West Brom preview: a chance to go top

So, after a two-week international borefest (made worse tenfold by the events in Paris), the real football is back. The players are returning, none of ours seem to do so in pieces and the next break is four months away. Four months of uninterrupted football at club level.

The weekend will kick off with Watford hosting a United side with Martial, Fellaini, Carrick and Rooney, but, naturally, our eyes will be trained on Arsenal. The Gunners take on West Bromwich away at the Hawthorns and this one for me has a distinct feeling of playing Stoke or Palace away, back when Pulis, now the manager at WBA, headed these clubs. I’m pretty sure we’ll be up against a physical side, concentrated more on time-wasting antics than playing actual football, and this is something we’ll have to work around. For a better understanding of what West Brom can offer, I thoroughly recommend you to check out this article by @7amkickoff. Fascinating stuff.

For now, though, I’ll try to figure out what we can offer. The first bit of business is, per usual, finding out the personnel at Arsene’s disposal.

Team news update

The only one back is Hector Bellerin. Ramsey and the Ox should be back on Monday though (I presume back in contention, for they have been training with the main group for a while now). Further news which I find a bit alarming concern Theo Walcott, about whom Wenger said:

“He is doing well, he could be a bit ahead of schedule but still you count a few weeks more”.

Which means Giroud remains our only option for the time being and I hope the Gunners faithful will back him fully (naive from me, right?). We should also factor in Giroud can be not quite in the state of mind to play football right now, same applies to Koscielny, whom Wenger mentioned in the presser:

“I will talk with him. It’s a big game for us. I have not talked to him yet, but I will talk to him to see if he’s completely recovered and focused.”

I do hope however both Frenchmen are okay, we badly need them. It sounds selfish, I know, but Giroud is our only real option at centre-forward, while Kos is simply undroppable. Yes, I know we have Gabriel, though as someone rightly pointed out to me, the Brazilian doesn’t seem to be particularly effective alongside Mertesacker. My gut feeling too.

Head-to-head

Quite frankly, we have a good recent history against the Baggies, losing only 2 games out of the last 19 (away) and losing none of the last 9 (home and away). Moreover, we have a near-impeccable away record this season, winning 5 of our 6 games, which includes 3 out of the last three with a goal difference of +9 (11 scored, 2 conceded).

This is coupled with West Brom’s atrocious home form this season, winning only one game and drawing another. West Brom are also a direct opposite to us attacking-wise: they attempt the fewest shots per game (at 9.5) which led to them finding the back of the net only ten times (league low, tied with Villa and Stoke), while we attempt the joint-most shots (at 18.4), though sit only fourth in goals scored with 22 (behind City, Leicester and, surprisingly, West Ham). That can partially be explained by our wastefulness in front of goal early on.

We are like chalk and cheese with West Brom, simply put. Their game is all about defending in numbers, time-wasting and staying up, while we prefer expansive attacking style of play and fight for major honours.

Squad

Arsene has quite a few things to ponder. Firstly, should he give Alexis a rest? The Chilean played 8 games in 31 days, featured in both international matches and looked jaded in the extreme even before he went away. As Tim Stillman brilliantly put it, Alexis is surviving rather than living right now. He surely will need a breather at some point, now seems as good a time as any. Better than during the Boxing Day frenzy anyway.

However, I won’t be surprised should Alexis both start and play the entire game. The reason is simple: we don’t have enough options up front to give Sanchez a break. Unless we want to try something radical at the Hawthorns, like Ozil on the right and Campbell on the left, I don’t think we’ll see Alexis omitted from the starting XI. Wenger is more likely to do so on Tuesday, by which time we should have both Ramsey and Oxlade back.

