Theo Walcott was the two-goal hero of last night’s win over Basel, and just like the Chelsea game, the Gunners aimed to put the game to bed before half time. Theo explained that that is the game plan this season. “We just always want to start off the game with so much pace. As soon as we do that it puts a team on the back foot and you don’t want to be playing against Arsenal when we’re firing on all cylinders, and we did tonight.
“The first half again was fantastic. We knew after the Chelsea game that it couldn’t just stop there and everyone’s got to be proud because it’s not easy to play game after game every three days.
“Everyone has recovered well and we’re going to have to do exactly the same. We’re going to have a different test against Burnley at the weekend and we’ve got to make sure we’re going to be ready because again, it’s going to be a difficult game.”
Last season Arsenal’s problem was the consistency, like blowing away Man United as if they were a pub team, but then losing at home to a second string Swansea side. Walcott explained that Wenger told them that they couldn’t just rest on their laurels after beating Chelsea. “He wanted us not just to stand still and get a good result against Chelsea and then that’s it. You could just tell tonight that the intensity was there from the start. It died off towards the end but that’s obviously understandable. But then again, we kept the clean sheet – that’s what we want to do.
“We know how well offensively we are, but everyone is doing their defensive job and everyone’s working hard for each other. That’s the experience we’ve got in this team now, and it’s paying off.”
Arsenal fans usually worry more when we are playing the so-call easy teams, but another top display against Burnley will show that they are capable of putting a run together and retaining our consistency through the season. With Tottenham and City meeting each other on Sunday we can be right back in the mix, so a win at Burnley is imperative to our season.
Let’s hope it’s all over by half-time again!
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