Considering that this game was a must-win for many Arsenal fans, thinking that the FA Cup is definitely our best chance of a trophy this season, it was a bit surprising that he made wholesale changes to the side that struggled against Burnley last week.
Well it seems that Arsene does know best and all the players on the field looked like they were fighting for a starting place in the first team. We may have been worried about Danny Welbeck after so long out, but he looked like he had never been away. It was a brilliant through ball from Lucas Perez to set up the first one for Danny and he took it brilliantly.
It didn’t take much longer before we were 2-0 up. Oxlade-Chamberlain looks extremely comfortable against his old side, and he looked as good as Ozil with the brilliant long ball which Welbeck controlled perfectly to slip it into the net. Welbeck then went on latch on to another through ball, and he snicked it back for Walcott to make it three. And to think we were all worried before the game!
Wenger may as well stay in the stands because there is not much need to say anything to the team at all.
The second half started quite pedestrian, and maybe Wenger has told the lads to just have a rest and not take any chances, but we are still making chances. Walcott especially got into a wonderful position before slipping up, metaphorically and actually!
There was a shot of Wenger smiling in the stands with his earpiece in, maybe sharing a little joke about Bouldy being the next manager maybe? lol
The game seems to be petering out, but then Bould amazes everyone by putting on Alexis for Welbeck. You can’t be serious! Why are we risking our best player when we are 3-0 up. Absolute madness. Can you imagine if he gets injured?
Sanchez immediately proves me wrong by providing the assist for Walcott to get his second and Arsenal’s 4th goal! This is definitely looking like Men against Boys right now, but then Iwobi comes on for Reine-Adelaide! Is Bouldy trying to beat these kids into submission? Or simply trying to build confidence for the big games coming up?
Well it doesn’t seem to have worked because Southampton had four good chances in the 10 minutes after Iwobi comes on. You can see that Sanchez is dying to get involved but most of the players look like they are thinking the job is done so why worry?
Of course Sanchez proved me wrong again, by immediately setting up Theo for his hat-trick, so its 5-0, are we going to go for another one in the remaining 5 minutes? Maybe, but Wenger won’t see it as he has just gone down into the dressing room area to wait for his team. Perez gets set up for a 1-on-1 with the keeper which I was certain to be 6, but he couldn’t get it past the keeper. One thing has to be said, Oxlade-Chamberlain has been awesome as a provider today.
It has been great to see Walcott and Welbeck looking fast and hungry after their layoffs, and all in all its been a great win against one of our so-called bogey teams. Maybe this team should be lining up on Tuesday against Watford?
Admin