Another question is Campbell. I know it’s kind of stupid to say we lack options up front to continue playing Sanchez and then going on to ponder whether Joel should be involved, but I still think him starting is a res judicata. Why? Because I think it’s fair to say the Costa-Rican hasn’t blown us away with his performances. Him on the right is a mixed back: Joel is worse at dribbling than the Ox, but he is also less involved in the build-up than Ramsey. That explains why he’ll go back to being third-choice upon the return of Rambo and Ox, unless he pulls of a worldie of a performance.

In the light of Bellerin’s return, coupled with Debuchy getting back into form (something that shouldn’t come as a surprise, we know the Frenchman is a better player than his performances this season suggested), I wonder whether Arsene might be tempted to use Bellerin as a winger. The Spaniard will give us some directness, which the squad without Wilshere, Rosicky, Oxlade and, potentially, Alexis badly lacks, while such a role is not altogether unfamiliar to him.

Such a scenario still seems a bit far-fetched, though. At least it possesses an element of surprise and allows us to have an attacking option (Campbell) on the bench.

Finally, Arsene should decide on the mental state of our Frenchmen and Cazorla’s levels of exhaustion. I discussed Ollie and Kos above, so won’t stop on them here. Cazorla will most likely play, seeing as the international break wasn’t too challenging. Santi featured as a sub against England (scored a lovely goal too), while the game against Belgium was called off. As a result our diminutive playmaker returned a bit earlier.

Predicted line-up: Cech - Bellerin - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Coquelin - Cazorla - Ozil - Campbell - Alexis - Giroud

The verdict

We have a very good chance to do what we failed to before the break: go top of the league. United have a tricky away game at Watford, while City face a much sterner test in Klopp-led Liverpool. Leicester have an easier ride (Newcastle), so as much as wanting to go top, tomorrow should also be about ensuring we don’t fall behind.

Here’s to the three points later on. Come on you Gunners

Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham: exhausted Gunners rescued by Ozil

Going into the game, the expectations were high. It's understandable: we were on a streak of wins, City dropped points against Villa earlier and, finally, we played Spurs.

However, one simple fact wasn't quite taken into account, by yours truly too: we have a stretched squad which is also exhausted. For almost every player who started yesterday it was the third game inside a week. Debuchy and Koscielny were the only exceptions.

And so, when after the initial spark in the opening 15 minutes or so, Arsenal faded away, dominated by an organised and fresh Spurs side (which had the luxury of rotating in midweek), despair started to creep in. We had no one on the bench to change the course of the game.

When, on top of all that, Tottenham went ahead in the 32nd minute, despair turned into dejection. It was a simple move that led to the goal: Rose, who was given time and space, found Kane with the through ball and a grown version of Draco Malfoy (with an open mouth) bumbled the ball in.

The goal made me want to pull my hair out for two reasons:

1. I knew Arsenal haven't been good lately at chasing results. We are fabulous at holding onto a win, but not so good at making comebacks
2. The move which led to a goal was really simple, textbook stuff. One pass was all it took to bypass our entire defense.

I have been thinking quite some time about this goal and came to the only plausible explanation as to why it occurred: Koscielny’s mistake. Not entirely the Frenchman’s fault, but mostly his. He committed the same mistake he made a week ago, one which Gabriel fell prey to in midweek: trying to spring an offside trap. On the first occasion Bellerin saved us from a certain goal. This time around the Spaniard wasn't on the pitch.

However, we responded. It took us till approximately 60th minute to get back into the game, though when we did, we could have won it. The momentum shifted, Spurs were there to be taken, but a draw is probably a fair result. Both teams dominated the game in stretches.

As always, I'll go over some individual performances. Starting with…

Mathieu Debuchy

All eyes were on the Frenchman before the game. He had a decent game against Bayern after the Sheffield Wednesday debacle, question was, could he build on this performance?

Yes. Yes, he can. Though Debuchy’s passing remained off (30/44 passes, 68% pass completion), everything else was up to scratch. I haven't checked both teams, but Debuchy definitely leads Arsenal in tackles made (9/10). 9 successful tackles! In 77 minutes, mind you. That's more than Kos and Mert combined (6).

