After the horror show that Arsenal produced away to Stoke a few weeks ago, which was probably the worst 45 minutes from the Gunners for many a year, it was vital that Arsenal put on a much better showing in front of the Emirates crowd.
And the way we started that game, the Arsenal players would have been determined to begin the game well and we certainly did that. Begovic had already had to prodduce two very good saves from Alexis Sanchez and Tomas Rosicky in the opening minutes, but there was nothing their keeper could do to stop Laurent Koscielny scoring with a feee header from Alexis’ cross in the 6th minute.
THey were struggling to cope with the slick passing and link up play of Rosicky, Cazorla, Alexis and co, so they had no chance of putting us under the sort of pressure they do at home. Then with just one defender, Hector Bellerin, on the bench, our injury curse surfaced again, with Debuchy taking a bad knock after being pushed into the hoardings by Arnautovic. You could not make it up!
Wenger made the change quickly but it had knocked us off our stride and it took around 10 minutes before Giroud brought another great save from Begovic. The big Frenchman then came close again but put his shot high and wide. Giroud was also getting some rough treatment from Shawcross and as the ref kept letting it go he was losing his rag.
Then with about half an hour gone and Stoke starting to feel abit more confident, awesome Alexis scored our second with a beautiful run and precise finish with a little help in the build up from Rosicky. Then we nearly lost a second full back before halftime after Monreal was clattered by Crouch and needed a cut stitching up. Still no yellow cards though, even though Stoke admit what their tactics will be when facing Arsenal.
Although Arsenal had not managed to finish the game off, we did so almost straight after the restart, with an Alexis free kick creeping in the near post with a deflection. Now you thought it was all about how many we could score and keeping a clean sheet because Stoke looked beaten.
We produced some brilliant football, without finding another goal, before Wenger brought Walcott on for the Ox with 67 minutes on the clock. And he soon made the final change, Ozil for Giroud. Both subs did pretty well and had decent chances to score, but were understandably a bit rusty. Their time on the pitch will stand them and Arsenal in good stead though.
At least we managed to keep the clean sheet, get our revenge on Stoke and build confidence for the games to come. Now for Man City…..
best performance all season
clean sheet! REVENGE Looks sweet
Wojciech Bite-me be like: “F**k!!! A clean sheet!”
@kickassfan
LMFAO!!!
if we go to manc w ospina, roziscky, coq , we’ll do well. roz/coq are now our best CDM layer. arteta & esp flam arent going to be starting much … thank god. mert is a timebomb and needs replacement. main thing w manc is not to concede early on away games.
for every ospina save, i can sense a frown on szcesny’s face L()L
Guys, what do you think? Crouch vs. Matesecker___ HeavyWeight Boxing fight!!! My money on Super Rhino.
Whos taller, reach advantage ?
@kickassfan
I’d go with Mert. He’s good at “ducking” shots…LOL
@NY, now that’s good thinking. He’d be introduced as “Mert de German Ducker”
There was a save ospina made,his only save of the match in fact,from Ireland’s shot,immediately ospina made the save I could sense a sarcastic smile from Szczesny’s face
very good performance, all played well, good selection from wenger,liked the formation. all round very happy 🙂 everyone can be very positive going to in to big game with man city !
NO NEGATIVITY GUYS! we have city and spuds away next- lets go there confident!
One positive result against a mid table team will not change the global fact thatArsenal need to reinforce in defence.
Come on let’s not forget that. I’ll
From Arsenal.com
Q:on whether that influences transfers…
A:Not so much because we were in the market anyway. Monreal and Debuchy can play centre back, but if Gibbs is not here Monreal cannot play centre back and if Debuchy is not here he cannot play centre back. This is a position where we are short.
He is going to buy a CB for sure. Just a matter of time.
Absolutely agree. Just wish we didn’t have to lose Debuchy, but Hector came in and played strong.
Pretty fed up that the Stoke Orc caused Debuchys injury after the ball had gone out of play. Should’ve at least been a yellow card.
MOTM: Sanchez.
one mone time
@kickassfan
Runners up: Le Coq & Santi…
thirdly, Smoker’s replacement L()L
NY ma ma!!! Thank god the aliens finally let you go.
