Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Wilshere, Elneny, Ozil, Iwobi, Lacazette
Subs: Ospina, Mertesacker, Kolsasinac, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Nelson, Nketiah
Arsenal got back to winning ways in the Premier League today, with a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace at the Emirates today.
The Gunners were without Alexis Sanchez, on his way to Manchester, while Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey were sidelined through injury and illness respectively. However, they did welcome back Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal and Mesut Ozil to the starting XI in what was a return to a back four.
Alex Iwobi had the first attempt on goal, forcing Hennessey into a save which resulted in a corner. Xhaka took the set-piece, curled to the back post, and Monreal timed his run perfectly to nod the ball into the net from close range. 1-0.
It was a bright start, made even more so by a second goal just four minutes later. Arsenal had Palace under all kinds of pressure, but Monreal got a cross in from the left and the Nigerian poked the ball home from close range. 2-0.
Incredibly, there was another goal inside two minutes. Great work from Bellerin forced a corner, Xhaka took it again, Monreal got on the end of it, cut it back, and Koscielny bundled it over the line. 3-0.
It was four in the 22nd minute as the rampage continued. Beautiful build up play from Arsenal saw the ball fed to Ozil just inside the box, he flicked it behind into the path of Lacazette who drilled home a shot which the keeper couldn’t keep out. 4-0.
Palace, as you’d imagine, were shellshocked, but Cech did have to make a save from Sako, before we were forced into a 34th minute change when Monreal was replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
Cech made a superb save from a Zaha shot which deflected off Koscielny, Xhaka fizzed a free kick over the bar and the Gunners took a very healthy lead into the break.
There were no changes from either manager at half-time, and Palace appealed for a penalty when Elneny fouled Zaha, but the ref played on and it was outside the box anyway. Iwobi saw a shot saved after a great Ozil pass but the youngster had Lacazette free outside him but didn’t spot the striker making the run.
Cech was again called into action when Benteke found himself one on one with the Arsenal keeper, and the Czech stood up well, making a great save to deny the Palace striker.
Reiss Nelson was handed his Premier League debut in the 72nd minute when he replaced Ozil, and Zaha became the pantomime villain for his frustration at being tackled all the time by Arsenal defenders. The cheek of them.
Palace got a goal back from a corner in the 78th minute. The set-piece came in, Milovojevic was given too much time, and he hooked the ball into the bottom corner from close range. 4-1.
Almost immediately Wilshere created a chance for Lacazette which was saved by Hennessey, and the Welsh keeper was equal to the Frenchman’s follow up too. Sead Kolasinac replaced Iwobi in the 82nd minute, and despite a late penalty for a foul on Lacazette the game played out to its natural conclusion.
In the end, a comfortable win, some flashes of the old Arsenal, and three points that were very much required.
Good result now announce Patrick Armstrong.
Also Henry Micky would be nice.
I’m most excited about Malcolm though. The way some have talked about him all week he seems a much better fit than Malcom.
A few observations –
The transfer for Sanchez, truly has given the team a boost. Who would have thought possible. However the players genuinely looked happy out there. Ozil especially. He seemed pleased and was buzzing around. I suspect he will sign.
As for the rest I suppose one could say welcome to Henrik Mkh-TongueTwister-ian, and P-E A.
It will be a hell of a job coming up with a chant for those two given their names.
Alexis who?
Ozil needs to given a contract. World class player and with auba mkhi laca in front may the Lord help our opposition
We played well when we had Alexis. But as a team, we play much better when Ozil starts. That, for Me, is the key difference. In the end, I’m glad it was Ozil and not Alexis that we still have. Hope he signs da ting and become a legend !
Life without Alexis… sort of looks like an actual team effort. Wenger always speaks of team balance. This game made me realize how unbalanced Alexis made us. Don’t get me wrong, his skill is world class. But his selfishness may have ruined our team balance.
Ozil is the opposite. Everything flows through him.
Maybe we looked more balanced because we had an actual left back at left back & an actual dm at DM.
I would argue that both are good assessments. We definitely had a more coherent strategy on paper, that worked as advertised on the pitch, and it was just so wonderful to see after a few weeks of the doldrums…
Fair play, Kwame.
Playing players in their actual position, it’s revolutionary! Contract extension for that man Wenger! In seriousness though there is a lot to be said for it and many of our more influential players have suffered since we moved to 3 at the back. Bellerin needs to be in a four, much better. Ozil must play at 10, and DM doesn’t need to be the the most fancy player just solid and reliable. Gilberto and Makakele turned it into a form of art. For all the debate what we’ve lacked over recent seasons is balanced and functional system. That’s why despite… Read more »
Agreed Jimbo Jones. 3 of our first choice defenders (Bellerin, Kos, Nacho) look more comfortable to me in a 4 & our manager isn’t comfortable with a 3….I haven’t understood why we’ve stuck with it so long.
We have to play either Elneny or AMN at DM for the rest of the season & then pray (yet again) that Arsene buys real quality there this summer.
