The recent string of four games against the Swans at the Emirates without a win was snapped in entertaining fashion Saturday. I can't remember seeing a game that had more great scoring chances; it could have been 10 goals scored. Theo could have had four himself. Fortunately, his two plus Ozil's crisp volley into the roof of the net were enough. All our rivals bar Chelsea dropped points, making this a very good weekend indeed. We now sit joint top on points, second on goal difference (by one) to Man City. There's a crowd close behind us, of course.
This being Bob Bradley's first day on the job, no one knew what to expect. But Swansea played their usual positive game, which made for open play. Arsenal started brightly, dominating for long stretches. The breakthrough came when a slick move culminated in a Bellerin header that was not dealt with by the Swansea center back who met it first; Walcott nicked it off him and with one swing of the leg rapped it just past a desperate Fabianski. Shortly thereafter, a corner dropped into the center of the six yard box, where a free Walcott deftly touched it into shooting position and beat Fabianski cleanly.
The Gunners were cruising, but after a Swansea attack broke down, Xhaka was caught trying to play it out of the back; Sigurdsson barreled in and curled a very good left-footed shot past Cech a yard or two inside the far post. Cech seemed to be expecting a near post effort instead and got nowhere near it.
In the second half, Arsenal was on top, scoring in emphatic fashion when Alexis assisted Ozil for the third time this season. (Oddly, Ozil has no assists yet.) A soft lofted cross was met by a sweet volleyed strike that rocketed the ball past a helpless Fabianski. Once again, the Gunners lost focus. Iwobi stopped tracking back as Barrow carried the ball down the right. As he did several times, Barrow beat Monreal and put in a well-timed cross that Borja swept in. In truth, it was poor defense from Mustafi, who should have been much tighter to the goalscorer.
With more than twenty minutes of normal time left, Barrow burned Xhaka and started to race down the right. A 4 v 2 break was on, but Xhaka kicked out to trip up Barrow from behind, for which he was given a straight red. Most observers figured it deserved a yellow, but Wenger's not appealing the decision. Arsenal survived several attempts on goal, mostly from headers nodded straight at Cech. We missed a few chances for a fourth goal, two golden ones by Walcott, who hit the inside of the right post once and blazed over from close range in stoppage time. Arsenal made hard work of it, but were the better team on the day and deserved the three points.
Xhaka made the game's biggest mistakes for us, but otherwise he was quite good. Cazorla was a good partner in the engine room. Walcott was the recipient of some fabulous luck (or poor defense), but put the chances away in the first half. Plus, give him credit for being in the right place. Alexis was a real danger but seemed a little off his usual pace. Iwobi was a threat on offense but a liability on the left when we didn't have the ball. Ozil was solid enough, and what a goal. The defense was fine, with Bellerin and Koscielny being nearly flawless. Monreal had a tough time with Barrow, partly because Iwobi was not helping him. Substitute Chamberlain looked dangerous and set Walcott up a couple times. Coquelin came in and did very well, as did Gibbs. Cech did his job.
This was the first of seven games in a 23 day span before the next international break, when Alexis will no doubt be run into the ground by Chile again. The remaining games are: Ludogoretz, Middlesbrough, Reading (League Cup), Sunderland (A), Ludogoretz (A), and Tottenham. Xhaka misses Middlesbrough, Reading, and Sunderland because of the straight red, but Elneny needs minutes anyway and Ramsey is about to come back into the squad.
I wonder why Lucas Perez isn't playing more. Surely we didn't spend that money on him just so we could win the League Cup. Iwobi is fine, but Alexis is better on the left than up top.
It looks like a wild season. Any of six teams could win the league, I think: the Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, and Chelsea. I like our chances. Giroud has barely featured, and Danny "Like a New Signing" Welbeck could make it back in the spring.We have a top quality backup for everyone except Bellerin. And Jenkinson could be back in not too long.
By the way, I thought Chambers played well for Middlesbrough in their 1-0 loss to Watford.
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