Yeah, De Cock and Santii were both cool.
@kickassfan
Was on “extended” NY hangout holiday. Caught up with the matches(damn)And almost got some time for thumpin with some Spuds supporters near Times Square…LOL
Sanchez the nuts! personally I feel santi should have motm! He ran the midfield throughout! How many times do you see nzonzi get out played then subbed?
Rosicky wasn’t far behind, forget his age that boy can run! and as for the coq? Now he’s home, he’s looking like what he promised to be………fingers crossed!
Great performance, players back as well, top 3 easily with a good run, now its our time to turn it on…..!
COYG 😉
Just imagine how many goals were gonna be banging in when Theo’s back inform, his movement is deadly and an inform theo would have netted 3 in the last 2 games. And then you have Electric Sanchez banging them in for fun already.
And did anyone else notice Ozil, he’s bulked up quite abit, the extra mass makes you notice how tall he is, he’s 5ft11. Thought he was smaller till today.
I was going to say that too. Looking at Ozil he is bulked up and looks well tall..
Bergkamp-esque physique now, hope it helps him handle the physical demands of the prem
Honestly your right. No heart attacks, clean sheet and genuinely creative performance in the premier league. We had a great game but it’s time for us to kick on and prove we can do it away against the big yeams away starting next week against city.
Yeah, let’s do it against the big yeams.
agree. When we run into teams above us in the table… those are where the problems are. its about time we start winning these games, but im never confident going into them.
If we can get a result at Etihad and against Spuds, we then have a run of winnable games before Liver Birds and Chelski (both home) in April, and Man Gaal in May.
This result could e a kick start for rest of season
COYG
Le coq looks impressive in dm role
Alexis is a beast, what more can you say about him.
Rosicky finding pockets as well as Santi
Ox was a beast but needs to improve his shooting
Bellerin looked composed.
Saw a bit of ozil talents with that overhead flick pass.
Theo should have scored 3 goals by now, but he’s rusty, still finding them areas though.
Could have been 6 nil
COYG confidence on the up.
Debuchy dislocated shoulder, ref had a bit of a shite game, Giroud could’ve of had a peno.
So many positives.
Agreed, Captain Westham.
oiiiiiiiiiiiii don’t be naughty
Or i’ll change my name to KickAssFan’s lover
🙂
Ahahaha! Lol!
The win was so sweet, but more sweeter when you remember it was right in front of KING HENRY!
Gee, the match was fixed to please the King.
up Next: MANCITY……….. Saving the beers for the aftermath
why can’t we press like this against big clubs?!
Dude, you just answered yourself: “Big clubs”
you know what annoys me the most about arsenal???
knowing they can perform this way…why cant they do it regularly?,why couldnt we play like this at the britannia?…anyways,good performance all round…best performance of the season i think..
because of Flamini and Arteta… Also, Southhampton has won all matches against us this season.. wouldn’t be bad idea to steal schneiderlin from them. He is not cup tied and we are still on the run for the UCL.
yes, casually neither Flamini nor Arteta played… 3 goals, clean sheet…
Thank God it was just a friendly.
Props to our defense + Ospina + Coq. Played outstanding
shezza looked bitter in his hood on the bench 🙂
probably because he hadn’t had a smoke in a while
Yeah, he be like: “Damn! Where ma lighter be?
lmaoooo
Agree. Le Coq remains impressive. I really hope we stick with him. Even when he eventually has a bad game, he shouldnt be dropped. He’s been miles better than Flamini has all season.
Yeah, very strong COck_leen.
Aléxis Sánchez
Solid win, more like the Arsenal we all know.
Could have had 4 or 5 to improve goal diff – but controlled game and welcome clean sheet!!
Le Coq played well again (Will AW buy a DM in window or try and get Schneiderlein in summer?)
Santi still on a roll of great form and another good one from Rosicky.
Sanchez – well just Sanchez. Outstanding!!
Only one negative was refereeing
COYG
Get the CB FIRST and if possible a DM. You all see today Mertesacker was shaky at times. Don’t know what’s wrong with him.
Alexis third best footballer in the world! Prove me wrong…
alexis has henry’s seal approval
Balance from the start was very good..
Great to see koscienly back and scoring..
