Wilshere at the double

Arsenal 2-0 Marseille

Following last night’s comfortable victory, against Group F whipping boys Marseille, Arsenal now need only avoid defeat by three clear goals, away to Napoli, in the final group game, to secure qualification to the knock out phase of the Champions League.

Although the French side had already been virtually eliminated from European competition this season and fielded what could be considered a reserve side against the Gunners, they still could not be taken lightly by Arsene Wenger’s men. After all, an opponent that has nothing to lose is quite often an extremely dangerous one and when a manager fields a reserve team, the onus is on those players to prove to their manager that they deserve a place in the first team.

Therefore it was crucial for Arsenal to get off to a good start, score an early goal and demoralise the opposition. As it turned out, the Gunners couldn’t have started the game any better, going ahead with only 29 seconds played, thanks to a wonderful goal by Jack Wilshere. The ball was played out of defence by Per Mertesacker, into Olivier Giroud, who fed Sagna on the right flank. The Arsenal right back then found Wilshere in acres of space and the young Englishman exploited it perfectly, cutting inside, onto his favoured left foot, before curling a sumptuous effort past Mandanda in the Marseille goal and into the top corner of the goal.

It was a sensational strike from Wilshere and highlighted a return to confidence which had been missing in the early stages of the season. Having been forced to move out of his preferred central midfield position to the right flank, the Arsenal number 10 struggled at first to adapt his game to this new role and produced a series of under-par performances by his high standards. However during the last two games, Wilshere has shown that he can influence the game from this position and produced his best display of the season so far, as he looked dangerous throughout and was able to get himself into the Marseille penalty area on numerous occasions.

In a clear example of this, two minutes after opening the scoring, Wilshere turned provider, as he was released down the right flank once again, this time by Giroud, before playing a low ball across the box, into the path of Ramsey, who seemed destined to score, but was somehow thwarted by Mandanda. Although at this stage, it seemed as though Marseille were going to be on the receiving end of a real drubbing, Arsenal didn’t kick on and in fact seemed to sit back, their game becoming somewhat lethargic, as they comfortably passed the ball amongst one another, threatening to be dangerous, but more often than not, failing to execute the perfect final pass. Although the Gunners were always in control, it was a sterile domination.

Their approach to the game was summed up perfectly when in the 38^th minute, Arsenal were incorrectly awarded a penalty, with Ramsey having been fouled outside the box, but the referee pointing to the spot regardless. In the absence of Arteta, Mesut Ozil stepped up, but his run-up was non-existent, meaning there was no power in the shot, and the languid manner in which he took the spot kick was frankly embarrassing. Unsurprisingly, Mandanda saved this weak effort with consummate ease.

However, despite his pathetic penalty, Ozil did manage to redeem himself in the second half, displaying the vision, awareness and composure of a truly world class player, when put through by Ramsey in the 65^th minute, to look across goal and pick out the onrushing Jack Wilshere, for the Englishman to score his first double in an Arsenal shirt.

Although the game now appeared to be over, Marseille had clearly not received the message and almost reduced the deficit through Florian Thauvin’s shot, which was partially saved by Szczesny, but was still destined to cross the line, until Monreal cleared it to safety. Having survived this scare, Thauvin tested Szczesny again two minutes later, with a powerful low drive which the Polish goalkeeper did well to stop at his near post. However this was as close as Marseille would get and the Gunners were able to see the game out and secure another vital three point haul in the so called group of death.

The final group game away to Napoli will now be extremely interesting. It can be safely assumed that Borussia Dortmund will not struggle to overcome this Marseille side, even though the game will take place at the French side’s intimidating home, the Stade Velodrome. Dortmund will therefore qualify, leaving Arsenal and Napoli to scarp it out for the final qualification place. While the Gunners must avoid losing by three clear goals, Napoli must win by this same margin to secure qualification, which sets the game up perfectly. The Italians will presumably come out all guns blazing at some stage in the game and Arsenal must be prepared to ride the storm which will undoubtedly come their way. The Gunners have performed so well to gain the twelve points which would normally be enough to qualify; it would be a real shame to throw it all away now.