Gunners on top form

Arsenal 3-1 Stoke

Arsenal produced an excellent performance on a wet Saturday afternoon to overcome a determined Stoke City side and maintain their recent good run of form.

The Gunners came into this game full of confidence having topped their Champions League group with a 4-1 victory away to Basel following their brilliant 5-1 demolition of West Ham the previous weekend.

The confidence amongst the side was visible right from the kick off as the Gunners passed the ball quickly and crisply between the lines, causing numerous problems for the away side.

A key component to the new speed of play and transition from defence to attack is the fact that Wenger has finally started to utilise Granit Xhaka instead of Aaron Ramsey, alongside Francis Coquelin, a the base of the midfield. In Cazorla’s absence, Xhaka is midfielder amongst the Gunners ranks, who most resembles the Spaniard in his style of play. Like Cazorla, the Swiss international’s first thought when he receives the ball is always forwards, whereas Ramsey seems to constantly want to pass the ball square or backwards. As a result, with the Welshman in the side, Arsenal’s attacking play is laboured at times as on occasions when the Gunners can launch a counter attack, Ramsey slows the game down and the chance is lost. With Xhaka now in the side, the transition between defence and attack is quicker and Arsenal are reaping the benefits.

Unfortunately Xhaka does have one major negative aspect to his game which could result in his progress at the club being restricted. Xhaka is just too rash in his tackling at times and his clumsiness is extremely dangerous as when he launches himself into a tackle it always seems as though he is right on the edge. Either he gets it right and makes a brilliant interception, or he gets it horribly wrong, leading to serious repercussions for his side. Earlier in the season, the Swiss picked up a somewhat needless red card for a rash tackle against Swansea, which could have led to his side unnecessarily dropping points, while against Stoke on Saturday his clumsy challenge on Joe Allen resulted in the award of a needless penalty to the away side and could have also easily led to him receiving his second red card of the season, as his elbow appeared to make contact with the Welshman’s head. Against the likes of Swansea and Stoke, Arsenal may be able to overcome the repercussions of Xhaka’s actions, but against the top sides, when fine margins are what make the difference, the Gunners may be made to pay.

While Xhaka’s recent emergence in midfield has greatly helped the transition of the ball, the introduction of Mustafi alongside Koscielny in central defence has also added an important dimension to the Gunners play. In similar fashion to Koscielny, the German is comfortable on the ball and is able to play accurate forward passes to get the likes of Walcott or Oxlade-Chamberlain through on goal, with a pinpoint delivery from his deep lying position. It was such a pass in fact that almost led to Walcott opening the scoring on Saturday, only for the Englishman to be denied by the goalkeeper. In recent years, Arsenal didn’t have the option of playing from the back in such fashion and therefore at times it became rather straightforward for the opposition to press high up the pitch as the ball from the defence would almost always be played into the deep lying midfielders. With Mustafi alongside Koscielny, it is not so easy as both have the ability to either carry the ball out from the back or pass it through the lines. Unfortunately the German picked up a hamstring injury on Saturday which will rule him out of action for up to three weeks. With Gabriel deployed in his place, Arsenal will once again lose that dynamic from their play as the Brazilian doesn’t possess the same ability on the ball.

Once Mustafi was replaced on Saturday, the fact Gabriel moved back to central defence and Bellerin came on at right back, Arsenal did suddenly have more balance at the back. Gabriel is just not suited to playing at right back and with him in that position the Gunners attacking play was really suffering. Suddenly with Bellerin on the pitch, Arsenal had a wide attacking option, with the Spaniard launching attacks from deep and playing dangerous balls into the box, creating problems for Stoke, which they just could not deal with. It was from one such moment that the Gunners restored parity, following Charlie Adam’s penalty, with Walcott adding the finishing touch to Bellerin’s cross and could have also taken the lead from and Bellerin delivery had Oxlade-Chamberlain kept his shot low, rather than firing his shot over the bar.

The Englishman did atone early in the second half however, with a sumptuous ball over the top of the Stoke defence, picking out the excellently time run of Ozil. The german had plenty of time and could have even brought the ball down, but instead, having spotted the goalkeeper moving off his line, Ozil elected to loop the ball over him with a brilliant header which left him completely stranded as the ball bounced over the line. 

Arsenal were well on top and got the third they richly deserved when Alexis Sanchez was brought down on the edge of the box, but the referee allowed play to continue as the ball fell to Alex Iwobi and the Nigerian followed up on his first Champions League goal in mid-week with a cool, confident finish, driving the ball low across the goalkeeper and into the far corner of the net.

This was a very important win for the Gunners as they now go into the busy Christmas schedule with two back to back difficult away games against Everton and Manchester City. On this form Arsenal can beat any side, but it will be interesting to see how the loss of Mustafi will affect them against sides with superior quality to Stoke, who have the ability to press them high up the pitch. If the Gunners can emerge from these two games relatively unscathed, the signs will be most positive for an exciting 2017.