Take a bow sanchez… What- a- player we have!!!
There really isn’t anything to complain about, is there?
Not in general but we seemed to get too cocky and over confident when we were cruising that we started causing our own problems defensively.. But apart from that everything was magnificent..
highly agree.
if we dont get any players at sanchez level he will not hang around for too long.
regardless of the win Wenger Out
Go play fifa 15 and buy messi
We are together on that, Bro. I dont want Arsene managing those players anymore by next season.
Then luckily you have nothing to say on it.
What the f#ck are you on about. Seriously moving to Arsenal was his best career move. He is a King here, his twice the player he was at Barca. I honestly don’t understand the poeple saying he is/will be unhappy. He’s playing the football of his life. With all the players that are returning we will only get better. There is a lot of potential in this team we just need defensive additions.
COYG great win in wenger we trust and to them fans who said they wanted us to lose cause of wenger fu#k you COYG
@61 never again
AMEN…
Oh boy! Here they come. Hurrah!!! We are top of the table!!!
Another positive is players coming back at the right time. Believe it or not this is the first time Alexis, Ozil, Santi and Theo have been on the pitch at the same time!
Who is the MOTM apart from ALEXIS..!!
le cog again
Cazorla for me..
ooooooooooooooospina!
Nice team selection…… Nice play……… Congrats to the team, credit to wenger for a nice selection(i believe he is due)….. But……. He still needs to take a bow soon , we all know why…. Or I’m i being wicked?
lets see what happens over rest of season 🙂
dammit we needed today badly!
you’re not being wicked. Even i will give credit to Wenger. When i saw the team sheet it looked perfect. Subbed at the right times to. will just be happy today and avoid the manager debate 🙂
Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sanchez probably had their best games for Arsenal today.
Credit to Koscielny too.
The Coq, Cazorla and Sanchez were absolutely magnificent..
So I give the MOTM to Sanchez… He could have had like 6 assists today had the likes of Giroud, The Ox and Walcott taken those chances he created for them..
Very good performance….
But I think when we get too comfortable in a game we seem to just start being arrogant and then start
The Coq, Cazorla and Sanchez were absolutely magnificent..
So I give the MOTM to Sanchez… He could have had like 6 assists today had the likes of Giroud, The Ox and Walcott taken those chances he created for them..
Very good performance….
But I think when we get too comfortable in a game we seem to just start being arrogant and then start giving the ball away and take stupid defensive risks.
But apart from that we were amazing today..
Walcott is still rusty. He has missed 3-4 open scoring chances that the Old Walcott would have converted. Someone get him his Newcastle boots!
Arsenal 3-0 stoke city thugs! Coyg!
Alexis! Arsenal player of the season and EPL player of the season.
@jonh legend one sh*t hater from daily mail said it rooney,but no one has been a star like sanchez
Rooney indeed! Am sure he wont have a voting slot. If Alexis is announced, he should campaign against it. I dont see any other person getting it with the way Sanchez is playing.
Who’s talking about Shrek?
Solid performance by everyone and only positive things to say! The more Coquelin plays the less i feel we need a top DM, he has simply been solid and made his presence known so far! His true test will however come away at City and Spuds. COYG!
Not just him, the whole team have to be at 100% against City.. We have to defend as a unit.. City have some strong men in that midfield so we need more than just The Coq to get anything at City..
No Yaya so thats good, Theo if he plays will cause Mangala a lot of problems
@ras911
I’ve said before that he is the “only” real DM we have. We still need a beast to partner him with. Playing against Wanyama showed us that…
@NY gunner you’re absolutely right
Exactly it would be awsome to go to the ethiad with le coq besides a beast like wanyama, for me that’s the way to go against the big teams away.
2dms
Another cleansheet for ospina!now you are taking your chances i hope to see you again against mancity.the guy will be our real no.1 keeper mark my words there is no way back for scz
ospina will prove alot more over two next games-
will get better idea against aguero kane an co
Could have easily been 6-0 without Begovic and with Walcott and Ozil up to speed.
Shows again that our real issue is not enough good defensive minded fighters (defenders and midfielders) for the top opposition and away games. (Coq played well yet again). We have scored in all but two matches this season and have had about 7 starters out for 5 weeks+.
