Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud
Subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Gabriel, Flamini, Wilshere, Rosicky, Walcott
Arsenal remain on track to finish second in the Premier League following a 3-1 win at Hull City that puts them level on 70 points with Manchester City with a game in hand.
Alexis Sanchez bagged a brace either side of an Aaron Ramsey strike as the Gunners stylishly raced into a 3-0 first half lead. Steve Bruce’s relegation-threatened Tigers did net early in the second period through Stephen Quinn’s header, but the Gunners maintained their composure to grab three points that seal another glorious St Totteringham’s Day.
Pre-game
Arsene Wenger fielded the same starting XI that drew against Chelsea at the weekend. On the bench Tomas Rosicky replaced Danny Welbeck who picked up a knee knock in training yesterday. Prior to kick-off, the boss confirmed the England international had ‘a bit of inflammation’ but could be fit for next Monday’s game with Swansea.
First half
Controlled possession was the name of the game for the Gunners in the first 20 minutes as Arsene Wenger’s men fizzed the ball around in midfield with the same slickness that has peppered their performances in 2015.
Hull had a couple of half chances – Aluko in particular was guilty of missing a header – but it felt like it was only a matter of time before we scored. On 28 minutes the deadlock was broken and it was three ex-Spurs players who combined to make it happen. You couldn’t have written a better script.
First Tom Huddlestone was dispossessed by the alert Ozil and when the ball fell to Sanchez there was little Jake Livermore could do but take out the Chilean as he darted towards the Hull box. From the resulting free-kick Michael Dawson applied a significant headed deflection to Sanchez’s shot. It completely wrong-footed Harper who watched the ball fly top centre into the net. (1-0)
Four minutes later we doubled the lead. This time Santi Cazorla was the architect. The little Spaniard spraying a quarter-back style 50-yard diagonal ball that Ramsey latched onto in the box. A fine bit of control saw the Welshman manouevre room for a shot and in the blink of an eye he swatted the ball, again with the hint of a deflection, into the top corner. (2-0)
The travelling Gooners celebrated with a round of ‘Boring, Boring, Chelsea’. And why the fuck not? They are. Even if they have just been crowned champions.
Santi, Ozil and Alexis all came close to adding a third in the moments before half-time; the latter denied after his deft chip was smartly read by Harper. Stoppage time did see us increase our lead, with Sanchez winning his personal duel with Hull’s 40-year-old stopper.
The interplay between Ozil and Ramsey was simply breathtaking and Arsenal’s top scorer made it look easy-peasy as he bound towards goal, rounded Harper and tucked home low for his 24th goal of the season and our 100th in all competitions. (3-0) Unsurprisingly, the home fans greeted the half-time whistle with boos.
Second half
Hull knew they needed to make a fast start to win back their fans and got their break in controversial circumstances on 55 minutes. Laurent Koscielny, much to the frustration of his teammates, was taken out by David Meyler and as play continued a cross was swung to the near post where Stephen Quinn clinically bounced a header past Ospina. On the touchline Arsene Wenger couldn’t hide his contempt for the referee.
Arsenal weren’t unduly ruffled by the upturn in noise. Indeed, sensing they could extend their lead they continued to play with confidence in the final third. Ozil, the king of the caressed flick, repeatedly slalomed his way through a packed midfield and Ramsey, rediscovering his Jesus swagger of last season, was more often than not the man on the receiving end of the German’s passing. Twice he should have scored before being replaced by Jack Wilshere on 67 minutes.
The England international wasted no time getting into the thick of things, racing past three challenges before being cynically felled 25-yards from goal. Alexis’ resulting effort was headed clear. The chances continued to be created at will. Cazorla, who made 100 out of 106 passes, twice nearly polished off flowing breaks before Bellerin, Wilshere and Sanchez all came close in the same move.
Deep into stoppage time Walcott, on as a sub for Giroud, flashed wide from eight yards and Sanchez dragged a further effort as he went in search of his hat-trick. It wasn’t to matter. To a hearty rendition of ‘We hate Tottnum’ the points and St Totteringham’s Day were sealed.
Sorry folks, I should have scored that one
It’s okay, the rest of us were on holiday also.
Mind the gap!
Love that day.
It’s right up there with “It’s 1-1 at Newcastle!!!”
