Alexis Sanchez, the potential striker

As I was watching Liverpool tear apart Manchester City at the end of November, a simple thought was playing at the back of mind: Liverpool hugely benefitted that day from having a mobile centre-forward. Yes, Roberto Firmino may not be your centre-forward of choice, he is far from a finished article, he had a lot of weak performances this season, both before and after the City game (to the point when even the Liverpool fans started turning on him) and, finally, this may just have been an experiment from Klopp.

Indeed, while Klopp seems to be favouring a mobile striker overall (Robert Lewandowski to Chiro Immobile shift didn’t go down well, did it?), right now he opts for Benteke up front more and more often. In 12 league games Klopp has overseen, Benteke started exactly half - 6, with only start in the first 5 games, meaning 5 in the next 7. To me that looks like Klopp wanted to play with a pacy striker at the outset, trying Firmino and Origi (!) up front in equal measure, but then either decided these players were not of the standard he requires (which can see him make a move for a forward this window) or simply deciding a target man would be of more use to him for now.

However, I’m not here to talk about Klopp and his methods. Rather, I wanted to point out that Liverpool’s most scintillating performances this year happened as a result of deploying a mobile Firmino up top (the 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge and the aforementioned 4-1 drubbing of City at the Etihad just two weeks later). Of course, the wins could have been little bit accidental in the sense Klopp was an unknown quantity back then and his efficient deployment of gegenpressing coupled with Firmino up top (who never played there for Liverpool before) came as a surprise to Mourinho and Pellegrini respectively. Since then teams have adapted to this approach, utilising long balls to negate the press and catch Klopp’s men in front of the ball. I’ve veered off again. Aaargh.

The drubbing at the Etihad was as methodical and deserved as it was hyped and this got me thinking: could we attempt something similar at Arsenal? I’m not talking about gegenpressing, hamstrings seems to be popping like champagne bottles on New Year’s Eve from that; I’m talking about a mobile striker up top. Or, rather, about a fluid front three, which can interchange positions seamlessly and to devastating effect.

We’ve seen Theo up top, we know what he can do, we are aware of his limitations. We are a potent force with an in-form Theo spearheading our attack, however, I think another solution may be a better one. An internal solution at that, I’m not implying we should delve into the depths of the transfer market and splash on a new forward, especially at a time when really good forwards are few and far between and the forwards a class below are madly overpriced and completely unnecessary, seeing as both Giroud and Theo fit this mould. No, I’m talking about someone who’s been here for quite a while, someone who most thought would play at centre-forward. Someone who is a better version of Luis Suarez, in that he is more effective and less bitey. His name is Alexis Sanchez (so much drama for a title that will give it away :)).

I was watching with interest the ending of our 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb. As the game was drawing to a close, Arsene Wenger took off Giroud to give him some rest and moved Alexis to the centre-forward position. This was, I think, partially dictated by Theo’s absence. Wenger wanted to see how we’d fare if something (God forbid) happened to Giroud. He wanted to look at our other options. Campbell was still mostly on the fringes back then, Oxlade is no centre-forward and with Welbeck and Walcott still out, Sanchez was the only viable alternative left.

However, I’m inclined to think it wasn’t just a rehearsal for the worst-case scenario. It was another look at what Alexis can offer us up front. Alexis certainly didn’t disappoint in his 10-minute spell up top that night, but, unfortunately for everyone concerned, the Chilean pulled his hamstring against Norwich 5 days later, leaving us to rely on the ever-reliable Olivier Giroud. The Chilean hasn’t played since then, though all going well should return in time to face Sunderland (*knocks on wood*). As this game has been earmarked for rotation and Olivier Giroud needs a breather the most, I suspect we may see Sanchez start up top. Of course there’s the small matter of Theo wanting the same slice of the same pie, however, the Englishman himself may be rested for that game.

Anyway, 800 words in, I want to finally get to the crux of my article, namely: why I would give a run of games to Alexis in the centre-forward position.

He has speed and guile

Theo ticks the right boxes in the “speed” department, but he never really struck me as a player with outstanding technique on the ball. I don’t mean to say he is bad, no, however to me it looks like Alexis just has more tricks up his sleeve.

