Kevin Whitcher
Points are points are points, and there’s no question Chelsea would like some of those right now, to put doubts about Arsenal’s current play into perspective. One certainly could not criticize the team for their ability to create chances yesterday, although there are legitimate concerns about the finishing. I recall a lot of fans still had great faith is Wojciech Szczesny until his saves to shots ratio revealed he was not such a great shotstopper after all.
Yet, the statistics of late would suggest there is no reason to question starting Theo Walcott up front. 11 goals from his last 11 starts is what one would expect from the likes of Thierry Henry. Yet, he still frustrates many with his ability to miss sitters. He should have had a hat-trick yesterday. Olivier Giroud got in on the act by missing his own simple chance before showing Theo how to dispatch a header into the net.
The thing is, however badly Jose Mourinho’s team are playing, the visitors will not enjoy 29 attempts on goal next weekend, so need to be more clinical when opportunities arise.
Still, the early stages of yesterday’s match were a delight to watch if you were not overly concerned about conversions. Some of Arsenal’s play was fantastic, far more aggressive and purposeful than we have seen so far this season.
The team selection was interesting in that Gabriel maintained his place. And with a run of three clean sheets now, what reason to change a defence that seems to be functioning, even if Stoke were given a couple of opportunities that might have changed things on another day. I especially liked Gabriel’s physicality when being challenged roughly by Arnautovic, the thug that put paid to Mathieu Debuchy’s season last time the Potters came visiting. There is an aggressive spirit to the Brazilian’s play which is refreshing to see. There are too many nice guys in Arsenal’s ranks. Perhaps he could give some pointers to Mesut Ozil (unless the club choose to draft in Dennis Bergkamp to do similar).
On the subject of centre backs, I received this text message from Gooner contributor David Oudot after the game: ”Interesting things I noticed today. (1) Mertesacker was present, in full suit, on the seats behind the bench. He has well and truly been dropped (2) The club are advertising for people in HR on the club website. Is that necessary? I didn't think we had anyone coming in!”
Let’s see what happens in Zagreb. Whether the BFG’s organizational abilities will be more important than Gabriel’s greater pace and tenacity is an interesting dilemma for Arsene Wenger.
Stoke haven’t won at Arsenal since 1981, although in fairness they have been out of the top flight for many of the seasons since. A win was expected, and delivered. Jack Butland had a very good game in the Potters’ goal, and on the odd occasion at the new stadium, Arsenal have had such days against inspired keepers and failed to score. The saves I can live with, but some of the efforts that went wide were less pleasant viewing.
Third place is not a bad position after five games, but the points gap to Manchester City does not look so good. For what it’s worth, from the same five fixtures last season, the Gunners gained a maximum 15 points. Arsenal probably need to win at the Bridge next weekend if they are going to credibly mount a title challenge. I think we’d all agree the finishing will need to be better to do that.
* Thanks to Geoffrey Silman for a couple of the stats in this piece.
I am now on Twitter@KevinWhitcher01.
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