The Frenchman also made 7 ball recoveries, 2 interceptions and blocked two crosses. In short, Mathieu managed to keep both Rose and Eriksen quiet, which is quite an achievement, especially since the same Debuchy was repeatedly skinned by Rose in the Capital One Cup.

While Bellerin will likely be reinstated straight away after the break, we've seen a marked improvement from Debuchy. Hope such a performance gives the Frenchman a boost to stay and fight for his place.

Joel Campbell

For Joel things look worse than for Debuchy, unfortunately. The Costa-Rican was hauled off with around 15 to go and you could see why: hard as he tried, Rose got the better of our young winger.

In his (not inconsiderable) time on the pitch Campbell completed only 18 passes, created one chance and wasn't successful with any of his dribbles or crosses. He also wasn’t much of a help in defense, competing just 1 tackle, 1 interception and recovering the ball 4 times. In simpler terms, he basically left Debuchy on his own against Rose and Eriksen and thank God Debuchy coped.

If Ramsey and Oxlade return after the break (which they should), Campbell is likely to slip down to 3rd in the pecking order and yesterday you could see why.

Olivier Giroud

I’ve seen a lot of criticism going the Frenchman’s way after the game and I’m not sure I understand why.

Giroud was massive yesterday. He won everything there was to win in the air, held up play brilliantly and, on a night when no one seemed capable of producing a goal he was a constant threat. On top of all that, Ollie knocked down the rat Vertonghen.

Also, Giroud took five shots. I hear you screaming “But he put of these off target, he missed two big chances!” Now pause for a second. Out of these 5 shots, 4 were headed efforts. Which means all four were hotly contested. Fifth, by the way, was from a corner.

Out of these 5 shots, 4 were from set pieces. If you think it’s easy to score from a set-piece, think again. Yes, Giroud could have done better with his chances. But I’m not inclined to bash him, simply because he didn’t miss any of these by much, there are mitigating circumstances as to why he missed and, finally, he showed enough craft to get into good shooting positions. Something few our players accomplished.

Mesut Ozil

I saved the best for last. Ozil was really magnificent once again. I would even go as far as to say he outdid himself.

Ozil created 7 chances, 4 of these from set-pieces and got an assist for his troubles. It was his 10th assist in 11 league games. This assist was also 6th in consecutive games. Both are new Premier League records.

Moreover, of 7 chances Ozil fashioned for his teammates, 6 were in prime areas. Insane. In a game where we really struggled to do anything, Ozil was the fulcrum and it can be argued we should have won given his contribution.

What I really liked is how Ozil was prepared to dig in for the team (ran 10.5 km, tops all Arsenal players). Also how he kept the ball and manipulated space, in a game where both were hard to come by. The German basically pulled Arsenal by the scruffs of the players’ necks.

Arsene was also full of praise for the German:

“He was outstanding again. He has grown into a very great player as he has added commitment, leadership qualities and responsibility and I’m very pleased with his development.”

Wrapping it up

I’ve heard a lot of Gunners last week saying how they’d agree to take 4 points from the next two games with such an exhausted and threadbare squad. Well, here are the 4 points. Sign here.

Given the circumstances (high level of exhaustion, hell-bent Spurs side on a good run, demoralising defeat in midweek), I’ll take the draw. The way the game unfolded, we could have been bemoaning a loss right now.

That we don’t is down to the character of our players. At 1-0 down, exhausted, they dug deep, found the resources and produced a performance which could have seen us win the game. So I’ll say: “Well done, boys”.

The point sees us stay in second place, level with City. Now we have an international break to get through, which right now seems a welcome thing. It allows some of our players to catch their breath and it gives our walking wounded the opportunity to recover. Phew.

That’s it from me for now, but you can bulk up on additional reading here (tactical analysis of the game) and visiting Arseblog’s section “By The Numbers”.

