Reviews

Lukas Podolski had hit the side netting in the first half and then made up for it with the exquisite volley. It is exactly where we want to see Podolski. The more times he gets to strike the ball at goal the better for Arsenal. 7 goals in 17 games from a wide position is very good going for a player

When Giroud raced through you thought he was in on goal but the defender got back, luckily Theo had left his wide spot to nip in and tap into an empty net. I really like Giroud, a great team player, hard worker and strong in the air but as I said in the days when we had an injury prone Dutch chap up front, we really missed a player who can show the defender a clean pair of heals when balls are

Thomas Vermaelen started the season very well, our defensive shape looked good and he was a big part of that. In recent weeks he has been a mess. Error ridden, nervous and the complete opposite of what you expect from your captain. I do not want this to come across as knee jerk because it isn't as I wasn't comfortable with this from the start but Laurent Koscielny was head and shoulders our best defender last season and in my eyes, it was always Koscielny plus one. He has had a bit part role this season and is now out of sorts

Thomas Eisfeld replaced another youngster Serge Gnabry and you have to say, it was an unfortunate night for Gnabry who was only on the pitch during our most disjointed periods. If he had stayed on the pitch for the latter stages of the game then he would have had plenty more joy when the game was far more open. His replacement was wonderful though and once again I am left wanting to see

Mackie ran past three Arsenal defenders and should have scored but for a very good block from Vito Mannone in the Arsenal goal. After his mistake at Norwich he needed something to redeem himself and that was just about it. Before our goal Mbia stupidly kicked out at Vermaelen after losing to a shoulder barge. Rather strange behaviour

Francis Coquelin was included last night, his first game for a while now and the boy done good. We have had issues of players coming in without games and not being able to produce due to lack of game time. Coquelin looked sharp, passed cleanly and as Tom Watt would say 'the boy loves a