READ MORE Everton 2 - 5 Arsenal player ratings, stats and reaction: Mesut Ozil runs
the show as Gunners rediscover their cojones Arsene Wenger explains the secret to Mesut Ozil's massively improved performance vs Everton today Arsenal news
Cazorla, Ozil and Oxchabo will first run
the show as the Gunners AMDs until Sanchez is back from his extended holidays to rest the Ox.
Arsenal 3 - 2 Southampton: Danny Welbeck Steals
The Show As Gunners Down The Saints Arsenal pulled off a sensational 3 - 2 win against a relegation - threat...
Not exact matches
Now however Debuchy has returned to the
Gunners and has actually been relatively impressive during pre-season and it seems
as if he may have
shown Arsene Wenger some reason why he should stay on the books at the Emirates, at least until Carl Jenkinson returns from injury.
We also had a goal disallowed but Mustafi was offside before heading a free kick past Courtois, and Chelsea had chances
as well, though, but not too many and it was an even game that saw
Gunners show real grit and get a rare point at Stamford Bridge.
Of course Mesut Ozil continues to be linked with Man United, despite Wenger's assertions that there has been no approach from Jose Mourinho
as yet, but the media think that Ozil is
showing his love for the
Gunners when he posted this last night after scoring the winning goal for Arsenal against Newcastle....
A Metro report
shows that Giroud, who was the Arsenal captain for the day, was desperately exorting more effort from the
Gunners as we ran out for the second half and this is surely what you want from a team captain.
It now looks
as though they could focus their attention on beating Arsenal to the signing of Destro, who has become a top target for the
Gunners after they also
showed an interest in snapping up Falcao, but missed out to United for his signature.
Although the
Gunners have a woeful record in the big games and a change of approach was certainly a long time coming, Wenger admitted later that he
showed an open - mindedness to listen to his players
as they requested that the team curb its usual attack - minded instincts.
11 goals and 10 assists may be deemed a poor season for Morata, but dare I say those results would be deemed
as average for Giroud, just
showing how much of an upgrade Morata would be for the
Gunners!
The
Gunners have reportedly
shown an interest in Napoli's Koulibaly and Valencia's Mustafi, but is Wenger ready to name one of our very own
as the BFG's replacement.
In fact, it
shows that nobody can match the
Gunners when it comes to scoring options this season,
as we have seen more of our players hitting the back of the net than any of our Premier League rivals,
as well
as the really big guns around Europe.
As mentioned, Wilshere won't be able to
show his worth to
Gunners manager Arsene Wenger, though striker Benik Afobe will be hoping to
show his old boss what he's missing.
Wenger certainly thought so
as he spoke to Arsenal Player about the intensity the
Gunners showed right from the start and managed to keep up until the end, highlighted by Giroud scoring in stoppage time.
Such qualities make him very ambitious and one of the reasons
as to why he would supposedly consider a move away from Arsenal, would be because he doesn't feel the
Gunners are
showing enough ambition.
But,
as much
as Arsene Wenger has denied it, the
Gunners do seem to have a bit of a problem with an early Saturday kick - off time, most recently
shown again in the north London derby.
In
as much
as injuries to some top
Gunners mid-season or so might be responsible for the poor
showing by Arsenal in the 2 months of February — March.
The Blues centre - forward was heavily involved in the incident which led to
Gunners defender Gabriel Paulista being
shown a straight red card on the stroke of half - time at Stamford Bridge
as he reacted to an apparent kick from the Brazilian
as the pair continued their argument following an incident seconds earlier.
The stats don't lie but don't forget either that the
Gunners have just won back to back Premier League games away from home for the first time this season, so our self - belief is up and
as an Arsenal.com report
shows, Wenger believes that it will be a good day to be a Gooner.
However
as Leicester
showed last season, the strength, fight and passion given by every single player helped to keep their title charge running all the way until the end and that's exactly what the
Gunners need to
show this season, if we want to come out on top in a very competitive Premier League.
The 29 - year old feels that the
Gunners have
shown in the second half of the season that we are
as strong
as anyone and, just like me, he believes that all the injury problems the boss had to cope with were a major factor in the early season struggles.
As this image
shows, the Frenchman, who is currently training with the
Gunners during the MLS off - season, has two full sleeves — rarely seen because the New York Red Bulls forward is a strong advocate of long - sleeved shirts!
Both Xhaka and Cazorla were unable to partake against Middlesbrough and so without these two key players in the centre of Arsenal's structure, the
Gunners were unable to
show the same consistency
as seen in previous weeks.
However, let's give a chance to our current
Gunners to
show their title readiness
as they host the Reds tomorrow at the Emirates Stadium.
While Arsenal fans were reacting in our usual calm and understated manner (ahem) after the
Gunners early horror
show at the Emirates saw us slip to defeat against Premier League strugglers Watford, not everyone was
as quick
as most Gooners to give up on Arsenal challenging for the EPL title.
But it still looks like the
Gunners have a very strong squad for Arsene Wenger to choose from,
as the pictures and report in the Daily Mail clearly
show.
