Ramsey continued his recent good form with the opening goal. From a purely non-objective, irrational fan point of view this one was probably the one that provided the most satisfaction simply because of the opposition. The stories about ‘redemption’ have and will be done to death but for Aaron Ramsey to score against Stoke of all teams given what happened in the past would suggest there might actually be some truth to all that Karma talk that Buddhists tell us about. Sometimes, in re

Stoked!

– Despite our impressive run of form, it will escape nobody’s attention that the performances haven’t always hit the delightful expansive free-flowing standards we’ve become accustomed to. In the build-up ahead of this game, much was made of Stoke’s apparent change of style since Tony Pulis was jettisoned in favour of Mark Hughes. Even taking that into consideration, it was still a shock to see them at times matching us when it came to possession. Depending where your read, some publications even suggest that they actually had MORE of the ball than we did. If you’re worried we might have been transported to a parallel universe, your suspicions would probably been heightened when you look at the three goals than secured the three points. A scrappy rebound from a free kick & two headers from set pieces (scored by defenders) were typically the sort of goals you’d have expected to see us concede against them in recent years. Almost makes you wonder if the club had secretly hired Pulis to give advice on how to beat his former charges.

Ram-boo

– Ramsey continued his recent good form with the opening goal. From a purely non-objective, irrational fan point of view this one was probably the one that provided the most satisfaction simply because of the opposition. The stories about ‘redemption’ have and will be done to death but for Aaron Ramsey to score against Stoke of all teams given what happened in the past would suggest there might actually be some truth to all that Karma talk that Buddhists tell us about. Sometimes, in real life, the good guys do win. How he had the restraint to stop himself from celebrating in front of those despicable Stoke fans who have booed him since his horrific leg break and scream “have that you cunts!” or at least mockingly cup his ear while running past is just a testament to the player. Or at least shows how much of a better man he is than I would have been in the same situation.

The Big Ö

– Not that there would have been any doubts about his class but for our man Mesut to impose himself in such a way on his home debut would have still surprised many.

If we are giving him the assist for Ramey’s goal (I am), then Özil managed to help himself to a hat trick of assists and virtually made a mockery of the suggestion that he would need any sort of adjustment period in the Premier League.

Gnab-ing your chance

– Poor Theo Walcott. Following, to put it kindly, an indifferent start to the season, one would have expected his goal in midweek to galvanise him as he attempts to rediscover his form. Unfortunately, he was struck down by illness and was forced to sit out this game. Thanks to a lack of potential replacement options, The Boss handed a start to highly rated young gun Serge Gnabry.

One of the most notable things about the young German is his obvious early physical development which meant he wasn’t afraid to put himself about nor did he shy away or pull out of tackles. He also demonstrated his comfort in possession showing some nice touches frequently trying to involve himself in much of the play when we had the ball. Some of his decision making could have been better but that rawness is to be expected at this early stage. The promise is there, it’s just a case of developing that into something substantial.

Youth working…?

– On that note, Gnabry is another in a long line of players to feature in the first team having progressed through the youth set up. I think it’s fair to say that since Arsene Wenger embarked on his “project youth” crusade, the results have been mixed. While there have been some obvious success stories, there are a great number of failures. For every one Wilshere, there’s a Lupoli, Randell & Barazite. Gnabry has been spoken of in extremely positive terms by those at the club so hopefully he can buck the trend of those highly rated kids that don’t quite make the grade.

The inevitability of our small and already stretched squad means that we are probably likely to see more unfamiliar faces in the senior side before long. At the current rate of our injuries and absentees, I imagine most of the under 12s team to have made appearances by Christmas.

Oli-wobbles

– Free scoring French striker Olivier Giroud failed to find the back of the net in a league match for the first time this season. While it would be silly to go all knee-jerk and suggest that his performance is somehow a foretelling of the apocalypse, it certainly wouldn’t be unfair to say he had a pretty poor time of things overall in this match. No player can nor ever will be consistently great week on week. Even the best will have an off day. The concern about Giroud however is that given the paucity of options to step in for him, there’s even greater pressure on him to make sure his ‘bad’ games occur far less frequently than others might possibly be allowed.

As yet, the failure to buy another proven striker means that a lot is currently resting on the shoulders of Giroud. With seemingly nobody currently at the club able to come in a deputise, they is very little room for him to have a dip in form or be rested any time soon.

Flam-ible

Another fine performance in the centre of the par by Matty Flamini simply served to show what we’d been missing in encounters past with Stoke. It had previously been suggested that we were unable to compete physically against their beast-like players. Flamini took such notions a booted them into the stands as his more ‘robust’ approach meant we were never at risk of being intimidated.

There’s also a rumour doing the rounds that he threatened to ‘blind’ Stoke’s Marc Wilson after the Stoke man fouled Jack Wilshere. Terrifying (yet at the same time completely brilliant) if true.  

Gunners aiming to fire their way to success
Four wins on the spin, 12 points from 15 and sitting pretty at the top of the tree. Things could be currently be plenty worse on planet Arsenal right now. It’s early days and there’s no telling if and when this sequence of positive results will come to an end, but it feels pretty good to be out in front for once rather than the ones doing the chasing.

Given the season is still in its infancy, the most sensible course of action is to keep a level head. Talk of the title is fanciful and ridiculously premature but our good start will hopefully provide a useful platform and give us something of a fighting chance, long term. While sitting on top of the table, and seeing the supposed problems of some of those we would realistically consider to be rivals at the top end, this could be a great opportunity to take advantage as we look to build on a run that started last season, straddled the summer and continued this campaign. It’s difficult not to be optimistic about our prospects right now so here’s hoping it can continue.

UTA

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