Kevin Whitcher
Arsenal approached the visit to the Hawthorns in more confident mood after their midweek victory over Dortmund. In a game they dominated, the return of Laurent Koscielny helped the side’s solidity, although the Frenchman had the linesman to thank when he played Berahino onside early in the second half, only to be saved by the flag. With the game at 0-0, and the West Brom striker with only Damien Martinez to beat, it was a turning point. Martinez himself looked confident and capable, although there will be tougher tests ahead for the third choice keeper, starting with Southampton on Wednesday.
Until Welbeck’s headed winner, a fine example of what he can bring to the team in front of goal, and also a demonstration that he can match Giroud’d contribution in the air, it looked a familiar story. Lots of nice build-up play but poor finishing. Chances were created, then spurned.
However, persistence paid off and at this stage two things matter to Arsenal. Results and clean sheets. The team have, in spite of their frequent profligacy, been scoring enough goals to win their matches. The problem has been at the other end. With Koscielny returning, Kieran Gibbs started the match on the bench with Nacho Monreal moved to left back. The latter’s removal through injury suggests that Gibbs will start on Wednesday, although one cannot rule out that an element of rotation might have been used here anyway, a rare luxury for the manager when it comes to defensive positions.
I was interested to see whether the return of Olivier Giroud to the starting line-up would mean a 4-4-2 formation against West Brom, given Wenger has toyed with such a line-up at times in recent weeks. However, Giroud played central with Welbeck and Alexis flanking him, although there was a lot of movement generally between the front three. Cazorla’s finishing did not improve by playing in the hole (although it was a fine assist for the goal), and Aaron Ramsey continued in the struggle to find form. Mathieu Flamini did not try to get too involved in the forward play and looked an effective shield against this quality of opposition.
So Arsenal continue to take points from the relegation candidates, the type of games they have been winning in the Premier League so far this season. Nothing wrong with that, but the visit of Southampton in three days time is a tougher test, interestingly enough a Grade C match. What’s this? Value for money? Possibly this fixture was nominated for the reasonable price category because it was a December midweek game. Not normally as easy sell.
As for West Brom, they have often given Arsenal a tough test in the West Midlands, but usually come up short. Berahino’s late header that hit the bar symbolized that. It’s a game the Gunners deserved to win, but almost gave away the two points. Some of the pro-Wenger websites made a lot of the bad refereeing decisions that went against Arsenal against Manchester United (even if Wilshere was fortunate not to have been sent off in the first half long before he was injured). Perhaps they might reflect on the offside that was given in their favour yesterday. Swings and roundabouts.
It’s a win that will not have changed too many minds about what is best for the future direction of the club, and indeed, a thanks Arsene, but time to move on banner was visible after the game. The feeling these days is that the club is just a couple of poor results away from the next wave of baying for the manager’s head. It’s far from a healthy state of affairs, although at the conclusion of the game, Arsenal moved into fourth place in the table. For a large number of supporters, that is not good enough, they want more. Are they being unrealistic?
I am now on Twitter@KevinWhitcher01.
The current issue of The Gooner can be bought online here. A new issue with the 2015 calendar will be out for the Southampton home game on Wednesday evening.
DIGITAL ISSUES
The Gooner is also available in digital form, through The Gooner App on iPhones and iPads, the Exactly App for Android devices and now Kindle Fire owners can also get their fix by searching the Amazon App Store for The Gooner.
You can also subscribe at www.exacteditions.com and read it through your internet browser as well as receiving a code which will enable you to access issues on all the above devices.
All digital subscriptions include access to our digital back issue library which dates back to August 2010.
Further Reading
A sequel to Arsènal – The Making of a Modern Superclub and entitled Arsène and Arsenal The Quest to Rediscover Past Glories has been written by myself and co-author Alex Fynn. It takes up the story of the club from the last update of the previous book, and can be bought online here. Use the promo code ‘Gooner’ to get 10% off the publisher’s price of £8.99.