Over and out from me

Tottenham preview: the last hurdle

Sorry for the radio silence in midweek. I just couldn’t bring myself to going over our loss in Munich, not the least because I haven’t watched the 2nd half (though I’ll likely rectify it by the time you read my preview).

Despite the heavy loss we can still qualify by beating Dinamo Zagreb at home and then doing the same against Olympiacos away, provided we win by 2 goals. Unfortunately for us, Olympiacos got the maximum number of points against Zagreb (both times courtesy of a late winner), so we now have to hope they won’t get a result in Munich. Such a scenario looks unlikely to me, especially since Bayern smashed the Greeks to pieces in Chersonissos.

However, there’s no denying we made this bed to lie in ourselves. Had we fulfilled the simple task of winning our first two games, we’d be at least on 6 points now and would have the advantage in Greece. It is what it is, though. Now we can only hope Arsenal can get the job done in the remaining two games.

Back to the North London Derby, however. I’ll start with team news.

Team news update

Bellerin still hasn’t recovered, something I don’t like one bit, but from what I’ve seen Debuchy was no worse than other our defenders on Wednesday. Which doesn’t tell us a lot, but still.

I don’t think Debuchy has suddenly become a bad player (Descamps is with me here). He was a regular for France’s NT not long ago, for Christ’s sake. That alone should speak for his quality.

Right now he has two problems: lack of game time and low confidence levels and these are interconnected. Arsene has told us as much:

“Mathieu needed a little competition. Game after game he has basic fitness and now with another game he should be better. “

I’m sure the Frenchman will improve if he’s given a run of games. At the moment it looks like he is in roughly the same position as Campbell: both have a short window of opportunity to impress the manager. I think I won’t make a mistake when I say Bellerin and Oxlade are likely to be reinstated straight away after recovering. Both are due to be given the green light after the break, so Campbell and Debuchy only have until then. If they don’t step up, don’t improve drastically on their current form (less so with Campbell, he at least had one very good game), neither will probably be with us when the transfer window shuts next August. Maybe even in January.

Back to Debuchy (and his problems) and I’d be lying if I said I’m impressed with his attitude. He lost his place to a 20-year-old with only 30 games at the top level and his response was to sulk, consider a move away and drop the level of his performances considerably. That’s a French International, number one right-back until very recently. Hope he realises he is on his last chance and gives Arsene a headache when Bellerin returns.

In other news, we might have Koscielny and Arteta back. Both will have late tests to determine how ready they are. I also heard Ospina could be available once again, though Arsene didn’t mention the Colombian in his presser.

Things are looking up on the injury front (thank God). I mean, we’ll still have a short bench vs Spurs, but a slew of players are due to make their comebacks after the break. Guys like Ospina, Koscielny, Bellerin, Arteta, Ramsey and Oxlade should all be eligible vs West Bromwich Albion and there are whispers Rosicky can make the cut too, thus leaving Welbeck and Wilshere as our only long-term absentees, with Theo on course to be passed fit at the beginning of December. Keeping everything crossed we’ll have them back for the busy festive period.

Squad and approach

The squad basically picks itself. Only question is whether Koscielny passes his late test. If he does, I expect him to be reinstated alongside Mertesacker. I see Wenger making no other changes, unless, of course, he springs a surprise of some kind. Like starting Iwobi on the right.

Predicted line-up: Cech - Debuchy - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Coquelin - Cazorla - Ozil - Campbell - Alexis - Giroud

I was surprised to find out Spurs are actually on a bit of a run. They haven’t lost in 10 Premier League games (that’s right, their only defeat came against United, on the opening day), while being the 2nd in-form team in the last six matches, winning 4 and drawing 2.

As it Spurs we are talking about, you won’t be stunned to know they are still a bit shit. Yes, they had some good results this season, like beating Manchester City (DVDs queuing up) and Crystal Palace (courtesy of a late, late winner), but were mind-boggingly dire every time I’ve watched them (City exempting). Drab draws vs Leicester, Everton and Liverpool, narrow wins over Villa and Sunderland and bottled games against Swansea and Stoke.