😀
So much tantalizing football today, those flicks and touches were sublime. These players are starting to really know each other and it shows, it’s a joy and a privilege to watch this team play.
Some of the best football I have seen us play, the intricate flicks were coming off and looked splendid. Ozil was king of all today and it’s unlucky he couldn’t add a goal to his name, certainly had 1 or 2 strong chances of getting a goal. Great to Sanchez playing with real swagger, hoped he would net himself a hattrick but there’s always next week. I think we can all look forward at Jack returning, he looked a different player as soon as he came on, full of confidence and tenacity to just drive forward. I think the time… Read more »
Wilshere could have been back on the sidelines as soon as he came on. It’s okay that he wants to be tenacious as fuck but please take care of yourself man! the freekick he won us could easily have been a sore one for him. nearly identical to how he went out vs MU
yeah you´re right but do you want him to pull out of such a duel? not me really….
I think we’d lose what makes him a real talent if we did that though, to say nothing of the message it woud send about our lack of courage, to our players as well as others, if they figured it out anyway.
It was also a pleasure seeing the decent haircut Wenger has…
Forever COYG!!!
It has to be some sort of team thing going on, over the last 2-3 years, I’ve noticed that the players have started sporting haircuts that are all a little bit neat, shall we say. Maybe the times have moved on in the hair fashion world and my mop will attest to the fact that I haven’t got the first idea about hair styling these days, but to see Wenger sporting a fringe was a bit odd…
#strongertogether?
Last 2 or 3 years ? Gerv and Sagna were still with us !
Those 2 are exceptions
I could watch Ramsey play football all day
He’s coming back in form at the right time…to score the winner in the FA Cup final again.
Easily my favorite player at Arsenal. Also Ozil. Also Sanchez. Also oh fuck it the whole team.
Ramsey’s improvement last season and upturn in form this year has a lot to do with Ozil’s availability. These two have a telepathic understanding in fact Ozil has telepathic understanding with everyone he plays with.
Happy St Totteringham’s day!
What do you think of Tottenham?
Shit?
who?
In the words of Senator Clay Davis… well, you figure it out.
Who?
Sorry, it was an American reference (see The Wire). Totally out of place in an Arsenal forum.
SHIT!
Its happened again, its happened agaaaa-aiiin, Tottenham Hotspur, its happened again!!!!
Hah, I was singing that in the pub at lunchtime!
I could watch ozil all day
Entertaining, attacking football in the first half and an assured professional performance in the second, despite conceding that goal which clearly had a foul in the build-up. Good stuff Gooners.
20 years in a row above Sp*rs. W are the only team they haven’t finished above.
St Totteringham’s Day!
That Wilshere lad, he’s quite good eh
LANS?
It was great to see him back. I’m just praying he has an injury-free season in 15-16.
Farking beautiful football. Chelski though…
Happy St Totteringham
Cracking performances from the usual suspects, 3 points and some sparkling football on display. COYG
Happy St Totteringhams everybody!
The gunners are coming back for the prem next season; believe me.
Meanwhile, happy St. Totteringham’s day.
Simple enough in the end, loving this Ozil-Sanchez development.
Pretty comfortable win and some nice play at times. Third goal was sex, as was the pass from Santi for our second.
I don’t think he meant it but God I loved that kosielny got some back on Meyler, the cunt.
Could have had 2 penalties at the end there too.
I’m happy
really should have had a penalty! or is it allowed for a defender to stop a ball going in with his hand nowadays? and then hazard going down yesterday is a penalty, dear me….
Great display by the lads. But I’ve got a question: is there a rule which forbids the referee from giving fouls to a team with a comfortable lead (Penalty and Wilshere foul at the end)
St Tottenegram Day! We will finish strongly, second position and FA cup is not bad! Next season is serious title contenders! COYG!!!!!
That Ozil flick….
I know.
And he did a similar flick earlier in the season which led to a Giroud goal, I think?
Sublime.
yes from a clearance, I think it was vs stoke?
Villa at home. 5-0
Hazard player of the year my arse!! Happy St. Totteringhams day everyone!
I thought Jack did well! Nice one!
Measure of success is that when your team scores three away from home and you are still left frustrated thinking it could have been six.
The refs wouldn’t allow that!
What a great way to end a long weekend 🙂
Happy St.totteringhams day.
