In a few hours time, the Arsenal players will be walking out at the Britannia stadium and if rumours are to be believed, it will be without Mesut Özil which will be a massive blow offensively. If he is out injured I really hope it is very short term and nothing long lasting. It would be typical at a time where we can expect Alexis Sanchez to return to the squad today. We have been waiting to get them both on the pitch together.
In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Paul (@PoznanInMyPants), Elliot (@YankeeGunner) & James (@GoonerFanatic49) discuss the heartbreaking 3-3 draw at Anfield. The pod talk midfield problems, Giroud's improvement, Campbell's rise and new signing Mohamed Elneny
Joel Campbell once more. His pass to Aaron Ramsey for the first equaliser was beautiful. Mesut Özil better check himself before Campbell assists wrecks himself, or something. I have a little bit obsession for chipped goals and reverse through passes, Campbell is satisfying the latter obsession. He tried it again for Giroud's second goal and it was Ramsey once again making that run. Wonder if we will see some more of that during this season. From 78th choice on the flank for Arsenal, Joel may have moved to number 2 on current form. All the credit should go to him for his desire and commitment to work himself into this position, then of course his quality which is becoming clearer and clearer as the weeks roll by
Arsenal's performances have been patchy for a few weeks now. We have done very well to pick up the amount of points that have been gratefully received since the enforced midfield reshuffle but you get the sense that we are only playing well in moments rather than full games. I don't think we've played anywhere near our best since we beat Manchester City
I seem to be in the minority when it comes to our goal conceded. Kieran Gibbs who I thought had his best game in sometime did very well to win the ball back, under pressure he did not have many options but to play the ball in the direction he was facing. Koscielny could have played a pass to his left to Oxlade-Chamberlain and the danger would have been avoided. Kos could have also put his foot through it and played it safe, it wasn't safe and we were punished but I think it is unfair to blame Gibbs for the goal.
In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Paul (@PoznanInMyPants), Tim (@Stillberto) & James (@GoonerFanatic49) discuss the entertaining 3-1 cup victory against gum chewing Sam Allardyce's Sunderland. The pod talk Iwobi, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Campbell, sideways passing and much more in this weeks Arsenal Vision Podcast
Arsene Wenger has fielded a much stronger team than I expected him to do today. For a start I certainly did not expect Petr Cech to start the game but it is interesting to see that Ospina does not make the bench, perhaps there is more going on there than meets the eye. Mathieu Debuchy however is on the bench and I was hoping he would have given Bellerin a rest. Iwobi has been preferred to the Jeff and it will be interesting to see who out of the Ox or Iwobi starts centrally.
I was expecting massive amounts of rotation for this game given just how difficult a run of games we have coming up. Not only that but much of the same 14 or so players have been heavily relied upon to get us through the traditional busy festive period. But Arsène Wenger in the pre match conference was not speaking like a man ready to make 11 changes to the first team.
In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Elliot (@YankeeGunner), Paul (@PoznanInMyPants) & Tim (@Stillberto) discuss the hard fought victory over Newcastle United at the Emirates. Giroud, Elneny, all that and much more in this weeks Arsenal Vision Podcast
How we could do with a winter break at this stage. While it would benefit all the teams in the league, I think it would be massively beneficial for us right about now. I get the feeling that we are not physically ready for some of the games coming up while City with this win under their belts have winnable games. So if I was a betting man, I would predict Arsenal to drop a place or two for now but with players coming back or coming in from the transfer market I suspect we will find another late run of form as we have done so often so we will come back again for the home straight