He has outstanding ball control and his dribbling ability is unparalleled among Arsenal players. The Chilean averages 3.3 successful dribbles per game, which equals 62% success rate, meaning he attempts 5.3 dribbles per game. Only Oxlade has better numbers here (3.6 successful dribbles per game, 67% success rate. However, these are the numbers from the 14/15 campaign for the Ox. In the 15/16 season, he only averages 1.5 successful dribbles per game with basically the same success rate - 68%! That means his numbers for dribbles attempted plummeted from 5.4 to just 2.2 - more than halved!)

He is selfish (in a good way)

How often have we complained of our players trying to walk the ball into the net? Even Olivier Giroud is more of a team player than a typical centre-forward. If there’s a teammate in a better

position, chances are Giroud will try a pass.

That’s an admirable quality, on one hand. Football is a team game (surprise!), selfish players often harm their respective sides more than help (I’m looking at you, Barkley). However, we can’t play eleven slick passers and hope it works. We need a focal point, someone to finish off our elaborate moves.

Here Alexis Sanchez fits the bill. I took his numbers (and everyone else’s who I’ll mention later) from the 14/15 campaign. The Chilean leads Arsenal in this regard and averages 3.5 shots per game, and that’s coming from the flanks. For comparison’s sake, one of the most selfish players on Earth (Ronaldo, in case you had doubts) averaged 6.4 per game.Messi averaged 4.9, Aguero 4.5, Lewandowski 3.4, Suarez 2.9. As you can see Alexis looks decent in this company, despite being a winger.

He is involved

That’s Alexis’ trademark feature. He is always doing stuff on the pitch. He is visibly there. He is involved.

In that sense Alexis is closer to our midfielders than strikers. I’ve become accustomed to the fact that Theo and Giroud complete around 20-30 passes per game, same as Oxlade and Campbell most of the time. That’s not a criticism per se. Sometimes I’d like Ollie or Theo to get more involved in what’s going on, however their playing style is a bit different. They can have a cracking game and still record the least touches (sometimes even less than our goalkeeper!)

However, Alexis is the type of player who takes games by the scruff of the neck. He’ll bully the opposition into making mistakes, he’ll drop deep to get involved in the build-up, he’ll drift to the flanks when the situation requires that. Alexis is more adaptable, more malleable, more versatile. Getting him on the end of things is unlikely to affect his contribution in other areas, but it is a move which can see him become a complete striker, maximising his goals output.

Last word

When we brought in Alexis Sanchez, most expected him to become our first-choice centre-forward. But our downright dreadful situation with wingers (Podolski and Campbell not contributing enough to merit a regular starting spot), coupled with injuries to Giroud and Walcott, not only saw Alexis on the wing, they also made us go and buy Welbeck. Welbeck, who staked a claim at CF, and one of the conditions upon he joined may, I suspect, be linked to given a run as a striker.

The situation hardly improved in the 2nd half of the campaign (though Giroud returned), so Alexis continued to ply his trade on the wing. However this season I think Arsene may give Alexis another try at centre-forward. Walcott, Oxlade and Campbell are all fit and ready to contribute on the wings, meaning Wenger has options. The return of our centre midfielders and Rosicky will provide him with options further still.

All that’s left is the desire of both the manager and player to stage the experiment. An experiment with the potential of becoming a resounding success. After all, it’s not like Arsene doesn’t have a track record of converting wingers.

Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle: 1-0 to the Arsenal

“The thing I rue the most is that we never seem to get away with playing badly. We almost always get punished for not turning up, only the extent varies, whether it’s a fluky 2-0 opening-day loss to West Ham or a thorough bashing at the Allianz Arena.”

“That is the thing I love, and hate, most about Arsenal. This may well be the reason why I support them and will continue to do so. Nothing good ever comes easy for the Gunners. Our good results are a continuation of good performances. But we don’t get lucky bounces, or at least we don’t get them often enough to worth mentioning them. We either turn up, work hard and win, or we lose resoundingly.”