Is MOTD on tonite?
We entertain, we are not boring.we are arsenal. Ozil makes football looks simple.
Not bad eh?
That Ozil flick. Simply sensational
Chelsea may have won it but they are incredibly dull.
Much rather watch the Arsenal;)
Top quality performance especially first half. Need to keep this up and carry form in to cup final. Jack looked very sharp. Build the confidence and then next season it’s full on for the title
Laurent koscielny – 200 appearances for arsenal today.
Already a legend
Happy St Totteringham. Without fail every season for the past 2 decades, some Spud numpty will come out of the wood work and declare they are the better team despite not qualifying for CL consecutively for well, two decades. Even in our worse seasons in recent past, with media declared progressive managers and heavy spending on hand by Levy, bumbling clueless Wenger has managed to construe a way to nip them for fourth. We won’t be struggling with them behind us this season. Mind the gap. The great pretenders a good 12 points behind. Thanks to Livermore, Dawson and Huddlestone,… Read more »
Tigers took a mauling and the tiny totts toppled AGAIN. Great day.
Loved both Ozil and Ramsey’s flick. The second goal was on target and it would’ve been a goal otherwise also. Great team play. Loved Coquelin’s sliding challenge in 2nd half.
Wilshere adds something different than Ramsey. It would be interesting to see how well they can play together.
Santi just can’t leave Arsenal. Won’t let that happen!
I revolve my schedule around Arsenal’s matches. Good start to the evening here.!
You could also argue that Ramsey offers something different than Wilshire. Every player has his own positive and negative qualities.
wenger played ramsey and wilshere together at the beginning of the season…it was terrible. let’s not try it again.
Cazorla is just amazing, he’s like our pirlo who can dribble. And even though he’s not scoring he keeps his discipline in the deep midfield role and doesn’t just simply bomb forward all the time. What a professional!
Wonderful performance. Team is clicking. We will go very close next year and just a wee bit of luck regarding injuries and we win it. As them pundits I had to turn over. Carrager is as dopey as they come and Neville having made a good start is now trotting out same shit over and over. They need a terry a matic a costa, if we lose kos and Giroud to injury at the start we would have win the league.
Jack gave us a glimpse of why he was rated so highly always..
Would be churlish to complain about an awful ref when we played so well, some of the best football we’ve played for a while, and Jack looked sharp.
Happy St. Tottering Ham Day everyone! Also Champions League qualification confirmed for 18 straight seasons. Here’s to us winning it next season! COYG!
Great to see jack in such a good touch on his return. A lot of selection problems for the boss. Refree was awful. Btw Tom Huddleston is a c*nt.
And yeah happy totteringhams day
Don’t worry Spurs there’s always next year. Or the year after that. Or never. Happy st totts
I’d rather pay high price ticket for this kind of footballing which is entertaining & bringing joy to watch than watch the game with same tactic.
The way our team is playing lately is really appealing, we just need a better season, a more discipline player & a high confidence then i’m sure we can win the league again.
Happy St. Totteringham Day!
That’s the way to win a football game! Boring boring Chelsea!!
Cazorla 100 completed passes.
Ramsey beautiful take and shot.
Sanchez two terrific goals.
Ozil – that flick!
Wilshere is back and meaning business.
ST. TOTTERINGHAM’S DAY!
Fucking wonderful day.
Crap, I left off Koscielny 200 appearances.
If Sanchez had the vision of Ozil he would be unstoppable
Good solid performance really happy Jack is back and delighted with his performance.
Hull best Liverpool last week right? Aston Villa beat Liverpool no long ago too. So this is exactly what will happen to villa on the 30th. 3 nil to us easy peasy, no fuss no drama. What do you think fat gooner?
That Ozil flick……. sexy
15-16 is gunner be a great one
Great that St totts is now a bank holiday. 20 years. When will those idiots learnt they just ain’t gonna beat us
They can have their little commemorative coffee mugs. We’ll take the trophies.
just don´t agree that it was a foul on kos before their goal. it was a 50/50 and the hull player was there a fraction earlier i think. and mert could have done better, he missed the yard because of complaining. but hey, who cares, a great game overall!
Dat 42 millions flick!
Love Arsenal, hope they give us more reason to continue this sweet romance by displacing Mr. boring next season