Give Burnley credit: they came to win, and their recent form in the Championship gave them confidence they would. They played well. Sean Dyche (Burnley's manager) got his tactics right. Yet Arsenal beat them having made nine changes from the starting 11 in their last EPL game. It wasn't comfortable, but it was definitely earned.
I've never been one of those who was glad we were out of a cup competition because it would allow us to concentrate on the league. With a squad the size of Arsenal's, even carrying our usual load of injuries, we should be able to scrape up a decent team for a League Cup or FA Cup contest. It's valuable playing time for our backups and sometimes even for youngsters. We don't have to play guys who are tired or nursing knocks. The worst that can happen is what happened at Sheffield Wednesday--injuries and a loss. Yeah, that's bad. But players can pick up injuries in the league too. It should be about trying to win every piece of silverware on offer, but being smart about it. And Wenger has been pretty smart about it over the last 20 years.
The best that can happen is we win and we improve while we're doing it, and that's what happened at the Emirates. Elneny looked to be a very good purchase, the Ox played better than he has in a long time, Coquelin seems healed, and Ospina has gotten some confidence back. Alexis scored! Chambers got the first goal with a bit of skill I did not think he had. Alex Iwobi improves steadily. I admit that Kos and Gabriel didn't handle the Burnley forwards as well as they ought to have, and that our fullbacks showed why they are not starting these days. And why Wenger brought on Walcott when were one goal up is a mystery. Had Theo found Elneny with an easy square pass to finish the game off Wenger would have looked smart, but instead, after his trademark indifference for defending, he exhibited his usual lack of scoring touch. I'd have put Monreal on and pushed Gibbs up when Alexis was taken off; Wenger has done it before.
Our next two games are Southampton at home and Bournemouth away. Leicester play Liverpool and Man City. We're getting healthy; even Rosicky can play, though he shouldn't get much time. We could be in first in eight days. We may not see Wilshere or Welbeck for a while, but we're so flush with attacking talent that we can leave Walcott on the bench, which I think is his best position. We're two deep almost everywhere now. (Giroud, Ozil, and Cech come closest to being irreplaceable.) If we don't win the league, well, this excellent team will just not have been good enough. But they ought to feel confident.
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