Articles

Arsene Wenger, who prefers playing with a back four fronted by two dynamic central midfielders screening them, knew that he needed a player like Vieira to not only screen that back four, but also link that back four to the attack. If you’re building your play from the back, you need to build your squad from the back too, and once built (as it fortuitously was already in 1996) you need a way to link play going forward. Vieira provided that link for almost the next decade

We are not alone in this, if I spoke to more fans, it could be that 4-5 teams feel similarly, but are quiet about this because of their league position/expectation, but this goes back to what Arsene said about opinion. I feel he has a huge point when it comes to concentrated opinion that all goes one way and not the other. Taking last night’s game, if it was a penalty on Hazard, then it is a penalty on Maitland-Niles, furthermore, 10 more penalties a game during corners and more fouls on the pitch

Yet Arsenal are in a strange position of power. For many years, Wenger has called the shots because he was valuable to the club. Consistent top 4, occasional title challenges, a reluctance to splurge money and a general acceptance that Wenger is a top class manager. However, with Wenger’s contract nearing expiration, the Frenchman has lost the trust of the majority of fans, looks set to miss out on Champions League revenue, has frittered a hefty proportion of his transfer budget away on unproven players and, probably most telling, seems to have lost the backing of key players

The culture of extremes makes it difficult to create a nuanced image of what is happening at Arsenal, or whether the journalists are intentionally disregarding Arsenal’s success as failure, because it doesn’t match up to their idea of success. After all, no matter what, if Arsenal doesn’t win the league, someone else will, and Arsenal will always be compared to them, not the teams that finish below them with more resources, not the teams that have never finished above them under Arsene, not the teams that won the league last year but are fighting relegation this year.

It’s over 20 years since Arsenal resided under an alternative manager. The club has been developed, stabilised and revolutionised under one of the most forward thinking and innovative managers of our generation. In fact, it’s hard to fathom Arsenal football club without Wenger at the helm – and it seems that Mesut Ozil considers his future entwined with the Frenchman’s own

The partnership seems like a straightforward one: Xhaka sits deep and dictates play and Ramsey bombs forward at opportune moments to link with Giroud and push beyond the lines of attack. Yet against Bournemouth, Ramsey was the player who opted to come deep to gather possession and Xhaka pushed higher up the pitch; this may have been a quick-fix as Arsenal were pushing for an equaliser but it still begs the question as to why Wenger would start Ramsey in the number 10 role and then when forced into a midfield two, that Xhaka would then begin operating closer to goal.

Arsenal are no longer a team of kids. They have title winners, European Champions and World Champions amongst their ranks and still this team lack the mental fortitude to challenge for a league title. On a number of occasions, in both the Everton and City game, Alexis could be seen berating his colleagues for not supporting him in pressing the opponents. He was constantly trying to cajole Oxlade Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and the midfield pairing to put pressure on the opposition’s defence. Yet each time he was left out to dry.

Gabriel is also a front-footed defender. He often marks his opponents touch tight and is more than willing to battle for possession and challenge strikers on the turn. However, does his prowess for stealing possession match that of the exceptional Mustafi? Doubted. The Brazilian has been waiting for his chance to play and it has come but only through injuries to Bellerin and Debuchy and a decimation of confidence of Jenkinson. Now with Mustafi suffering from a hamstring strain it seems that Gabriel will get an opportunity to compete in his favoured position

Without Sanchez and with Iwobi struggling in his current capacity, Arsene may choose to adapt his preferred starting eleven and include the hot and cold Oxlade Chamberlain in place of the young Nigerian. Despite the England manager being a firm admirer of Oxlade Chamberlain, the wide man has been left at home by Gareth Southgate. Recent ups and downs have probably cost him a place in this current England squad but the Ox’s capacity for the unpredictable is akin to Sanchez’s explosiveness. Both players, to their credit boast an ability to beat a man