This is what I wrote a mere week ago, after we self-detonated at St. Mary’s. So when the final whistle blew on Saturday, I couldn’t quite believe we won the game.

Thing is, we played badly. There was indication we would win the game all the way until Koscielny scored from close range in the 72nd minute. The goal came as a result of Ozil’s corner and some tenacious work from Olivier Giroud to win two aerial duels in the space of several seconds.

Funny thing is (read: worrying thing) was that we could, and probably should, have gone behind before that. Newcastle had quite a few decent goalscoring opportunities, however their best chance came right after the restart, when Wijnaldum found himself one-on-one with Cech. First things first though, let’s start with our performance.

The performance

“It was a difficult game against a good Newcastle side. Our legs were heavy today, I must say. Overall we were tested against a team with a lot of technical quality and our fluency was not there and our movement was not there. Our motto was try to stick together and win the game how we can. The mental aspect of our team and our defence mentality was tested today rather than our quality going forward.”

We were far from our fluid performance vs Bournemouth and that was worrying. The players went into the game on the back of a win and with a 5-days rest, unlike vs Bournemouth, and still put in a pretty appalling performance.

I hope it’s more to do with the overall hectic schedule. If we count in City, we played 4 games in 12 days and that’s bound to have an effect. Maybe we looked better vs Bournemouth because a response was needed. Adrenaline levels were high after a defeat, we had a point to prove and so the heavy legs didn’t seem quite as heavy.

The players will now get a full week before taking on Sunderland in the cup. Enough time to recover both physically and mentally, get Alexis Sanchez back and maybe even buy a player or two.

Petr Cech

Our keeper was absolutely massive, making 6 saves in total. His stop in the 48th from one-on-one vs Wijnaldum was match-winning, but his other saves, if less spectacular, were very important too. Like the header he saved in the 16th minute, or another Wijnaldum shot from a tight angle in the 42nd minute.

Cech also makes claiming crosses or catching balls heading for the top corner look easy. In fact, I think Ospina could have struggled there, purely because of his height. Just think about that bicycle kick from Mitrovic in the dying seconds. Cech caught it very nonchalantly, matter-of-factly I’d say, but I don’t think it was really as easy as it looked.

On a side note, Cech completed 14 out of his 17 passes, racking up an 82% accuracy. I’m mentioning this because 9 of these 17 were long balls, 6 of them were successful. That’s a very good accuracy for long passes, especially for a keeper.

Laurent Koscielny

Probably the only other player, apart from Cech, worthy of separate inches after such a performance. Kos not only turned up at the right place at the right time to score the winning goal, he also had a complete defensive performance just when Monreal decided to take a night off.

Kos was successful with 31 of his 34 passes (91% accuracy), misplacing his 3 in the middle third, he created a brilliant chance for Olivier Giroud with a lovely through ball and he mopped everything up defensively, completing 4 interceptions (2 of these in and around our box) and blocking two shots in areas of danger.

Oxlade vs Campbell

It looks like the Costa-Rican has won the battle for now. The Ox was quite lethargic all game. He racked up decent numbers in passing, created a shot for his teammate and made more of an impact than Theo on the other wing, but then that’s not saying much, as Theo was virtually invisible.

When Campbell came on, it felt like a breath of fresh air. His direct dribbling and huge desire to make things happen were in stark contrast to Oxlade’s indifferent attitude.

Right now Oxlade looks lost. His confidence is very low, so much so he almost stopped using his best weapon: dribbling. Maybe he was told to take less risks after we conceded a couple of times as a direct consequence of Alex trying to dribble out of dangerous areas and he took these instructions very literally. I don’t know.

What I do know is that Ox needs to break the vicious circle somehow. Or he’ll spend the better part of the period from now to May on the bench.

The aftermath

“To not drop points with the way we played today, I think it is very important. It helps the team as well because you go through moments where you don’t play well. The memory of having done that before and still having won the game, helps you to hang on sometimes.”

It’s nice to know we can “win ugly” if we need to. We looked absolutely off the pace, yet clinched the three points.

