That international break may have come at the perfect time for Arsenal, as it looked like quite a few key players and the team in general was running on empty a bit. We heard Arsene Wenger suggest a few times that the Gunners had run out of legs towards the end of games and that led to us hanging on against the likes of Newcastle and QPR.
I think that all our injury problems as well as having all the extra games from the Champions League and FA cup competitions had really taken it out of the players and we generally looked a lot fresher against Liverpool. Wenger certainly thought so as he spoke to Arsenal Player about the intensity the Gunners showed right from the start and managed to keep up until the end, highlighted by Giroud scoring in stoppage time.
The manager said, “We started with intensity, we decided to do that before the game and I must say credit to the players because they did it in a convincing way.
“It is a great result and before the game we would have signed for that. We played with good intensity, took advantage of our strong moments and one or twice we maybe [got] lucky, but overall I’m happy with the cohesion, the urgency, the desire.
“The quality of our movement around the box was great, so overall it is a good day.
“We’re in a strong position. It is down to us to remain as consistent as we are at the moment, and we can look back with a little distance and up front because Man City are [there] and we have to wait to see their result. We will do as well as we can until the end.”
Keeping up that intensity for the rest of the season will certainly help and there is no reason why we can´t. Apart from the final week of the Premier League, Arsenal have no more midweek games to play and that means the players can give their all one weekend and be well rested for the next game.
At the same time Wenger now has a full squad to choose from as the injured players return. So Arsenal fans can look forward to the team firing on all cylinders for the next two months. Will that mean another trophy (or even two) coming our way?