Arsenal manager Unai Emery has given his initial reaction to the impressive 2-0 win over Newcastle that saw us go third in the standings, and he singled out Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey in particular.
Naturally, he spoke about the whole team praising both their individual play, their quality and the team as a whole but it was Ozil and Ramsey he identified as the quality duo that drove us on to victory
Speaking on Sky Sports, Emery said: “We were good individually, our players gave us quality and they worked for the team. Our supporters at home are very important and we can be stronger together.
“We were improving little by little and our first goal helped us a lot. Mesut Ozil has quality, when he can find the best performance for the team, he is playing like we want with the system and how tactically we want. He is giving us his quality.
“I think Aaron Ramsey is happy, he is helping us and is playing with a very good performance and scoring. Each energy from the players is very important for us and he is doing that. We are at the most important moment of the season.
“We are making progess in the table but we know it is difficult, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United are going to win a lot of games.”
Emery is right to single out both players, they did make the difference when it mattered, they offer that little bit extra that prevents frustration setting in, they bring a calm assurance that feeds to the rest of the team, it was noticeable how often the other players looked for Ozil and Ramsey knowing they would be the catalyst for a breakthrough.
It is a shame we are losing Ramsey at the end of the season but we will still have Ozil, and if tonight has proven anything, it has proven that we are a better team with the German maestro in it.
Sam P