After all four top six teams who played yesterday dropped points, I should have expected that Burnley might be a banana peel for the Gunners, but no--I figured this was going to be an easy three points. It should have been, too. But it took a long time for us to go into the lead (off Mustafi's excellent header on a corner), and then potential disaster struck when Xhaka switched off and gave the ball away, then tried to get it back in the most stupid way imaginable. The tackle might not have drawn a red from some refs, but he didn't try to pull out of it and I can see why it was given. It was a very dumb move, and as smart as Xhaka probably is, he seems to do a lot of moronic stuff. Fortunately, Coquelin is healthy again. But Xhaka was playing really well today, I thought. How is Wenger going to lecture him on self-control after getting sent off himself? But someone has to. This is getting ridiculous.
The referee (Moss) had a bad game, didn't he? He missed the penalty earlier when Mustafi was tripped from behind, then his linesman missed Koscielny being marginally offside on the play leading to the final pen. You might say the errors cancelled out, but a two goal lead would have been a whole different proposition, and I don't think the sending off happens.
My comments of the players:
Cech was solid.
Gabriel did fine. Mustafi and Kos were excellent. And I loved how Monreal played today.
Like I said, I though Xhaka was really good until he made that idiotic double error and was ejected. But how can Wenger trust him? He gets sent off or concedes a penalty every fourth or fifth game. Ramsey did well but he seldom can finish. His shots are far off target or straight into another player. He hit Giroud today on a great chance. Ozil seems to be improving every game since he recovered from illness.
Iwobi keeps getting better too, but he's not the finished article yet. It was not Giroud's best game. Alexis was frequently dangerous-looking but his shots from decent areas were poor. Nice penalty though.
It was great to see Coq and Hector back on the field. We'll need them. I'd like to see Welbeck score sometime; we can use some production from him.
Chelsea's easy win over hapless Hull meant this was not a perfect weekend. We're still eight points behind them and they don't look as though they're going to be caught. But we're in second place now. Maybe Hazard will go off-form and Costa will pick up some red cards.
Juve, Roma, and Fiorentina also won today, so it was a good day.
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