There was a period in this match when Arsenal fans and Arsene Wenger were thinkingh that it was going to be another of those days when Arsenal somehow failed to win a match that we should have won at a canter. But in the end the Gunners did win at a canter and the forgotten man Olivier Giroud can give himself a huge pat on the back for his part in the three points.
The big centre forward scored with his first touch in the 71st minute, a nicely swept in finish to a great cross from Gibbs, to give Arsenal back the lead that we had lost to a Sunderland penalty. That had been a huge blow because just before that we should have had our own spot kick when Alexis Sanchez was hauled back in the box when racing in on goal.
It was the Chilean who had opened the scoring in the first half with a briliant header from an equally good Oxlade-Chamberlain cross from the right. THat one goal was scant reward for our dominance and the failure to score more looked like costing us until Giroud came on.
Five minutes after his first goal the Frenchman was at it again, glancing in a header from an Ozil corner before Alexis got his own second with some fast feet and a tap in after Gibbs crashed a shot off the post. So we got what we deserved in the ned but it was nervy there for a while.
Bob.