The win sees us become the sole leaders of the Premier League. Leicester dropped points at home to Bournemouth, which means they now trail us by 2 points. City are 3 behind, having pulled off a miraculous, if somewhat undeserved, comeback away at Watford.

We now have to get ready for some pretty daunting fixtures, which will come at us in quick succession. Unlike the 4 teams still involved in the Capital One Cup we get a full week between now and the FA cup game. It also yields the added benefit of both Liverpool and Stoke playing extra games.

Right, that’s it from me for now. Enjoy the win and staying top, I’ll most likely be back with you midweek.

Until then

Newcastle preview: start the year with a bang

Welcome to the New Year.

Our Boxing Day merry-go-round draws to a close with a game against Newcastle and this is the part where I cherish we haven’t progressed further in the Carling Cup. Yes, the manner in which we crashed out was nasty and I certainly wouldn’t want Arsenal to lose on purpose so that the team can have it a bit easier later on, but I won’t cry bitter tears over our exit.

Why? Firstly, we have a stretched squad. Any team would be stretched with 8 seniors out, however it doesn’t make fighting on three fronts in early January easier. Secondly, we have avoided Stoke away and that’s a fixture I genuinely hate. We rarely play good football at Stoke, escape with decent results less often still and on top of that are prone to losing one or two players at the Britannia. Finally, the semi-finals of the Carling Cup take place on the 5th/6th, meaning only a 3/4-days rest both before and after the game. Considering our next three league game (Newcastle exempting) are Liverpool, Stoke and Chelsea (the first two away from home), I would hate the thought of our threadbare squad having to play 7 games inside 25 days in January (4 league matches, 2 cup semi-finals and the FA Cup 3rd round).

As it is, we only have to hold out for one league game, before the players get a week’s rest, which should allow us to get some of the walking wounded back. Maybe even make a signing or two, who knows? Let’s start with the team news. Oh and, before I forget, kudos to Sohum for doing a marvellous job while yours truly was away treading the dangerous waters of the German exam.

Team news update

We have no immediate worries from the Bournemouth game:

“We have no new injuries from Bournemouth, only fatigue. Everybody is alright.”

We might also have Flamini back, though Alexis should still be a week away:

“We might have Flamini back. Alexis will be too short for Newcastle. He [could] be back for Sunderland.”

Finally, Arsene shed some light on our last short-term injury, that of Mikel Arteta:

“Arteta is back in training but is too short [of match fitness] to be selected in a competitive game.”

Rosicky should be back next, but the Czech will only be back in full training in three weeks. It’ll then take several weeks to get back to some kind of competitive level, so I’d say mid-February is the realistic return date for him.

Unfortunately, we have bad news on both Welbeck and Wilshere, who should be back around end of February.That means we’ll have to make do without both (plus Cazorla, Coquelin and Rosicky) for most (if not all) of our heavy two-month schedule.

Having 5 injured is a lot for a 24-man squad, especially since two of these were regular starters in 2015 calendar year. It puts an enormous strain on the remaining 19 to perform week in, week out with very little rotation.

Transfer blabber

This also puts an onus on Arsene Wenger to do stuff during the transfer window, something the Frenchman himself admitted:

"I'll be busy, that's for sure. I am already busy and I said already one month ago we are a bit short to deal with all the competitions we face, especially in midfield. We will be busy, yes."

He almost as good as confirmed we have completed our first signing in the face of Mohamed Elneny, an Egyptian midfielder playing for Basel:

"Unfortunately we cannot announce anything at the moment about this player [Elneny] because nothing has been concluded."

For something to be concluded it has to be started, moreover, Wenger didn’t flat-out deny his interest, which to me sounds like the player is basically on his way. The Guardian claims Elneny has already passed his medical and only work permit issues needs sorting out.

I cannot say I have heard anything about the guy, so I can’t say anything about his playing style, traits, personality and so on. However, I can thoroughly recommend you an ESPN article on Elneny. I found it enlightening.

Wenger also talked about possible Debuchy’s exit:

"It's not impossible [that Debuchy will leave]. I'm happy if he stays but we'll see."

