Kevin Whitcher
Well, a thoroughly miserable afternoon to be going anywhere. Cold, wet, windy. Not the sort of conditions you’d choose to be out in. A special word for the half a dozen brave souls that attempted to sell copies of the new issue of ‘The Gooner’ in conditions that made it an uphill task to say the least. All were pretty much soaked to the skin by the time they made their way in to watch the game, where it didn’t get any warmer, although at least they were under cover. There were a lot of no shows amongst the crowd, presumably a mix of not wanting to venture out from home on a horrible day when the game is on the box and maybe transport problems.
Arsenal dominated, although in truth, Palace were awful. They created a hint of danger about once in the first half, and for a short spell in the second when the home side failed to get the ball out of the danger zone properly on successive attempts, a sequence that began with Monreal giving away a sloppy corner. Other than that, it was all Arsenal. Given the amount of dominance, they might have had a hatful, but at this stage, it is simply winning that counts, although this was a far less stressful 90 minutes than that against West Brom on Boxing Day. This is the second of six fixtures where the team really need to take maximum points before visiting Chelsea, and so far, so good.
Some interesting changes. Ozil was absent, reportedly suffering illness, although it wouldn’t be the greatest of surprises if in reality he was having an agreed mid-winter break. He won’t be tweeting from a beach in Dubai if that is the reality, but one suspects he might have the hint of a tan by the time he presumably returns for the visit to Swansea in almost a fortnight. So Perez came in with Iwobi filling in at Ozil’s position, which must have made Aaron Ramsey ponder about his future prospects at the club. Elneny was chosen ahead of Coquelin, (another snub for Ramsey) presumably with the thought that defence was not going to be such a priority against a struggling Palace side.
Giroud missed what looked like a tap-in early on, failing to connect with a ball across the face of goal, but converted a far more difficult chance soon after. A bit of a fluke, but a fantastic goal nevertheless. The ball from Sanchez was behind him and he just tried to make some kind of connection with it, something he might try a hundred times and score once with. Yesterday was the day, and as a consequence a game of football broke out with Palace at least attempting to get men forward.
The atmosphere was pretty flat, a mix of the conditions, the large number of absentees, hangovers, a relatively unexciting contest, and Palace’s ultras being uncharacteristically quiet. I wonder if recent months have sucked the lifeblood out of their normally brilliant support?
We expected Palace to come out of the traps after the interval, but there was no such response. Sam Allardyce put a brave face on things, but he must realize after this game that he has plenty of work to do to address Palace’s current malaise. One imagines he will buy in January. Alex Iwobi headed in a second goal for Arsenal and things looked generally comfortable. Unusually, Nigeria have failed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations so Elneny will be the only player Arsene Wenger loses to the tournament.
So job done, and Chelsea’s lead over Arsenal remains at nine points, with the Gunners in third place. Manchester United and Spurs seem to be getting their act together and we wait to see what develops at Manchester City with the signing of their new Brazilian forward. Liverpool and Chelsea have both benefitted from the absence of European fixtures, so it looks like these teams will remain the top six until the season’s end. Supposedly there are no easy fixtures in the Premier League these days, but after watching this game, I am not so sure.
It looks pretty certain that Arsene Wenger will keep his powder dry in the January transfer window with several ‘like a new signing’ returns from the treatment room imminent. In 2017, his team need to get some big results on the road (as well as at home to the two Manchester clubs). These will determine whether or not the fading hopes of title race involvement are rekindled. First up, win every game until the visit to Stamford Bridge, hope Antonio Conte’s side falter and then we see what happens on February 4th. Experience tells us not to be hopeful with a run-in that also sees visits to Southampton, Liverpool, Spurs, and Stoke, but then, without hope, what do we have as fans?
Happy New Year everyone.
The new issue of The Gooner (with a free 2017 Arsenal Legends calendar) will be on sale at the away games v Bournemouth, Preston and Swansea as well as the home matches v Burnley and Watford. It can also be bought online for £4.00 including postage here if you can’t make it to any games.
(You can also buy copies of the calendar on its own for £1 postage free here.)
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