Kevin Whitcher
The pressure’s off. And Arsenal start playing their expansive clinical football once again, with the kind of performance not seen often enough at home this season. They had dropped 15 points before yesterday’s game in 14 home matches, which had seen them score 19 goals. Looking at the those statistics and the gap to Leicester in the table, it is obvious where they have fallen short. Three home defeats – to West Ham, Chelsea and Swansea, along with three home draws – against Liverpool, Spurs and Southampton – have put paid to an Arsenal title, barring a collapse by Leicester.
Before the game the consensus amongst those I spoke to was that the priority was more Arsenal finishing above Spurs than winning the title – because the former is a more realistic ambition as things stand, and it would mean Tottenham not winning the thing for the first time since 1961. Can you imagine what it would be like if that happened? Gooners would have to go into hiding for months. And if that doomsday scenario did actually happen, it would be interesting to see exactly how many of the manager’s loyal followers remain under the illusion that the club is better served with him at the helm.
The same eleven took the field as won at Everton before the international break. However, I was more interested in the changes that occurred between the FA Cup visit of Watford a week before that and this starting line-up. Out went Chambers, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Campbell and Giroud. In came Bellerin, Monreal, Koscielny, Iwobi and Welbeck. That points to the defence as the reason the Gunners will not retain the trophy they have won in the last two seasons.
Of course, the early goal in yesterday’s match made a great deal of difference. Watford’s gameplan went out the window and they had to focus on the other end of the pitch rather than simple denial and breakaway. Iwobi set up Sanchez who thumped it home after his initial header was saved. The favour was returned later in the half when the Chilean teed up Iwobi to make it 2-0. The good combinations of Welbeck and Iwobi in the front four look like a recipe for success, complemented by the quality of passing and discipline of the two deeper midfielders, Coquelin and Elneny. At the moment, it seems a case of Aaron Ramsey, who he? What is odd is that in spite of Elneny being a lot less gung ho, Arsenal seems to have greater drive going forward. Of course, that may have a lot to do with Welbeck’s greater pace and Iwobi’s sheer confidence. If Arsenal can retain their forward players, and keep the current quartet fit, there is encouragement for the future. I have a feeling that this could turn into a similar conclusion as Arsenal’s 1991-92 season, in which they were scoring goals by the hatful when the title was long gone and played some very good football in the latter stages of the campaign. That however, should not prevent Arsenal buying the missing top quality finisher. Giroud is solid, and could do a job, but he is not going to win you the league. As much of a breath of fresh ait as Welbeck has been, is he clinical enough? He has seven games to state a case that Arsenal do not need to splash the cash on a world class centre forward.
Alexis Sanchez, considering his exertions in South America on international duty, performed very well and looks back to his best. The fear for next season is that another Copa America will mean he is running on empty for a good few weeks. And of course there is the thorny issue of the African Cup of Nations, although one would like to think that the club have good enough cover to compensate for the loss of Elneny and Iwobi to the Egypt and Nigeria squads for five weeks.
At seven minutes, the crowd applauded for David Rocastle, on the 15th anniversary of his untimely death. The club missed a trick here. How difficult would it have been to project an image of Rocky on the big screens? Or dispense with the electronic adverts for 60 seconds and simply have the words ‘Rocky – Gone But Never Forgotten’ or similar. There was a brief montage at half-time on the screens when most of the crowd were scoffing burgers on the concourse, but it was very much a case of could do better and sadly an indicator of the club being out of touch with its fans. One for supporter liaison officer and former REDaction mainman Mark Brindle.
Hector Bellerin scored the third goal very early in the second half, and Theo Walcott entered the fray to tap in a chance created by fellow sub Joel Campbell as injury time beckoned. It was a comfortable afternoon, with the Gunners playing some entertaining football and crucially being less wasteful in front of goal. But there is also the frustration as to where this type of dominant performance has been in a good number of other matches this season, especially since the turn of the year.
Contributor David Oudot texted me to say, ”Interesting thing I noticed. At the end of the game the players went straight off. Normally a few of them go to all four corners of the ground and applaud/interact with us but not yesterday. I'm guessing that's them stropping (being ordered by the Club?) in response to the anti Wenger banners.”. Who knows. Maybe principle organiser of these things Per Mertesacker being on the bench meant no lap of appreciation from the players. Then again, you would not put it past the club to prevent the media getting an opportunity for another photo of a ‘sling yer hook’ style Arsene banner.
Anyway, the distant hopes of a late title surge still hang by the slimmest of threads. It felt like typical Arsenal to play this well when there seems nothing at stake. Still, we all enjoyed the 4-0. Better late than never, I guess.
I am now on Twitter@KevinWhitcher01.
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