Aaron Ramsey tormented his former club in a hugely impressive 3-0 Arsenal win. On paper, this match looked like a potential banana skin – especially considering the troubles the two Manchester clubs experienced on their trips to the Welsh capital this season. The red-shirted Bluebirds did have their moments in what was a nervy second half, the Gunners’ class eventually shone through The win was bookended by two goals from the Cardiff old boy. Ramsey opened the scoring against his former club with a flying header in the first half and

Year of the Ram

A little over five years ago, Arsene Wenger decided to spend a rather princely £5m to bring a highly rated young midfielder from Cardiff to the Emirates. Following his first return to his breeding ground in a Premier League, the Welsh club might actually think they were shortchanged as Aaron Ramsey tormented his former club in a hugely impressive 3-0 Arsenal win. On paper, this match looked like a potential banana skin – especially considering the troubles the two Manchester clubs experienced on their trips to the Welsh capital this season. The red-shirted Bluebirds did have their moments in what was a nervy second half, the Gunners’ class eventually shone through.

The win was bookended by two goals from the Cardiff old boy. Ramsey opened the scoring against his former club with a flying header in the first half and sealed the win with fierce shot riffled into the top corner at death, sending Arsenal 7 points clear at the top of the table for 24 hours at least.

There are a number of reasons Arsene Wenger’s team find themselves looking down on the rest, but the form of Ramsey has arguably been the most significant. You fully expect if Arsenal are to prolong this incredible run and ultimately challenge for top honours, much will depend on the Welsh superstar continuing to make the kind of significant contributions he has to date.

A quick word about the non-celebration however, while it is understandable you wouldn’t want to ‘rub it in’ against a former club, if you really care THAT MUCH you wouldn’t have scored/left in the first place. In fact, it’s kind of disrespectful to your new club to so openly show how much affection you still have for a team you were apparently so willingly decided to leave. You’re an Arsenal player now, Aaron.

Önonymous?

Ramsey’s brace was not the only Arsenal ‘double’ on the day. Mesut Özil chipped with two delightful assists, making it three for the week and making the criticisms of his recent performances all the more puzzling. A first half where he did “nothing” saw the mercurial German complete 24 of 25 passes including a pinpoint cross from the left hand side, planted onto the head of the abovementioned Ramsey to open the scoring. In the second half, his levels did admittedly drop as he ONLY managed 23 of 25 successful passes. He did manage to “redeem” himself with a fine through ball for Matthieu Flamini to seal the points.

These were the former Madrid man’s 5th and 6th (league) assists of the season – the most of any player this season. If this is him being “average”, I personally cannot wait until he gets better.

Midfield of Dreams

Ramsey and Özil aside, the rest of Arsenal’s hilariously impressive midfield each played their part. Jack Wilshere looked to pick up where he left off against Marseille right from kick off but was unfortunate to see his stupendous second minute shot almost shatter the crossbar after great link up play with Ramsey. During a dominant first half, Wilshere caused all manner of mischief for the Cardiff backline as a buzzed around – quite literally thanks to the colour of the away kit shorts – like a blue-arsed fly.

In contrast, Mikel Arteta sat back and dictated the play from a deeper position in a manner which we have become accustomed to since he arrived from Everton two years ago. Keeping a cool head as the home side started to push on in the second half, Arteta’s discipline in front of the back four meant that the likes of Peter Whittingham and the dangerous Jordan Mutch were unable to find the space to create anything tangible for Cardiff. But for the heroics of Ramsey, the Spaniard would have easily been awarded man of the match.

Arteta was controversially selected over the controversial Matthieu Flamini who came on, apparently, to help protect the lead but, controversially, ended up scoring the kind of goal most strikers would be proud of. When your “defensivest” defensive midfielder finds himself as the furthest man forward and finishing in such style – especially at a point when you think we’d be simply trying to protect the slim lead we had – it really is a testament to the flexibility of the team, formation and tactics the manager deploys. A fact further highlighted by the fact that, in scoring his first goal since his summer return, Flamini is now Arsenal’s 15th different goalscorer in all competitions with just a third of the season played.

Girou-ing the chance

Olivier Giroud has had a decent enough season to date. A vast improvement on his struggles during his debut campaign and starting to almost find something approaching consistency as he continues to lead the line on his own. I say ‘almost’ purely because he still often displays those odd moments that give you valid reason for concern, and doubt if indeed he is the man for the long haul over a season.

In the first half against Cardiff, the Frenchman found himself in the penalty area with the ball at his feet inexplicably waiting for an offside flag that never arrived. A through ball from Wilshere was helped on by the slightest of flicks from Özil. However, the officials failed to spot it and Giroud was in the clear. Unfortunately, he hesitated and by the time he realised he was free to score, Cardiff were able to recover and clear the danger. It was one of those moments where you thought, “Christ, we’re going to regret that later, aren’t we?” Thankfully, it all turned out ok in the end.

If Giroud was attempting to be some sort of an arbiter of sportsmanship and fair play it is commendable, but as anyone who has ever kicked a ball will know, you must ALWAYS play to the whistle. Until the officials make a decision, you continue to play the game. Stopping without good reason is unacceptable. That our Oli would do this seems to unfortunately suggest he appears to lack that ruthless streak found in most top, and for that matter lower level strikers. Benzema, Suarez, Lewandowski, any decent forward you care to name, even believing they were offside, would have smashed the ball into the back of the net and await the ref to pull him back if any offence was seen.

Perhaps it seems churlish to bring this up given the eventual outcome of the match. One would hope Giroud can learn from his mistake and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Hex-ual Healing

November is at an end and so too any concerns over the fabled “curse” this month has often been said to bring in past years. With six wins and just one defeat from seven games this past month, hopefully talk of this so called hex can be put to bed

Loaded Gunns

A third of season in
and we’re still top! Not only that, we’ve built up a lead, playing with confidence and have all that important momentum carrying us from game to game. This squad also seems to have developed the kind of work ethic that has been missing in recent years. The apprehension and/or loss of concentration that might have seen us drop points previously, appears for the time being to have gone. Arsene Wenger regularly speaks about maturity and right now, that attribute is certainly evident in this current crop of players. Whether we can carry this on over the course of the season remains to be seen but not even the harshest of critics can deny that the signs are currently looking very good.

The best part? We’re still not being taken entirely seriously as contenders. To be honest, I think I prefer it that way. If anything, it eases the pressure and allows the team to concentrate on their football.

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