It was Arsenal vs Bojan and Begovic
Looks like Mert ducked again….almost Led to the 1st stoke goaL…..thank God ospina was ere to clear that out :..phew!
@soopa aeon
Sad. Especially when Kos took a cross to the chest and kept on rollin…
Same starting line up next week pls…with bellerin in if debuchy isn’t fit. Much more balanced. Solid looking defence with Le coq sitting in front and staying disciplined. COYG’s.
Really impress by le cog and rosicky in middle…I think wenger will play either flame or rambo against city tho to get some protection which im ok with long as he plays with 2 wingers and santi in the middle…call me crazy..I love ozil I really do but tge way santi is playing right now ozil gonna have to work hard to get that spot..which is how it should be…no position guarantee…u think its by chance that chambo playing better since Walcott returned? ?..competition help everybody wrk hard and ull ger a chance..ask ospina…its ur choice if u wanna keep ur spot or not
Alexis sanchez! What a gem he is for arsenal fc! Coyg!
The win was so sweet, but more sweeter when you remember it was right in front of KING HENRY!
Bellerin is having a great season
David ospina was very cool, calm, and commanding in goal today!
Gotta love wenger’s coy little smile when asked about Sanchez.
City have Agüero and Kompany back from injury, just in time to face Arsenal.. Great…
good- we need to get tested properly
yes because we have never been tested before
We have RAMBO-THEO-OZIL Ant the red hot CHILLI ALEXIS.I
truly believe anything can happen when he’s on the pitch, match winner/game changer.
David ospina for the number no 1 shirt! He is seriously threatening szczesny for it now!
Its quite reassuring when uyou have a keeper that doesn’t dwell on the ball trying to be clever every time.
We should’ve won 6-0
Francis coquelin was great today! Respect to him! Coyg!
Today showed santi cazorla and mesut ozil can play together as an attacking unit! Coyg!
Alexis sanchez arsenal’s “crown jewel”! Coyg!
Le Coq can time a tackle! Aggressive but not reckless. I can see flashes of good vision for the long ball too, from today’s match as well as the hull match. Got some of the lads coming back too. I look forward to seeing, Walcott, ozil, Sanchez, and an in form santi playing together on the regular. Great to see little Mozart as always!
Sanchez 12 goals 7 assists…who else in EPL?
Le coq is improving tremoundsly.Good sunday
I think we should start the same team again next weekend, maybe Debuchy is out but Bellerin played well. If you play with both Ozil and Walcott you will lose a bit of defensive insurance. Coquelin made so many tackles yet again, and I think he only misplaced two passes today, those were upfield. He can also pass forward, played great with Rosicky there as well, both can turn and pass forward. So that is a great and quick way to turn defence to attack when picking the ball up from deep.
One thing though, we need to be more clinical nextweek. We wont get this many chances and we will need to score atleast 2 goals to win that game vs City maybe even a third.
It’s taken a while, but that’s the arsenal we all want to see!
Every player had a good game today and worked hard.
Nice to see Özil back and I’m sure Walcott will start scoring again.
Alexis motm as usual 😉
COYG
Well done guys. You put a smile on my face
Ahahaha! Lol!
3-0
More than happy
Stoke are very thuggish so I was worried about 0-0 draw
But Extremely happy with win
long may it continue.
Now let’s whoop City’s butt
Coyg
Jui Suis Charlie
Wenger speaking in his post match interview sounds as if he has a centre back signing pretty much done – let’s hope it’s a good one.
Let’s hopw it’s Howedes not Reid
Who wants a draw for both Man Utd and Southampton ???
Me for sure
Completely satisfied with a win for Southampton as well though 😉 Southampton have been great but I expect them to eventually have a dip in form when we can strike
Great result, only wish Debuchy hadn’t gone off injured. The most important thing today was solid performances from Coq & Bellerin. They both need to have good games for their minds to be right. At their age/experience in the first team each good game gives them more confidence in themselves and the team. Especially important with oil Citeh up next. With Ozil back (& hungry), Theo still finding his feet, Rambo as an option, etc we are finally looking like the team we can be. All we need is a CB, DM & a striker.