Really, they don’t look like anything special. That’s a team which succumbed to a Flamini brace on their own turf, after all. However, I still have my worries, mostly because Pochettino’s men are likely to identify our right wing as a weak spot and try to capitalize on it.

Pochettino’s left-wing duo of choice seem to be Rose and Eriksen as of late. I still remember how Rose skinned Debuchy in the cup, while Eriksen is a very dangerous player on his day (luckily, these days don’t happen very often).

That’s why Wenger has a bit of a problem on his hands. Pochettino knows where our weakness lies, Wenger knows it, the fans know it, even the milkman knows it. How can AW address it?

Bet he wouldn’t even bother if Bellerin was available, but unfortunately, the Spaniard is out. Debuchy looks brittle and in need of protection, so the question is, can Campbell offer some? We have seen he can against Swansea, though we also had Bellerin back then.

I’d honestly consider throwing in Iwobi, maybe on the left with Sanchez on the right. Or we can just reverse Sanchez and Campbell and see how it goes. Either way, I’m not sure the Debuchy-Campbell duo will cope. Hope I’m wrong, simply because it doesn’t look like Wenger will break it up. Maybe he can instruct Cazorla to cover for Campbell, I don’t know.

The verdict

The only worry I have going into the game is our right flank. I can only hope our both likely starters there understand they are on their last chance and will play like they have a point to prove.

But I’m sure we can compensate even for that, in case the need arises. Otherwise, I’m not really fussed. Yes, it’s the derby, anything can happen etc. etc., but our league form and the level of performances look far more encouraging than these of Spurs.

Besides, we are pretty strong at home. There’s been a lot of talk lately about how great Arsenal are in the away games, but not enough credit was given to our home exploits. As it stands, we lost only two home game out of the last 18 (Swansea and West Ham), winning 13 in the process. This season we have a record of 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, scoring 7 and conceding just 3.

So, the stage is set. We know what needs to be done. Now we just have to do it.

Come on you Gunners.

Bayern preview: Bellerin's injury is not the end of the world, but you can see it from here

We face Bayern for the 2nd time in two weeks and I'm really intrigued how this game will play out.

Ideally, we need at least a point from the game. That doesn't mathematically guarantee us safe passage, because there is a chance Olympiacos will get more than three points in the next two games, but let's face it: the likelihood of them clinching even a point at the Allianz Arena is minimal. They were thrashed 3-0 at home and I expect the encounter between them and the Germans to be just as one-sided (if not more) in the return fixture. So us drawing Bayern and then winning the remaining two matches should be enough to go through.

However, I'll be delighted if we win tomorrow, for several reasons. Firstly, it will light a fire of epic proportions under Pep's arse: a win will mean we will leapfrog Bayern and the fate of the first place will remain firmly in our hands. Such an outcome will have the added benefit of Bayern thrashing Olympiacos and Zagreb in the hope we drop points.

Secondly, Bayern players have been getting cocky lately. They were extremely arrogant and patronising before the clash at the Emirates and look how it worked out for them. The Bavarians regained their swagger a bit lately (after thrashing Koln and Wolfsburg) and started to spout crap like:

"We'll show Arsenal the real Bayern on Wednesday. This time we'll use our chances and take the three points." - Vidal

Or Boateng:

"Arsenal pulled everyone back at their place and I guess it'll be pretty much the same again."

And even Neuer chipped in:

"Perhaps they will play even more defensively as in the away game."

That's their hurt pride talking and I, for one, am very glad to know their pride is hurt. They shouldn't have taken as so lightly, they got punished for it and are now angry at themselves.

I'll get to what our players (and the manager) said in the tactics section, because their words are indicative of the approach we are likely to adopt. For now, team news.

