It seems to have taken the Arsenal star Francis Coquelin a little while to find the form that was so impressive for us in the second half of last season and the first half of this one, but when you consider that his game is based on work rate, energy and the timing of his ferocious tackles, I suppose we should not have been too surprised about that.
After his crazy second yellow against Tottenham, however, our defensive midfield warrior has really started to look the part again and his return to top form was highlighted by his fist pumping and chest thumping performance against Everton. Before the Frenchman picked up his knee injury he had been racking up some amazing stats which suggested that he was actually the best in the Premier League in his position and he was at it again at Goodison Park.
Metro reports that his 12 interceptions against the Toffees was the highest number seen by a player in an EPL game for a full three years! No wonder they couldn’t get their attacking game going. He was not just getting stuck in either, because the stats from the match on the Arsenal website show that only Ozil and Bellerin had more touches and Elneny was the only Gunner with a better passing accuracy.
The Gunners were certainly stronger before Coquelin was sidelined and they certainly look better now he is back and fully fit, so will this one injury be the thing that costs Arsenal the Premier League title?