may know something we don't.

That's basically it for today. Here's for the three points later on and I'll be back tomorrow with a review.

Until then

Cardiff 0-3 Arsenal: surgical precision

Before the game, some doubts about our abilities were afloat. Even yours truly had his misgivings. A resilient Cardiff side, which is capable of demonstrating quality football, especially at home. A team, that has robbed both Manchester clubs from points (and deservedly so). Fresh from the fight against United.

In another corner, Arsenal. Much better playing this season, a side that had successfully passed several tests, yet a more exhausted group of players. Players who dug deep to get a crucial result against Marseille in midweek. This fixture looked a tough one for both sides.

But it wasn't. During the whole game, Arsenal were never really in trouble. A half-chance in the first half and a brilliant save from Szczesny in the second were the only times Cardiff came close to scoring.

Wenger made several changes to the team, that delivered a convincing performance on Tuesday. Gibbs substituted Monreal, Cazorla came for Rosicky. Flamini dropped to the bench, presumably because of all the riff-raff about the sleeves.

Wilshere could have scored right away, but his shot hit the bar, with the keeper stranded.

Arsenal dominated possession and territory and, though we didn't create much, it was obvious the players were following instructions. Which told them to be on top of the game no matter what.

There was a moment of scare when Mertesacket limped off, emphasised by the fact that Cardiff went close to opening the scoring. First Campbell headed wide, then Mutch failed to get a proper foot to the ball, following a well-delivered free-kick.

Upon Mertesacker's return, Arsenal drove forward once again. Giroud nearly broke the deadlock, but was (rightly) flagged offside. The linesman noticed what the referee didn't, and namely Ozil's touch from a Wilshere pass. We were cranking up the pressure, and it told in a couple of minutes.

There was some close-quarters exchange far away from Cardiff's goal, but Ozil put a stop to that. His lofted through ball found Ramsey, who nodded the ball home in a  beautiful move. It looked oh so easy, when in fact it was anything but. The quality of Ramsey's finish can only be matched by the quality of Ozil's pass. Top-notch, in other words. Ramsey didn't celebrate the goal out of respect for his former club.

In the second half Arsenal changed their approach, clearly because they were told to do so during the break. We allowed Cardiff to snatch possession of the ball and sat back to observe and try to hit them on the break.

The Welsh side took the ball gladly, but were only able to come up with one good chance and a couple of distance shots. We, meanwhile, bid our time.

Not long before the final whistle Flamini came on and made his mark almost immediately.

Arsenal caught Cardiff on the counter-attack, Ozil put Flamini in the clear and the Frenchman smashed the ball under the bar to make it 2-0 in the 86th minute.

Six minutes later we scored again. Another lightning-quick attack saw Walcott (another sub) set up Ramsey, the Welshman disposed of the defender and grabbed his second goal of the game. Again, he didn't celebrate. Which was duly acknowledged by Cardiff fans, who applauded Ramsey's brace.

We nearly made it 4-0 in the dying seconds, but Walcott didn't act quickly enough, when presented with a chance.

After the game, Arsene commented on the result and the performance:

" I'm very pleased because we had a good performance. Of course we scored three goals but, not only offensively, I think defensively we were quite sound as well. Our defenders had a very good game. Overall the concentration level in the team was very, very good. That was needed because we knew Cardiff can punish you in set-pieces with their strengths in the challenges and their drive with the crowd behind them. We had a mature performance and a focused one".

Personally, I liked the two very different, yet very effective Arsenal set-ups, which we saw either side of half-time. It was clear the players had their instructions, but how we put these into practice is a completely different story.

And on the title race:

" Let's go a few more games. It's still a bit early for me but what is good for us is that we can show consistency and that's always a very good sign for a team. Every win makes you a bit stronger. If we can take care of the concentration level and the desire to improve then we will have a good".

Which is completely understandable. We have four important games inside two weeks. Hull will test our ability to get results twice a week on a consistent basis, especially ahead of a busy schedule in late December, while Napoli, Everton, City and Chelsea will push us all the way. Should we get positive results in those games, no one will convince me, we are not genuine title and Champions League contenders.

In fact, no one is able to do so even now.

Until later

Cardiff preview: go for it

Hello.

In a few hours time Arsenal will face Cardiff at their turf in what seems to be a tough fixture.

The Welsh side currently occupy fifteenth position in the table, but I don't think they can be underestimated. After all, they've beaten City to grab their first win of the campaign and went on to, quite fairly, draw United. If they turn up with a right attitude, it'll be a dangerous team to be up against.

Then again, we are also no pushovers. We've garnered 25 points from the last 10 league games, with the only defeat against a shabby United side. Not bad at all.

What is more, our defense is no longer leaky and error-prone. The thing has been mentioned numerous times already, but the league points were dropped because we were unable to conjure anything up front, rather than our because of our inclination to shoot ourselves in the foot.

Having a keeper in bang form also helps. Though our defensive abilities have been polished to almost a perfect state, it's just plain impossible to deprive the opposition (however bad they play) from all chances to score. And that's where Szscesny comes in. Just look at the importance and timing of the saves he pulled off even this week (against Southampton and Marseille) and we cannot hope for more. In an interesting twist, the Pole's outing against Marseiile happened to be his 125th game for the club and his 50th clean sheet. It's not quite every second of his games is a clean sheet, but it's impressive nonetheless. You can delve into the history of Arsenal's best goalkeepers to get some context.