Team news update

Hector Bellerin is out through injury. Arsene didn’t specify which, only said it’s nothing major, but the Spaniard is definitely out of the Bayern clash. Sob.

Truth be told, there is only one player in the current starting XI an injury to whom wouldn’t have been the end of the world: Mertesacker. Gabriel would come in and do fine. Everyone else is irreplaceable, especially in the light of our many injuries. An injury to any of Cech, Koscielny (to a lesser extent), Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud or even Campbell would make us go through the roof.

That’s the problem of having a short bench and that’s why it was so important not to suffer any injuries before the break: we don’t really have players to stand in for the current ones. An injury to a defender is slightly different in that we have (or rather, had) all 8 defenders available, so there is, at least nominally, an alternative.

However, the truth is such we have complete faith only in Gabriel. I also love Chambers, but he’s 4th choice and won’t play before Gabriel anyway. Our fullbacks, on current form, are atrocious. I don’t think Debuchy and Gibbs are atrocious overall, but they are badly out of form right now.

The manager said he has “confidence and trust” in Debuchy and I only hope these are founded on something we don’t know of, otherwise we might as well just jack it in and kiss any hopes of getting any positive result goodbye, because Debuchy will get roasted by Costa.

Squad and approach

“I would sign today to take a point but to sit off Bayern. But with their offensive quality, that would be difficult to maintain for 90 minutes.

We have to relieve the pressure whenever we can and try to score goals. That is the structure of our team, to attack.

If we set out our players only to defend then I don’t think we’ll be so efficient. We have to play every time we can.” - Wenger

“They will be angry. We are the first team that really challenged them and beat them in the end. So they will try to show they are better than us.

“We showed that we can beat them. That’s a good sign but it will be a different game at their place. Both teams have got a good chance to go through to the knockout stages.

“We improved our position in the last game but we need to get something out of this game. That puts pressure on us to perform.” - Mertesacker

“I think at home we were able to impose ourselves a lot more. We attacked a bit more but I think when we play away, we also have to have a slightly different outlook.

That doesn’t mean we’ll spend the whole game defending. We’re a big team, we’re Arsenal and we need to attack because we need the result.

But we need to attack with intelligence and make sure we don’t suffer a defeat and complicate our situation for the rest of our competition.” - Gabriel

All of this looks to me like we'll defend more than attack. Simply put, we'll try to do roughly what we did at home and hope it works again.

I have no problem with that. We rarely adopt a more guarded approach, so there's nothing shameful in admitting the opponent can best you in an open encounter and doing your best to prevent it by not sticking out your neck.

The problem can be the execution. Last time around we had Ramsey and Walcott to help us spring counters, this time we do not. We don't even have Oxlade, whose direct and powerful dribbling could have come in handy. But we do have Giroud, so booting it long towards the Frenchman is on. We'll just need runners in-behind, someone who can benefit from playing off of Giroud.

Our best options would be Alexis and Campbell or Alexis and Ozil. However, I doubt very much Wenger will shift Ozil wide, because that can both disrupt the rhythm of our midfield and create a hole we can't fill. Our only fit midfielder is Flamini and I don't want him anywhere near the starting XI against Bayern.

Another possible scenario is using Gibbs in the more advanced position. Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of such a plan. Gibbs just doesn't offer much as a winger. Now that we (sadly) don’t have Bellerin, we can’t even consider using the Spaniard as a winger with either Debuchy or Chambers behind him.

Apart from that I can see Wenger pondering only one further change: Gabriel for Mertesacker. Mertesacker looked a bit off against Swansea, but the only reason I can see him hooked is the exhaustion levels. Should he start, it would be Mert’s third start inside a week. If the consequence of overplaying the German is him being slightly off, then Gabriel should start.