Spot on dude!
It has to be said that Palace has been hard hit by injuries and they played poorly. Nevertheless, the ball still has to be deposited in the opposition net and the men did that today, in style. Nacho had a goal and two assists in what, ten minutes? Our best player this season, in my opinion, with or without the offensive production. We missed him, and Kos.
The mutt lover.
I fuckin’ love Nacho Monreal!
Per you right, he most be the best left back in this league
Oh how much we’ve missed Nacho. With him and Ozil in the side we look a much stronger team. If they both start against chelsea on Wednesday, I am quite confident we will go through to the final. COYG !!
Well, that was an enjoyable 22 minutes and result (would have preferred us to win the second half and have a clean sheet). Hope Nacho comes back quickly, he was great.
Getting rid of our best player and we score 4 goals in 22 minutes. Now, who is our second best player?
That was the most enjoyable half of football at The Arsenal in quite a while. Thanks for their service and all that but I feel like getting Theo and Alexis out of the squad and adding some quality, happy players will hopefully breathe new life into this club.
Still a way to go, as even when 4 up there were still some moaning minnies in the crowd. And could really do with Xhaka being consistent. But I quite liked today’s team dynamic. Bigger tests to come but that match was mostly fun, I like fun. COYG
After the first 25 minutes, gutted we didn’t win by more. We are long overdue a game where we win by 6 or 7.
But glad to see the team play well with some fluidity, and hope that the lull we were in is over and we can use this win to go on and beat Chelsea mid-week and be on our way to Wembley!
Yeah, I was kind of hoping for 16-0 when we were 4 up after 22 minutes.
Tie Ozil down!! Even if you have to pay him £400k a week. Can’t stress his importance enough to our squad.
Also bring in Auba and Mkhi and we can build a formidable attack.
He will be fine with Sanchez parity earning 300-350k. It’s obvious he’s the puppet master in this team. In January: Re-sign Ozil Re-sign Wilshere Mkhitaryan Swap Bid £60m for Aubameyang and seal him Then open negotiations with a DM and CB for the summer. In summer: Sell Debuchy and Elneny then either keep or drop our players on loan (Perez, Campbell etc.). Then sign the bloody CB and DM. Nelson replaces Walcott for me as RW back up. Niles replaces Coquelin as DM back up. If we do this then we have essentially replaced Mertsacker (New CB), Elneny (New DM),… Read more »
I think there are still glaring holes even with Aubameyang and Mhykitarian. These are somewhat panic buys leveraging on most convenient contacts of new scouting team. Nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t address balance of squad as best as possible. I think eventually in summer : 1) Aubameyang will rotate with Lacazette up top. Pointless playing either out wide. Their strength is at apex. Welbeck will essentially relegate to plan C with some cameos out left but will be only last chance saloon. He can give some of what Giroud does but it worries me we are (likely) taking… Read more »
Monreal as backup to Kolasinac? you crazy blud? lol
Kolasinac offers us something a bit different and strength but lets realise Monreal has been our best defender for at least 2 seasons. Kola’s passing accuracy is a big worry – it seems typically 60-70% when I last checked – a thats too big a liability in our side. Lots of potential if he can address it but Monreal is in my first few names on the team sheet.
To be fair you’d actually have more of a chance if you turned your efforts to world peace. Didn’t want to get sucked into this sort of thing but f*&k it. Fundamentally we need to address our weaknesses. 1) nobody in the team seems to understand their role – so lets get back to 4-2-3-1 (or something like that) and get the best players in their best position 2) Lacking control of the centre of the park -so lets get Ozil in central no.10 position then the two behind him to include a DM and CM. Jack and Xhaka can… Read more »
Some idiot thinking he has everything figured out..lol
It aint everything, but as far as assumptions in team-building go, it seems he’s fairly spot on to me. Either way, there really isn’t too much to read into this transfer business. We need goals and some central stability, and that seems to be what’s coming in. Don’t really understand why people aren’t at least happy that we have transfer news at all. We could just not be doing any business–it’s possible with this board…
Agree on everything except Elneny. While he shouldn’t be relied on as a starter every week, he’s a very reliable and consistent squad player that doesn’t seem to make a fuss about being a squad player. We need guys like him if we’re going to be in 4 competitions again next season.
Winning. I remember that!
What is this winning your talking about
This was the effect of Alexit! Our players are clearly Alexiteers, they looked liberated.
Make Arsenal great again!
Please stop associating us with that vile, xenophobic rhetoric.
I think most people are intelligent enough to see it for the joke it is…
Dont believe everything you read.
And that is the Trump card.
for the love of god Arsene, get Ozil to sign da ting. he makes SO much difference
That first half was uncharacteristically good! That is how you football lads.. in case you had just forgotten! Nacho Monreal ran the show. Hope he gets well soon.
WE HAVE TO KEEP OZIL.
Blimey! What a great 23 minutes we Looked like a decent team for a bit. 2nd half looked like they were saving themselves for the midweek game. Gonna just enjoy the goals and the 3 points.