Back to Cardiff, however. We have no new injures (thank God) and even Gibbs back. He's missed out due to some illness, but the important thing is, that he's back in contention. That probably means Kieran will start and Monreal will replace Gnabry on the bench. It's a bit of a shame we didn't see see more of the German, but I guess it's still early days for him. The signs of him becoming a good footballer are there, he was tied down to a new contract, so I expect to see more of him in a year or two. But not just yet, it seems.

However, I won't be too surprised, should Monreal start the game. He's played well against Marseille, his cameos as basically a left winger throughout the season were solid and his first goal for Arsenal was scored against a Welsh side, though it wasn't Cardiff.

All in all, Wenger will have his hands full, trying to figure out, whom to start and whom to bench, but it's better than having guys like Chamakh or Arshavin as the only real alternatives. It's even better, than having a bunch of kids (however promising) in reserve.

The midfield is the most crowded area right now, so I can't even bother to guess, who'll play where. It's Giroud up front and probably a Flamini-Arteta duo at the base, but that's about it. I may even be mistaken about Flamini. Or Arteta.

So, plenty of quality in this side to do the job. If we get a win, our lead at the top will extend to 7 points, seeing as how almost every one of our rivals plays tomorrow (some of them play against each other, which is very satisfying). But we are in a position, where we can afford to only care about how we play. Beautiful, isn't it?

Here's for the win today and I wish you all a very happy weekend. Until later

Arsenal 2-0 Marseille: almost through

Hi everyone.

Our fine form continued on Tuesday with yet another emphatic win. Though it never felt like Marseille were in the game, I do wonder, idly, how much of this was our work. It was another complete defensive performance from Arsenal, this time coupled with a scintillating attacking display.

Three changes were introduced to the side that have scraped out a result against Southampton: Monreal for Gibbs, Flamini for Arteta and Rosicky for Cazorla. Gibbs was, according to the reports "unwell", so Nacho was named in the starting line-up. It remains to be seen to what extent, if any, the Englishman will be used against Cardiff, but we have a capable and willing replacement in Monreal.

As for the other two, I think Cazorla is still finding his feet, but in a game like this it was important to set the tempo right from the start, so Rosicky seemed an obvious choice. As for Arteta, I think the Spaniard just needed a rest. He's played a lot of minutes recently and, as we have a slew of important games coming up in the next couple of weeks, our skipper was consigned to only a late cameo.

These changes, however, didn't affect the fluidity of our game, and within 30 seconds Arsenal were ahead. Sagna spotted Whilshere making a run down the right flank and played a through ball. Whilshere got himself into the box, sidestepped the defender and curled a beautiful shot into the far corner. Such a fine piece of play from Jack reminded me of Messi. Hard to pull off, yet beautiful and seemingly easy.

After that, Arsenal took full control of the situation. We could have doubled our lead easily by the end of the first half, first when Mandanda saved Ramsey's low shot, and then through a penalty.

Ramsey fooled the defender on the edge of the box, was bundled over and the ref pointed to the spot. Ozil took the kick, but his unimpressive effort was parried away by Mandanda. I didn't like the look of Ozil getting ready to take the penalty right from the start and when he stopped in front of the ball it was crystal clear to me that he wouldn't score. Unfortunately, I was right.

This didn't affect our confidence, as we continued pouring men forward right up to the second goal, which came in the 65th minute. In all that time, Marseille created only one half-chance, but Gignac's poor close-quarters control ensured the chance was wasted.

In the 65th minute we scored. Giroud held the play up on the flank, Ramsey found Ozil in the box and the German fired a low cross across the goal. Whilshere was on the receiving end of it and sent the ball home cooly to mark his first brace for Arsenal.

After that, we fell back, satisfied with an honest day's work, which could have backfired, had Szczesny not been our goalkeeper. Thauvin, who came on as a second-half substitute, found some space in the box, but his shot was partially saved by the Pole, to then be cleared off the line by Monreal. Minutes later, Thauvin nearly avenged this, but Szczesny got a big hand to his goalbound effort to stop it from going in.

We had the final say in this game however, as first Cazorla and then Walcott fired wide when they really should have done better. Their wastefulness didn't affect the points we got, they got some match sharpness (something they came on to do),so end of story.

Incredibly, this win didn't ensure our  qualification, as Borussia has beaten Napoli 3:1. The goal difference is such, however, that only a loss by a three-goal margin or greater can see us kiss the knockout stages goodbye, so basically, we are almost through.

What makes the situation even more incredible, is that all other English teams have qualified with a game to spare. Chelsea will play in the last sixteen despite having only nine points and losing to Basel twice, United (with eleven points) will go through from the first place and City, with twelve points, can fight for the first place, while being miles ahead of the third.

Anyway, I don't think we'll go Naples to just avoid a defeat, we'll want to keep our momentum going in-between important league fixtures but, you know, anything can happen. Let's just ensure it won't happen to us.

Until later