However, I see no other reason to drop him. Firstly, because Mert is the captain and dropping your captain can have a demoralising effect on your team (Terry anyone?) Secondly, because Mertesacker has been ever-present in our backline in all of our big wins this season (something that also hints at his contribution in these games). Finally, he produced a defensive masterclass during our home clash vs Bayern and that's not me saying it. So I fully expect him to start, barring a last-minute hindrance.

Predicted line-up: Cech - Debuchy - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Coquelin - Cazorla - Ozil - Alexis - Campbell - Giroud

The verdict

It will be tough. I think it'll be even tougher than at the Emirates, because Bayern won't underestimate us this time, they'll have Robben back and they'll be determined to prove everyone they are better than us.

But it's not an impossible task to beat them. We've done it before, with an inferior squad compared to the one we currently can field. Under different circumstances, but still. We know what is required.

So come on you Gunners. Wipe these smirks of the Germans’ faces.

Swansea 0-3 Arsenal: resilient Gunners get crucial three points

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that I’m generally outraged at Russian commentary and commentators. The commentators generally fall into two categories: just incompetent at providing correct and interesting insight and those who are anti-Arsenal on top. There is actually a third category: neutral commentators who are pretty good at their thing, but I can count those on the fingers of one hand. Kudos to these unsung heroes.

That’s why I relish English commentary when I can get my hands on it. I mean, I can always tune into Arsenal Player, for starters, but watching the game from a Russian channel usually means there is a small lag which ruins the experience. So I have to make do with our commentators, for the most part, or watch the game on mute.

However, yesterday was that rare occasion when the Arsenal game wasn’t broadcasted live. Crystal Palace vs Manchester United was preferred for some reason, so, fuming, I rushed to find a stream. One of the streams available was from the USA channel and I had no hesitation to tune into this particular stream.

I have a soft spot for English commentary for three reasons:

1. I don’t have to endure Owen, Savage and Co at all
2. It presents a nice change from the meaningless babble of our commentators (yes, their English counterparts usually prove to be more competent!)
3. My first experience of English commentary was an overwhelmingly positive one. In case you are interested, I first listened it happened three years ago, when we thrashed Milan 3-0

This time around I was unlucky in the extreme. The commentators weren’t English, they were Americans and both were utterly inept. They mentioned how Monk never ever lost to Arsene Wenger (in his entire three games) at some point midway through the first half and it was the clearest possible indication to me I should turn off the sound. Which greatly contributed to me enjoying the rest of the game.

The first half

It was a nervous affair for the Arsenal fans. The Gunners looked off the pace and it could have cost us on several occasions. Swansea’s best opportunity to score presented itself when Shelvey put Gomis clean through, but Cech’s calmness, Bellerin’s recovery speed and, most importantly, Gomis’ total lack of confidence in front of goal on the back of a goal drought, ensured we kept it at 0-0. The Swans had other chances, Shelvey’s and Gomis’ headers spring to mind, while Montero could have found himself one-on-one, had Gomis (who was offside) not touched the ball.

At that point I was asking whether Bellerin could handle Montero even with all the help from Joel Campbell. The conclusion I came to I didn’t like. I thought our best shot at a clean sheet was removing Mertesacker for Gabriel. The German was caught out twice with a through ball, however my main source of concern regarding BFG was that he couldn’t cover for Bellerin as he simply doesn’t possess the required speed to sweep up and cover Montero.

Can we say Arsene’s decision to stick with the German was justified, seeing as we didn’t conceded in the end? I’d say partly. Mert’s numbers are pretty unimpressive, especially compared to those of Koscielny and Monreal; however, you can’t measure Per’s overall impact on our backline. You can’t measure his ability to organise the defenders or his leadership qualities. We would probably have seen a more accomplished defensive performance from Gabriel, though I’m not sure it would have led to the same outcome.

We had our chances too, it has to be noted. Monreal dragged a shot wide early on, Giroud sent the ball over when hitting the target was easier and Campbell had a couple of pops at goal. Oh, and speaking of Campbell…

Joel Campbell, the enigma

Before the game Joel was an unknown quantity, more or less. The mere fact it was his first start in the Premier League lends credence to this argument.

