All eleven positions were changed from the team that ran Hull ragged on Saturday, and the men and boys Wenger sent out today put a mid-table Championship side to the sword. There was no repeat of last year's debacle at Sheffield Wednesday. The goals were quality (I saw them only in replays). From what I read, Xhaka and Elneny bossed things in central midfield, and the frontmen were free to do their stuff, Oxing and Jeffing it up. Lucas Perez showed strength and skill, and he looks to be the go-to guy for PKs when Santi isn't on the pitch.
For the second game in a row, Granit launched a 35 yard blast that eluded the keeper, albeit this one got a slight deflection that made it harder to keep out. I believe I predicted that he'd be a source of occasional goals from distance. It's something that has been missing from our game. If the opponents drop deep and make it too difficult to weave patterns through their massed ranks, there's gonna be open shots from outside the box. Take one every once in a while. To be fair, Coquelin hit one every once in a while, but he's not going to score. Xhaka can (nyuk nyuk).
It was nice to see Kieran Gibbs wear the armband, and for Emiliano Martinez earn some of his salary. No Debuchy...hmmm. Not even on the bench. Wenger player Maitland-Niles at right back. Half the team was essentially the youth squad: Maitland-Niles, The Jeff, Willock, Zelalem, Bielek, Macey, Mavididi, Dasilva. Akpom and Holding are really young too. All in all, this was a day that could give me some confidence about the team's future as well as this season. Gabriel's back, and Ramsey should be healthy in another week or two. Giroud's toe can't keep him out long. Per and Welbeck are our only important players who we'll be without for a while. We're at least two deep everywhere but right back, if Debuchy is truly unavailable for some reason, and the backups are real quality. No wonder we felt comfortable loaning out Wilshere and Chambers. I like this squad--a lot. Once Perez gets going, we'll be very hard to play against.
Chelsea needed the 30 extra minutes to get past Leicester, although a lot of that was spent passing the ball around in the back after Cesc potted two goals in the first ten minutes of extra time. That damned Diego Costa looks dangerous every time he's near the ball, though he did misfire repeatedly today. They had to put him in in the second half, as well as Hazard. Maybe that'll help on Saturday. It won't be easy.
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