Sounds far from reassuring, does it? If I were a betting man, I’d wager Debuchy won’t be with us in February. This creates a shortage in the defensive department. 7 defenders is pushing it. We were okay with 7 in 13-14, but far from okay in 14-15 until we bought Gabriel in January. So I hope Wenger is working on bringing in another right-back (maybe on loan) in case Debuchy leaves.

Finally, one player in (Elneny) is hardly the definition of being busy (even if we count in Debuchy in/out stuff), that’s why I think Arsene may have a surprise in store for us. Most likely we’ll bring in Elneny early on and then try and sign another player closer to the end of January’s transfer window. A winger, perhaps?

Squad

With Wenger saying he’ll rotate, I wonder what players he had in mind. Koscielny, Monreal and Campbell all got a rest vs Bournemouth, so I’m pretty sure these three will start on Saturday.

From the current members of the squad, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Ramsey, Ozil and Giroud are in need of a rest the most. Ramsey maybe less so, he’s only been back for a little over a month (still has 21 appearances in all competitions), but Bellerin and Mertesacker (22 apps), Ozil (25) and Giroud (27) can use a breather.

Problem is, while Bellerin and Mert can be replaced by Debuchy and Gabriel (wonder whether Arsene would want to play Debuchy, though, for reasons not related to his fitness/footballing ability) and Giroud can give way to Theo, with Ox and Campbell on the wings, we really don’t have anyone to step in for Ramsey and Ozil. No one can do the job they are doing now.

So I guess they’ll have to play this one game and then, hopefully, we’ll have Elneny and Sanchez available to give Rambo and Mesut some rest.

One last thing. I think both Chambers and Gabriel did grand against Bournemouth. Both deserve to start, in my opinion.

Predicted line-up*: Cech - Bellerin - Gabriel - Koscielny - Monreal - Chambers - Ramsey - Ozil - Campbell - Oxlade - Walcott

*probably well wide off the mark

The verdict

We have been pretty comfortable playing Newcastle in the last couple of seasons, with repeated drubbing of the Magpies at home (4-1, 7-3 etc.). Furthermore, we are on a decent run right now, while Newcastle are flirting with relegation.

The game represents one of our more winnable (on paper) fixtures for the next two months. After that we face the abovementioned Liverpool, Stoke and Chelsea in January, then Southampton, Bournemouth, Leicester and United in February, before rounding it all off with Swansea and Spurs at the beginning of March. Factor in two games against Barcelona and (hopefully) more than just the 3rd round tie of the FA Cup, add the fact most our league games are away matches and I’m already getting a bit nervous.

For now, though, it’s Newcastle. Let’s deal with this one game at a time.

Come on you Gunners.

Back with a review

Southampton 4-0 Arsenal: outgunned

When I saw Fonte power his header past Cech in the 66th minute, I turned the game off. It’s what I always do when the Gunners go 3 down. I haven’t watched us lose to United 8-2. I haven’t witnessed our 6-0 humiliation at the hands of Chelsea, or the 5-1 at Anfield. Even this year I have turned off our game vs Bayern.

Thing is, I just can’t stand it. I’ve been called plastic for that. But I still turn games off. And I will do it again in the future when we go 3 goals behind.

Why? The answer is simple: I suffer together with my team. When we fall behind big time, my suffering reaches tipping point: I physically can’t watch my team suffer. If they can’t put themselves out of their (and my) misery, then only I can do that. By turning off the TV.

What can I say about our defeat? We just didn’t turn up for the game. It’s happened before, it’s happened again and it will happen in the future. Unless we identify the problem behind it and address it, which I doubt. It’s the same as with the injury situation: if it was easy to solve, we would have done it already.

The thing I rue the most is that we never seem to get away with playing badly. We almost always get punished for not turning up, only the extent varies, whether it’s a fluky 2-0 opening-day loss to West Ham or a thorough bashing at the Allianz Arena.

I have watched quite a few of United’s games this season (hours I’ll never get back for things more productive or, at least, more satisfying). Their luck has run out, it seems, that with 3 successive defeats in a row and a 7-game winless streak in all competitions, but they have been shit all season. Even their fans admit that. The number of games where United were really good and won as a consequence can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Yet their points haul suggests they weren’t as bad as they actually were.

