Despite the criticism dished out to Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal squad, the Gunners have quietly gone about their business and remain unbeaten in the Premier League this season.
Mesut Ozil finally came good in yesterday’s game against Aston Villa and I hate to say it, but it would not be wrong to say that Wenger has finally played him in his preferred position and we were rewarded with him scoring his first goal this season and also assisting for another.
Three goals in the space of just three minutes and twelve seconds is an amazing stat in any League anywhere in the world, but that is what Arsenal managed yesterday, not to mention the fact that the team completed 741 passes in the 90 minutes, more than ANY team this season or last!
Another promising stat is that the German defender Per Mertesacker, who is often criticized as being too slow, completed 99% of his passes, with 109 successful in finding a team-mate. Maybe the fans can give him a break for a few weeks?
The Villa manager made a big deal of his team going down with a virus in the run up to the game, which may have left them weakened (who would have said that after the first 15 minutes?) but the fact is that Arsenal took the game by the scruff of the neck and destroyed the home team’s chances in double-quick time, and have at last showed that perhaps they have now got their tactics right.
So Arsenal move up to fourth in the table, just three points behind the leaders Chelsea, who could easily drop points away at Man City today. Not bad for a team that has been way below form in the early stages of the season. We have Tottenham and Chelsea coming up shortly and if we are still unbeaten after those two games perhaps we can dare to dream….