The boy inside of me tells me, Southampton is going to score soon as I get substituted……
Excellent performance from everyone.
Injury will probably force Wengers hand in the market. A CB is more important than a CDM at the moment though, with how well Coqueli has slotted in. Needs to work on his distribution, just pick the simple pass. If we have Chambers and Bellering as RB cover and Chambers a CDM CB cover a CB is probably needed. Or a versatile defender….
I would argue that picking the simple pass is one of the reasons why he has been so good on his return; losing the ball in a DM’s position is a sure way of giving away easy goals.
There are a few too many cross field passes that go astray. or heavy through balls down the line.
Great result, more than 1 goal and a clean sheet!
OT: Saints players leave to come to us? not sure about that, they’re about to beat MU at Old trafford. Wanyamma and Schneiderlin again awesome.
@mickthegooner. as long as the CB we buy isnt one of MU’s I’m happy!
Jones and Smalling awful!
1 point behind United. 3 points behind Southampton. After City it’s likely to be 4 and 6 points. Eek!
don’t start gambling, likely at 20% odds is not going to win you money
Wanyama and Morgan S are fantastic players
i agree. they are going nowhere.
fantastic display from schneiderlin an wanyama. absolute defensive rocks.
koeman a shoe in for manager of the year?
Its extraordinary what SOTO have done, considering so many pundits declared there season to be a fight against relegation rather than a serious challenge for Champions league qualification.
Tadic, Mane, Vic W, Morgan S, Cline, Fonte, Toby A(still cant believe Wenger didnt move for him) Forrester are all quality players and Pelle probably has the best hair in the EPL. Lol
Would love to see the Saints in the top 4 come years end.
Ah rats! I wanted the game to draw!
This club sells most of its team,finds very good replacements,always seem to find the correct coach, has a great academy and supplies the EPL with excellent talent.i will not be complaining if SOTON gets CL football.that will be well deserved.
With the Debuchy injury
We need to sign Howedes, Schalke are about to sign Nastc from city , Howedes can play at CB and full back
PLEASE NOT REID
Howedes would be awesome
Howedes is valued approximately what we paid for Chambers and Debuchy so he is NOT too expensive and also good quality.
I would prefer Howedes to Van dijk, Reid and Schar
Obviously, I’d prefer Hummels and Ramos too Howedes but no way Wenger will spend over £30 million for a defender.
Strange.People here are now glorifying Coquelin as if he is a different player after the loan spell.Coquelin is playing just like he was playing before he was loaned out.I always wondered why he wasnt played.I never understood why.i never recall him having a bad game.The only player that shone in the 8-2 defeat by Man U.
However he was labeled rubbish here by just too many.I never understood why.Always good to know you arent missing something..
Still waiting for our new quality defender. Would be nice to have him for Man Shitty
Rumours in this order or quality:
1. Ramos
2. Hummels
3. Schar
4. Van Dijk
5. Reid
6. Perrin
7. Beilik
8. Smelling
9. Squillaci
10. Rio Ferdinand
Sorry
Forget Howedes at number 3
1. Ramos
2. Hummels
3. Howedes
Etc etc etc
With this lineup WENGER start redeeming himself, he is not out of the woods yet, till we see some good signings he is not off the hook…More than ever he needs to reinforce our dfence with Debuchy out for a few weeks at least…Ozil, Walcott and Ramsey need to get in form ASAP, we cant depend on King Alexis for every game, the big teams are watching and will do everything in their power to neutralize him….on the striker Department we are still shaky, Giroud was horrid today, Goals should come from him we are blessed that our DEFENDERS, WINGERS AND MIDFIELDERS are doing the job….SOTON is looking strong hope they will vanish at the end of the season as Everton did last year, it will be challenging to reach that 4th place
Great result but I see it brought out all the in Wenger we Trust brigade.
This result now goes on to strengthen Wengers resolve that he is right and there is no need to buy any quality players in this window. Arsenal need to strengthen their defence but watch Wenger he may buy a 18 year old for the future otherwise the no money will be spent.
My man Coquelin did it again :D. Great game, team played great, could have added more goals but brilliant perfomance by our gunners 🙂 Ozil and Theo coming back, lets beat manshity next week !!!!
We. Are. The. Guns.