Kolasinac being given the Poldi therapy? Maybe wenger could’ve subbed AMN on for jack around 65 given the chelsea match and use kola as monreals replacement .Anyway,its good to be the winning side again!
Shame we didn’t get a clean sheet but great to get decent win. Hopefully the 3 at the back is a thing of the past now.
Finally! Now Auba+Miki and a win in Swansea next week.
PS. Laca start banging now!
Ozil.
Xhaka was shit .
You are shit, your opinion is shit and u are an idiot
Hello Shkodran!
Shut up your mouth stupid jackass
Which game did you watch?
The lads missed the boss on the touchline 😛
Good result but can’t the team just stop conceding goals late on?
Happy for Laca to end his goal drought!
World is a better place when arsenal win.
This blog is a better place when arsenal win.
Solid today!
Hope this is the start of a good run-in to the seasons end.
The guys looked liberated by the impending depature of Sanchez.
Lets sort out the rest of the business ASAP and hopefully kick on from here!
Selling Walcott is already showing to be good for the team.
Theo didn’t even make the bench on some occasion.Not even funny as a joke.
He got a PL assist today, so it was probably good for him too.
That’s more like it. I really want to just enjoy the win but this needs to be the start of something better. The team and the boss can’t go into the next games thinking “we’ve learned our lessons now” because that just breeds complacency.
It’s all about having the right attitude in every game because they have the talent.
I like Xhaka further forward. Elneny did a decent job I think. Strange how the Xhaka/Wilshere partnership seems so counterintuitive but works well.
Not to take anything as at from Alexis, but this is what happens when the from team plays with players who release the ball early and avoid losing balls all the time. It was a fun game to watch especially the first half an hour.
It isn’t that we turned the ball over more otlr less because alexis wasn’t in the side. We retained possession better and made smarter passes with ozil in the team. Alexis is a bit predictable in possession, and he tries to do everything himself, playing within himself instead of passing the ball and keeping the move going. Without him cutting inside so much, our left side is not as exposed. It’s the same issue we have with debuchy in the side on the right- he crowds another player’s position and forces a cb to play two positions. Alexis moving inward… Read more »
Game after game we are not being awarded penalties
That ref wasn’t giving anything. Elneny fouled on the 18 yard line and that wasn’t given either. Were there any yellows today? I don’t remember one. Refs must love it when the game’s decided early–the pressure’s off. (Well, Mike Dean doesn’t like it because he wants to decide the game.)
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, this win is the only thing separating us and palace on form since we beat them at selhurst park earlier this season.
Great result, but we stopped trying in the second half. Against a better side, or a more impressionable ref, we could have been left scrambling.
What do you mean impressionable ref? he gave any non-penalty shout,offside goal in our favor?ignored any legitimate foul?Denied us a pen even.so that won’t even count as an “opinion” tbh.oh and before the game,with this side?on our current form? even with ozil? I would’ve taken a scrappy 1-0 no questions asked.so lets keep the negative points in the freezer for another day.
There’s something stupid about Zaha’s face, just like his haircut!
?Think so too.
Doff of the cap to this guy
https://imgur.com/a/aeM2C
Please announce that Irish genius Mick O’Tarian.
Much better with Xhaxa out of the way..
Did you even watch the game?
He’s just a bad comedian.
He can’t pass … he can’t handle a little pressure … he loose the ball so easily … he’s too slow
You feel that he don’t have confidence
Ramsey out of the team just streamlines our play so much. Great player, doesn’t fit.
HAHA…its the one game I miss and they deliver a beauty. Typical.
Good for confidence and hope we can build on it with additions coming in.
What in love about the goals is that even before he scored, Lacazette celebrated the other goals as if he himself was the scorer and it is only fitting that he had to end the drought
I don’t really have any money to chip in for Ozil’s wages, but I do have two good kidneys. I would give him one if he signs a new deal. He could either sell it or put it in the fridge in case he needs it some day. Shipping it over from Canada might be a bit of a problem but I’ll figure something out. Actually, the kidney removal might be a bit dicey too but I am willing to do my part.
well good performance achieved with a back 4. i think it’s safe to say we can go back to playing a back 4 now. it makes sense. we dont have enough defenders to start 3 at the back consistently (kos/ monreal injury, holding/ chambers not 100% assured). playing that extra DM helps Xhaka, and also helps us move the ball faster from back to front cos he offers us that positioning to transit the ball from defence to attack. Moving forward we could actually consider a 4-2-1-1-2. back 4. 2 in front of the defence- 1 sitting (elneny/ AMN) +… Read more »
Why not just a 411112? Xhaka/Jack in front of the sitting DM. Have like 1 straight line feeding the 2 strikers? Lets forget about any width. Just be a battering ram down the middle. Waiting for the Hamstrings for the LB and RB to tear apart.
Not sure what the numeric notation of the flying V would be but let’s go for that.
Why does Paul Merson insist on behaving like a consummate bellend?