Sunday, February 12, 2017

Arsenal 2 - 0 Hull

It wasn't the best performance I've seen from the Gunners, but it was enough to earn the three points against a side that has played very well recently at home and not been pushovers on the road.  The crowd was nervous throughout, justifiably, as we spurned several chances to put the game out of sight, and Cech was called upon to make a couple smart saves.  Hull did give a good account of themselves.

Special mention goes to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.  He really is growing into the Santi Cazorla role in midfield.  He's long been considered as a future central midfielder, but usually as a #10.  However, he's shown a flair for the long pass to go along with his dogged defense and excellent dribbling.  Coquelin still does most of the dirty work, but Ox was, I think, our best player this time out as well as in the Chelsea game.

Ozil had another disappointing game.  He looks as though he doesn't expect to succeed.  Alexis was happy to have taken the goal scoring lead, but otherwise seems annoyed with everybody.  My biggest criticism is as usual of Walcott.  He should have been far more influential in this game.  He and Bellerin possess frightening speed when they play together on the right, but neither one of them seems capable of putting in a decent cross.  When it's blocked and we lose possession, they were frequently so far up the field they had to struggle to get back while Coquelin held things up.

Well, job done.  Liverpool made Spurs look ordinary in a decent game (especially the first half).  I'm watching the extra time of the Burnley-Chelsea game now with the score 1-1 and hoping for the best.  We needed a lot of luck to get six points off Burnley; they're a very decent side.  They're in there pitching to the end, which has just come with the score unchanged.  Good game.  City has a game tomorrow, but as it stands, there's two points between second and sixth place, with Chelsea ten points clear.

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