I know that Arsenal were only at home to Huddersfield, who haven’t even scored a goal away from home since the beginning of the season, but after a sluggish first half Arsenal turned on the class and destroyed our Yorkshire opponents. Mesut Ozil was the driving force yet again, and Arsene Wenger thinks that winning 12 games in row at the Emirates will give us the confidence ahead of Jose Mourinho’s visit to the Emirates on Saturday.
The Boss said after tonight’s game: “We wanted to take advantage of being at home and we did that again. It was another three points and hopefully we can go into the game at the weekend full of confidence, and hopefully it will be a very good week for us.”
After the last minute win at Burnley, it was great to have Ozil back in the side, and Wenger thinks that the enforced rest may have done Ozil a favour. “He was out of the Burnley game, so his batteries were recharged. He put in a fantastic performance tonight.”
But to be fair, Huddersfield worked hard in the first half and came close to scoring a few times. Maybe the final score was a little flattering, and Wenger gave credit where it was due. “Full credit to Huddersfield because they made it difficult for us to break them down, but it was nice to go into half-time with the 1-0 lead. We upped the tempo in the second half, created many opportunities and we were clinical.
“It’s always difficult. We came away from a very tough game against Burnley on Sunday, so I think that may have played a part in us being a bit sloppy in the first half but we overcome it. We got in at half-time with the lead and we took full advantage of that.”
And did we! A brilliant second half saw us put some space between us and the Spuds and we helped our goal difference and must have made the players feel invincible at home. We may miss Lacazette although we hope not, but with Ozil playing like a demon and our super home form we can face Man United with a little more confidence than usual….
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Losing Lacazette is a massive blow, not just against Utd, but probably for at least the next month now. Replacements:
Welbeck can give us the pace, and movement, but he’s not clinical, and is a squad player at best.
Sanchez is the obvious choice, but we lose a lot from LW, and he drops too deep at times.
Giroud gives us no movement, we cannot employ the pressing game probably because of his lack of pace, and he doesn’t suit Wenger’s system. He’s more likely to score than Welbeck, but Welbeck would be more effective for the team, and the pressing game.
I would go with Welbeck, because we can continue with the pressing game, and then bring on Giorud to mix things up. I think Sanchez is more effective as a LW. He is a creator of goals, as well as scoring them, and he’ll get more room in that position.
And get well soon Santi! Really hope to see him again in an Arsenal shirt.
Don’t talk yourself out of it, you said it, Welbz is not a clinical enough finisher. I like what you said about moving Alexis to the 9 for this game, and then making a choice between Jack and Welbz (neither ideal) for the LW.
How concerned are you with Pogs givin Xhaka all kinds of fits?
Anims Santi! Couldn’t be happening to a better guy
No surprise or coincidence for me that shortly after rumors surfaced of Messi preferring Coutinho at Barca to Mesut over concerns over his work ethic and effort, and suddenly Mesut is workin his tail off, not only rackin up goals and assists, but also puttin work and tackles in. Couple that with the quotes the Arsene is sayin about Mesut and his effort and his quality (and talkin about how Mesut and Alexis aren’t leaving in January), and one can only arrive at one conclusion: Mesut is gone in January. Arsene playin every game he can through the media to drive up the transfer fee as much as he can (cause of course Kroenke and the board want that $$$$), while Mesut is auditioning for Messi and Barca with every match.
He’s gone. I hope we have some good replacements planned.
Also, as an outspoken and unabashed non-supporter of Aaron Ramsey, must give credit where it’s due. Couple good contributions from him lately. Still not the technically gifted fleet footed craftsman type that we need from our CM (would prefer a Cazorla/Cesc/Thiago/David Silva type to partner with a mobile pacy strong CDM — not the left-footed reflection of an aged Mikel Arteta playin CDM in Xhaka) but definitely a useful squad player. Good game Rambo.
We had amazing game… We are having amazing form… There is one factor which saw us down against Man Utd that is Jose Mourinho… He always gets better of Wenger except last year.. So we need to be on our toes..
Home form and Manure must win game in UCL should work in our favour (BGG). Major concern is who starts up front in the absence of Lacazette. Let’s hope Wenger gets his tactics right yet again. COYG.