When the team is playing poorly it’s easy to think those uninvolved can change things around, and vice versa. When the team is on a high, people tend to agree with the manager’s selection, even if it completely deprives some individuals of playing time. Just think back to Podolski. Before his loan spell at Inter, most wanted Arsene to use the German more often. He was seen as a kind of savior, an ace up the sleeve, for an underperforming team (at that point). Only when he scored, like, one goal in 15 appearances for Inter did people realise he is not actually as good as they thought he was.

Joel Campbell is no stranger to both sides of this argument. Just like Podolski last year he was portrayed as a stranded hero (Get out while you can, Joel). Just like Podolski his unimpressive stint elsewhere convinced people he was not the man we need. Besides, our team was (and still is, long may it continue) on a run of form, so the manager’s decision to keep Joel out of the team was justified in the eyes of many. Before the game against Swansea everyone has come to the unanimous agreement it was Joel’s last chance, which was a radical change from last year’s narrative.

And he did take his chance. I was very relieved to see that because Joel really is the only senior winger left standing.

Here’s what Campbell accomplished:

1. 4 shots, all dangerous, 2 on target, one goal
2. 6 ball recoveries
3. ¾ tackles
4. 2 interceptions
5. 2 blocked crosses

He wasn’t involved much in our passing game (completing a mere 13 passes out of 20 attempted), he only attempted (and successfully completed) one dribble and only crossed the ball himself twice, but nonetheless, he managed to make decisive contributions at both ends of the pitch. Joel scored a goal, he was a constant threat and he also helped our Bellerin against Taylor and Montero a great deal. That’s all I can ask of him, really.

The second half

We needed to improve on our first half and we did just that. Arsenal started in the best manner possible: by scoring an early goal. We won a corner, Ozil curled in a cross and Giroud cleverly got rid of Williams and Fernandez to power home a header. It was goal number 2000 under Arsene Wenger, 6th goal for Giroud in the league and 15th headed goal for the Frenchman since he joined three years ago. It was also his 150th appearance for Arsenal. Phew.

Swansea responded in a lively fashion, forcing Cech into a great save from Sigurdsson and looking dangerous from the resulting corner. Again Cech came to the rescue, punching the ball clear from Shelvey’s onrushing bald head. A couple of minutes later Cech was out of the picture after Sigurdsson found Ayew, but, luckily, the linesman blew offside, denying Bellerin a massive off-the-line clearance in doing so.

After that it was basically all us. I won’t even bother listing all our moments, two of which ended in goals for Koscielny (his second in as many games) and Campbell respectively. Swansea’s only real moment of danger happened at 2-0 when Williams saw his effort brilliantly saved by Cech. Our keeper also parried magnificently after Gomis went clean through, though it didn’t count as the linesman raised his flag by then.

The verdict

It was a statement of intent from the Gunners, if ever there was one. With no real attacking options on the bench (congrats to Iwobi, by the way, the lad made his PL debut), we dug in and found the resources to put Swansea to the sword after a difficult first half.

We can say not every one of our players looked overly convincing, but in the end we did enough as a team to win it. Which is the only thing that matters, really.

The win ensured we stay level on points with City, who nicked it against Norwich in the dying minutes, but it allowed Arsenal to put some distance between us and United (who drew vs Palace) and West Ham (who lost to Watford). Amusingly, Leicester are only three points behind after their comeback at the Hawthorns. However, we got the most difficult period out of the way.

Well done to the Arsenal.

Until later

P.S. By the way, it was Cech's 168th clean sheet. He needs just two more to set a new record in the Premier League. He is in with a chance to equal it against Spurs next weekend.

And a word on Ozil. The German capped his sublime performance with two assists and now has 9 in 10 games (he missed the Newcastle game). He now also has 23 league assists since he joined, the highest total in this period among PL players.