Arsenal scored three against Bournemouth yesterday and they were totally in control. We had all our players back in their preferred positions, and Welbeck and Lacazette combined perfectly up front. Kolasinac and Bellerin helped out our best back three setup and it all looked so easy.
Bellerin himself, who reportedly asked to leave this summer, looked back to his best and we even had a cameo performance from Alexis Sanchez. This was in marked contrast to our abysmal performance last week at Anfield, and Hector Bellerin admitted that the team deserved the backlash after that game. “I think it was fully deserved. We didn’t give 100 per cent in that game and we didn’t play as Arsenal should play. We need to take it on the chin and we know we had to improve, so after this game I think we showed everyone that we have reacted. We knew what we did was wrong and we need to make amends for it. I think we showed that on the pitch, and it was a good comeback from that.”
He was obviously much happier after yesterday’s facile win. “We came from a tough period after two losses in the Premier League and it has been a hard time, everyone knows that. It was up to us to come up with the right attitude and the right plan, and everyone performed at their best level. Everyone gave their 100 per cent and that’s shown in the whole game and in the result.”
Arsenal managed 15 shots on goal and 8 were on target, so does Bellerin think we could have got a hatful of goals? “Yeah, I mean we have to be happy with what we got. We’re happy that we got a clean sheet, that is really important for us because we conceded a few goals in the last game so it was important for us to keep solid at the back. We’ve got that in us as well and as long as you win and you win playing well the way we did, it feels good whatever the score is.”
So are Arsenal back to 100%? Obviously there will be question marks as our opponents have now lost all four of their games so far, but the real test will come next Sunday at Stamford Bridge. If they play as well as they did yesterday we must surely have a chance to beat Chelsea?