Kevin Whitcher
The two faces of Arsenal were seen in the 90 minutes at the Stadium of Light yesterday, but for the majority of the time, the best one was on display, and the three points were deserved.
In spite of suffering from illness of some form that kept Per Mertesacker back in London, Mesut Özil made his debut and impressed greatly, especially in the first half, creating chances for Giroud (who scored) and Walcott (twice, who didn’t). Some of the one touch play between the record signing, Wilshere, Ramsey and Giroud was a joy to behold. Arsenal should have had the game wrapped up by the interval, such was the quality of their play.
However, Theo Walcott’s off-day in front of goal meant that the visitors had to weather a bad 20 minutes after the interval. A penalty was conceded by Laurent Koscielny, whose tendency to make last ditch tackles does not always bring about the desired results. Sunderland scored and for a while looked as likely winners of this game as Wenger’s team. At times, Arsenal looked exposed as Flamini was unable to give his defenders the kind of screen they need to prevent opposition danger becoming something more tangible. He seemed to me to look a little off the pace. Aaron Ramsey was man of the match and Jack Wilshere showed signs of recapturing his old form, but on occasion, one of them needs to hold back and assist Flamini. It’s gung ho Gunners at times, and it will be interesting to see how it works out against better opposition than Paolo Di Canio’s side.
After the beauty of Arsenal’s second goal by Ramsey, there is no doubt that fortune smiled on the men from north London as a poor decision by Martin Atkinson in blowing up for Sagna’s foul on Altidore prevented another equalizer. It’s nice to get a break away from home and be on the right side of a refereeing error for once.
But let’s not be churlish, some of Arsenal’s football was breathtaking and incisive. There was rarely the feeling that the ball was being overplayed, and Özil’s touches were generally top class and kept the game moving. After the disaster of the opening day of the season at home to Villa, the players have buckled down and produced five wins in a row including the two European qualifiers. And there was no hint of them suffering after the return from an international break.
Things are ticking over nicely, but the issue of doing more to protect the back line will need a look at if Arsenal’s good run is to continue. There were enough danger signs yesterday to establish that this team is still a work in progress. Whether the return of Mikel Arteta is the missing piece of the jigsaw remains to be seen, although who the manager would drop when everyone is fit to facilitate this is a nice problem to have. Then again, the idea of everyone being fit seems a bit of a fantasy at the moment, with the news on Cazorla being ruled out for a month.
The indications are that Olivier Giroud’s twisted knee is not serious, and that is certainly one position where alternatives are thin on the ground, with Sanogo injured, the Walcott experiment presumably not to be repeated and The Greatest Striker That Ever Lived some way short of match fitness to say the least.
Let’s hope Giroud remains fit until someone can be bought in the new year to give the man a respite. Some very impressive performances yesterday – Ramsey, Wilshere, Özil, Giroud and Gibbs all worthy of honourable mentions. Beating teams like Sunderland home and away is exactly what is required if Arsenal are to contend again, so a valuable and deserved three points.
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