Arsene Wenger may have been all calmness and composure on the outside as he prepared Arsenal to face West Brom in the last Premier League game of the season, but I bet the boss was secretly concerned about our recent results. After three home games without scoring a goal it looked like the Gunners had lost our ammunition at a crucial time of the season, so Wenger will be delighted today.
The Frenchman did say that he was confident that the goals would come but he also admitted in an Arsenal.com report how important it was for us to head to Wembley in good form, and producing the sort of football that has seen Arsenal as the in-form team since the turn of the year. He spoke about the fluency and effectiveness as a somewhat elusive thing that cannot be turned on and off like a tap, so you knew that he was really desperate for us to get back to winning ways.
Wenger said before the game, “Every season we have had to focus until the last minute. So sometimes you would like to play a game where there is no pressure. But finally when you have one, you get bored, so at least we have to keep the concentration and it’s better.
“When you switch off it’s always difficult to switch on again. You always think ‘OK we’ll switch on’, but it’s not like that. When you switch off it is always difficult to switch on again, it’s not like when you switch on a light.”
The fact that we scored four very good goals then will be a real boost ahead of the FA cup final, and with West Brom under Tony Pulis being renowned for their defending should erase any doubts that the players may have had about our scoring power.
Was that game the perfect way for the Gunners to prepare for Wembley?