That is the thing I love, and hate, most about Arsenal. This may well be the reason why I support them and will continue to do so. Nothing good ever comes easy for the Gunners. Our good results are a continuation of good performances. But we don’t get lucky bounces, or at least we don’t get them often enough to worth mentioning them. We either turn up, work hard and win, or we lose resoundingly. We crumble. We self-detonate in spectacular fashion.

Yesterday was one of the times when we haven’t turned up at all. Like against Zagreb, West Ham, Bayern. Sometimes we get incredibly unlucky with refereeing, for example. Like against Chelsea or West Brom. But most of the time we are the masters of our own downfall.

Despite me not being in a mood to discuss the performance in detail, there are still things I would like to focus on. I’ll start with the very thing I liked about our performance vs City, the thing we completely lacked at St. Mary’s. One which lies at the heart of such an atrocious performance, in my view.

The intensity

It just wasn’t there. Poof. Gone. We did the exact opposite of what should have been done, of what we managed vs City.

We lost duels, we didn’t track runners, we failed to keep our shape, we allowed Southampton to have the ball without putting pressure on them. What’s more, our efficiency dropped big time compared to 6 days ago. For example we took 8 shots with 5 on target in both games, but were only able to create 1 big chance vs Soton compared to 3 vs City. Here are the numbers which show how much our intensity dropped.

Metric	Manchester City	Southampton
Ball recoveries	62	46
Tackles	20/29	11/20
Interceptions	24	16
Dispossessed	10	20

What does it tell us? We were much less willing to attack Southampton players in possession, hence the drop. I regret a lot there is no such metric as “duels” (or at least it isn’t available for the wider audience), because I suspect that’s where we really lost the game.

The referee

He was shite. That doesn’t make us world beaters, but Jonathan Moss made three costly decisions on the first three goals, plus a lot of small decisions went Soton’s way.

There was an offside in the build-up to the first, Long blatantly tripped Koscielny to escape his marker for the second and the third wasn’t a corner. That doesn’t change the fact we defended like a pile of dung on all three occasions, but saying the ref didn’t influence the outcome of the game would be wrong in the extreme.

The (over)reaction

That was something else. Immediately after the loss people started calling for Wenger’s head, lambasting Per Mertesacker, saying Flamini is no longer up for it and so on and so forth.

Wenger went from being a tactical genius to being unable to implement basic things right, Mertesacker’s massive rock-solid City performance was forgotten and he went back to being a slow and useless lamppost, Flamini was “all over the place” 5 days after demonstrating brilliant acumen to pocket Silva, while Olivier Giroud transformed into a donkey from a clinical finisher.

If you look at your Twitter timeline (and I strongly recommend you not to), our title bid is over. We don’t have the depth, the mentality, the quality, the right manager - you name it.

Let’s just ignore the fact Manchester “much better than us” City actually trail us by a point, having lost to us just a game ago. Let’s close our eyes City were comprehensively beaten three times this season, losing twice by a 4-1 scoreline, one of these times was at home. Let’s talk down all our previous achievements and good games.

No perspective whatsoever. I swear to God our fanbase is as reactionary as it gets. Every loss is an utter failure, which should immediately be “seriously inquired into” and put right by axing the manager and half the squad.

The verdict

This loss hurts. The fact that this loss came at a time when we had a chance to go top hurts even more. The fact that we were actually outplayed and humiliated doesn’t bear thinking about.

But the fact remains: this loss isn’t the end of the world. We are still second in the league, two points behind Leicester who take on City in the next game. We have created ourselves a cushion by beating City, now we’ve blown it. Yes, we now have a worse goal difference.

However we are still well-placed in the grand scheme of things. We haven’t lost three league games in a row. We aren’t in the 15th place, desperately trying to get top 6. We are still in the title mix, whatever anyone else might have you believe.

Now let’s hope we show up and do the job against Bournemouth.

Unfortunately I have an exam on Monday, so I don’t even know whether I’ll make the game. I’m leaving you in the safe hands of Sohum to cover the match. See you in 2016.

