
We were not able to create many scoring opportunities during that first half until an Arsenal counter attack on 37 minutes. Xhaka intercepted Nathan Dyer’s pass and then some neat combination play down the field resulted in Ramsey sliding the ball across to Giroud at the far post but the Frenchman could not quite get a connection. Is it me or does that happen quite a lot to ‘ol Ollie? I can never work out if the crosses aren’t good enough or if Giroud just isn’t quick enough to turn them in. If he starts to score those, he’ll be scoring 30 a season at this rate

When the line up was announced on Twitter, many Gooners were having a fit that Francis Coquelin was starting the game in place of Granit Xhaka. But I think Coquelin was exceptional in the opening stages of the game, he was one of the guys that set the tone he was part of the reason we imposed ourselves on the West Londonders. His injury, picked up close to the 30 minute mark looks serious and could rule him out for a long time. He looked visibly distraught as he limped off the pitch. Arsene has shown incredibly amounts of faith in Coquelin this season when it looked like he may have fallen way down the ladder, we have to hope that the injury is not worst case scenario stuff but it looks bad.
How much better has Alexis been on the right? I mean, he looks a completely different player since switching. Before the game I thought it was more down to form rather than position, that was until Theo Walcott came on late in the game and Alexis moved back to the left. There were a few incidences where we saw him cut inside and lose the ball. On the right hand side we have been able to see Alexis get in behind the opposition far more consistently. Because of this he is far more productive in the final third. Since moving to the right he has scored at Tottenham, assisted for Elneny at Barcelona and now scored and assisted for Iwobi yesterday against Watford. If Alexis can continue at that rate then we should have little problems scoring goals again, especially with Welbeck's constant probing of the opposition defence and Iwobi's desire to score goals

I know the title is a super long shot and I should be preparing myself for the inevitable but f**k it! What is the point of this whole supporting thingy if you cannot retain some hopes and dreams? However unlikely they may appear. Imagine if the players had thrown in the towel and coasted for the next few games only to see Leicester City and Tottenham bottle it and drop points they would have expected to win? Yeah I know, you don't have to say it out loud.

There were some good individual performances on the night. The more I see of Elneny, the more I like him. Doesn't look to do anything flashy or highlight worthy, just makes good decisions from start to finish. Because of this, he rarely loses the ball, when you combine that with someone who works so hard on the pitch you cannot help but feel excited about his future role in the team. Alex Iwobi continues to look the part, gliding across the pitch, knitting everything together with his early and accurate passing