After the win at Everton the Frenchman spoke about the great balance between the creative and technical side of things and the solid and organisational aspects that the
Gunners had
showed,
as reported by the Arsenal website.
The 28 - year - old is a world - class player and a talismanic presence for the
Gunners as he
showed his class last season with 30 goals and 19 assists in 51 appearances in all competitions.
However, the forward's
showings have attracted interest from both Barca and Arsenal, with the former considering the player
as a legitimate backup option to any of the first - choice front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, and the
Gunners eyeing the forward
as versatile cover for Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud
as they push for a first title triumph in a decade.
With 20 minutes to go it was looking
as though we might be going home with just a point but the desire and resilience that this current crop of
Gunners is
showing came to the fore once more.
Alexis who is now in his third season with the
Gunners, is expecting a pay rise,
as well
as insight about Arsenal's plan to
show more ambition in major competition.
Arsenal have scored 11 goals in their last three Premier League fixtures and Wenger will have been pleased with the return to form
shown by Alexis Sanchez after a poor opening to the campaign from the tired Chilean, who had been in action at the Copa America over the summer and
as such didn't enjoy
as long a break
as the
Gunners boss would have liked.
I'm not worried about MUFC, long
as the
Gunners show up on the day then I can see us wiping them out easy.
If the
Gunners are going to get anything good out of the current season then Sanchez is probably going to be the key,
as the stats in a Metro report
show clearly.
The numbers
show that Alexis and his 24 goals and 11 assists has, since the start of last season been involved in twice
as many EPL goals for the
Gunners than any other player.
Still, both clubs could be monitoring this situation closely
as they both look in need of new additions in midfield this summer, with Arsenal known to have
shown an interest in Morgan Schneiderlin before he joined Manchester United, though the Daily Star claims he was too expensive for the
Gunners.
It was revealed a month ago that the
Gunners were going to freeze ticket prices for next season, but that hardly matters
as figures released today
show that the Emirates generates more matchday revenue than any other club in the world with a total of # 101.84 million last year, narrowly ahead of Real Madrid, who made # 100.12 m from games at the Bernabeu, and Barcelona, with a total of # 90.17 m. Manchester United are next on the list, generating # 87.96 m from Old Trafford while Chelsea are sixth with # 71.84 m made from Stamford Bridge.
For players that do not even speak English and are not even from Europe, the culture shock can be
as difficult
as the difference on the pitch, but the
Gunners» new Brazilian centre back Gabriel, who had only played 50 games for La Liga club Villarreal after leaving his home in South America, has not suffered any of these problems,
as an interview on the Arsenal website
shows.
As reported by the Arsenal website, our manager has been speaking about the awesome and varied goal threat that the
Gunners are now
showing.
The first is to
show the star duo that the
Gunners are serious about competing for top honours,
as even though the report talks about the salary demands of Ozil and Sanchez being the problem, part of it must surely be their ability to win things like the Premier League and Champions League trophies.
Giroud even bagged himself the winning goal in the 85th minute to
show his worth to the
Gunners, but he will remain
as the club's second choice behind Alexandre Lacazette, who opened the scoring.
The
Gunners lost 4 - 0 to their Premier League rivals at Anfield a matter of weeks ago, in what can only be described
as a disastrous display by our stars, but we have since
shown grit to win our next two outings.
Arsenal finally got a decent and well deserved reward for their efforts in the Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund and while Jurgen Klopp was not happy with the performance of his players, Arsene Wenger suggested that it was the
Gunners getting the balance of the side right,
as an Arsenal.com report
shows.
Our young right - back Hector Bellerin believes that these figures
show that the
Gunners are getting their mojo back and will soon become
as efficient
as they were at the end of last season.
There was a pretty damning statistic about Arsenal in the media this week,
showing that without the direct contribution of our new summer signing Alexis Sanchez with his eight goals and two goal assists in the Premier League,
as reported by the Daily Mail, then the
Gunners would be down in 17th place.
There are four games left for Arsenal to tackle in 2014, all of them in the Premier League, and barring a complete collapse and loss of form, the
Gunners will get at least the five points that will make Arsenal the best EPL team of the calendar year,
as a report in The Mirror
shows that we have won 72 league points since January 1st with Man City in second with 65.
Barcelona starlet Ousmane Dembele is reportedly tempted by the prospect of sealing a transfer to Arsenal
as the
Gunners show an interest in the player.
Giroud's stats on his Wikipedia page
show clearly that he has always improved year on year at his previous clubs
as well
as the
Gunners and Wenger is backing him to do the same again this season and improve on his very respectable goal return from last season.
Nevertheless, while answers will potentially be provided in the next fortnight, Arsenal were left to enjoy their kit launch which saw Foxx
show his love for the
Gunners,
as seen below in his tweet,
as he will hope that the Premier League giants are a little more unpredictable this year.
So coming away with a point is certainly welcome,
as was the much improved defensive
showing, organisation, determination and all round performance from the
gunners today.