Until then

Southampton preview: round the merry-go-round

No rest for the wicked as the Gunners (along with the other 19 teams, truth be told) prepare for their Boxing Day game against Southampton.

And despite Southampton’s atrocious recent form (1 point in 6 games, with only 2 goals scored during that run), I feel uneasy about this match. Maybe because I can’t recall the last time we had an easy game vs the Saints. Our 2-0 loss against them on New Year’s day will surely live long in memory.

Head-to-head

Our record vs Southampton is not too shabby overall - just one loss in 11 meetings (6 wins, 4 draws). However our away record is much worse - just one win in the last 6 games (3 draws, 2 losses).

Right now we are arguably the in-form team. We left our wretched November behind us and won 3 games on the trot, while Southampton, as mentioned above, look very fragile and have recorded no wins in December (in three attempts). Their winless streak of 6 saw the Saints keep no clean sheets, score just twice, concede 9 and get spanked 6-1 by Liverpool in the cup on top of that.

All of this makes the Southampton a dangerous team to play right now. They resemble a wounded and cornered animal and should thus be approached with full concentration and very apprehensively. Furthermore, the quality of their squad suggests Koeman’s men can do much better.

It’s like someone lit the fuse with Saints being the powder barrel. I don’t want Arsenal to be near them when the thing explodes.

Team news and squad

No news is good news, eh? Damn, no. Sanchez and Arteta should have been back already, Wilshere too. None of them are, however, so we’ll have to make do with the players we have for at least another 3 games.

Frankly, I don’t see Wenger rotating much, if at all. Following a string of injuries in November, coupled with some bad results (the two may well be linked with one another, I suspect), Arsene seems to have settled on a formula which he fancies and which produces the desired results. He has played the exact same combination for 3 games in a row and I don’t think we’ll see it tweaked today. More likely the Bournemouth game is earmarked for rotation.

Predicted line-up: Cech - Bellerin - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Flamini - Ramsey - Ozil - Walcott - Campbell - Giroud

Rotation issues

Now that’s going to be an issue for us in 2 days. I suspect Cech and our back 4 will stay the same, simply because defenders don’t need a breather as much as other outfield players do (Gabriel is the only switch I can see Arsene making vs Bournemouth), things will get trickier further up field.

I’m pretty sure Ozil will get a rest, the question is, who in the current squad can do what he does? Without Cazorla and Rosicky we find ourselves in a hard spot. Oxlade seems to be messing up even easy passes these days, while none of our wingers are capable of doing a decent job at 10.

The only person who can come close to filling this hole is Aaron Ramsey, so I’m keeping everything crossed the Welshman, with his endless supply of energy will find a way to feature in both games. Luckily he should be relatively fresh, having returned to the squad less just a month ago.

We then have a question regarding our midfield pairing. Just like Ramsey, Flamini didn’t play a lot until a month or so ago, so here’s hoping he has enough left in the tank to play two games in two days. We can give Calum Chambers another shot alongside the Frenchman, while we can also try Oxlade-Chamberlain there. I doubt we’ll see Arteta, though, on whom Wenger said:

“It is the same calf injury, but every time I take a gamble and put him back in he has a set back

This time I was to be a little more cautious & get him to play one or 2 games in the reserves before he comes back and plays.”

However utilising Oxlade as an 8 deprives us of an opportunity to rotate our front three. While Walcott may not need it (the Englishman only started 3 games since his return), Giroud (started 12 games in a row) and Campbell (started 11 games in a row) may well need one. A tough dilemma for the manager.

The verdict

“The confidence following a victory like the one against Manchester City of course increases dramatically. What you want to maintain is the urgency and remember how much a defeat hurts.

You have to take the positives out of a game to believe in your strengths. That balance between confidence and urgency has to be right.”

Simply put, today we need another top level performance. We can’t let our concentration levels drop even a little bit, because I’m sure Southampton will be looking to end their winless streak in front of their fans.

So come on you Gunners.

I’ll be back with you tomorrow, with a customary review of the game.

Until then