Arsenal 2 - 0 West Brom

The Gunners were very, very lucky to be a goal up on the Baggies at the half.  Mustafi clearly took Rodriguez's legs out from under him in the area, and surely the free strike at a tight angle was not really an advantage over the PK.  The rebound presented an even better opportunity, but it was spurned.  Amazingly, play continued without any punishment for our CB's rash slide.

Both sides were living dangerously, and it was not long before an infraction was punished with a goal.  Lacazette made no mistake on his rebound opportunity (he made a wonderful run to get there) when Alexis's free kick crashed back off the bar.  Monreal made a spectacular goal line clearance when we were caught out on a well executed West Brom counter.

After the half, Arsenal dominated, and it was a disappointment that all they could put past Forster was Lacazette's PK following Nyom's shove on Ramsey as he blew by him on the endline.  Ozil made an appearance near the end.  The three points were earned, but with an asterisk.

Monreal was magnificent, and not just because of the goal he saved.  Kolasinac was his usual awesome self.  Kos was great.  Mustafi is worrying at times, but we got away with it today.  Bellerin did a fine job vs Gibbs, who looked to be a solid starter for the Baggies.  (He took their corners and free kicks, too, but was just OK at that.)  Xhaka and Elneny did enough.  Alexis was better than last game.  Ramsey did well up front.  Lacazette did the business, and he is definitely going to take our penalties when he's on the field.

On to Belarus.

Arsenal 1 - 0 Doncaster

It was a pretty strong side Wenger put out there, though this was a scoreline I'd have expected the Arsenal Under 23s to better against a side newly promoted to League 1.  Cohesion wasn't there with so many little-used players on the pitch at the same time, though.  No one really shone, but Wilshere's may have been the brightest performance for us.  I really liked Maitland-Niles's play as well.  Alexis was as bad as I've ever seen him, though even so he got a beauty of an assist for Theo's goal.  Walcott missed a couple more chances, Giroud had a few half-chances, but that was it for the scoring.  The Rovers had their moments but this was not to be their day.

I hope we're better than this the next few games.  It may help that we're away for them.

Chelsea 0 - 0 Arsenal

OK, I'll admit it:  I was expecting a Blues win.  But in what was an entertaining, well-played contest, a draw was a fair result, and a decent one for the Gunners.  Our team selection seemed a bit weird, but the first half performance justified it.  Xhaka's defensive abilities still make me cringe, and he misplaced some passes again, but that was a cracking first half strike that Courtois parried.  Ramsey stayed home more often, which was good; and when he did advance, he nearly made it count.  There should have been goals for both sides in the first 45, but luck was with the defenses.

The second half was more sedate but still showed two teams who didn't want to waste time or shy away from a crunching tackle.  Oliver was rather lenient but still had to hand out cards, including the red to Sideshow Bob that came too late to affect proceedings.  Mustafi's header into their net was rightly ruled offside; there were few credible penalty shouts.  Arsenal didn't really threaten after the break, although we had our moments.

Iwobi played well, I thought, but ran out of gas in the second half and it was good to replace him.  Everyone did his job.  This was not a game for Ozil or Walcott; toughness and discipline were required, and a willingness to defend as well as attack.  Alexis was lively but well tended by Chelsea.  They knew he was the guy who could hurt them.  We didn't handle Hazard as well--the guy nearly broke us down a couple times.  The third potential supersub, Giroud, got no service.

For me, Monreal and Kolasinac were our players of the game.  Kos was excellent too.  Mustafi frequently steps up when he shouldn't, trying to get an offside or interception, and it almost killed us again today.  Cech was superb.  Ramxhaka were quite good against an explosive opponent.  Bellerin had a fantastic duel with Alonso and for me he was the winner.  Welbeck and Lacazette were good; it's a damned shame about Welbeck's injury, which looks like a three month absence for a groin pull (just a guess).  Elneny did what was needed, even taking a yellow at an appropriate time.

Three points would have been wonderful, but one is welcome, frankly.  We played the champions to a draw, after having won silverware off them the last two times we met.  Midweek opponents Doncaster should afford us the opportunity to throw the likes of Nelson, Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Jack, the Jeff, Akpom, and maybe even Debuchy and still advance at the Emirates.  West Brom, BATE Borisov, and Brighton follow in rapid succession, all on the road, which takes us to the international break.  It's not unreasonable to expect us to run the table against those teams, while giving some starters a couple nights off and some young guys some valuable experience.

Feeling pretty good right now.  You?

Arsenal 3 - 1 Koln

Cologne was feisty, like their supporters, and delayed the Gunners' party, but they were no match for the rotated but still strong team AW put on the field.  Koln's goal in the 8th minute was mostly Ospina's fault.  Poor marking forced him to come out to deal with a through ball, and his clearance was dreadful, gifting possession back immediately to the visitors close enough for Ospina's Colombian teammate Cordoba to loft an excellent strike on the turn over our retreating keeper's head.  It almost got a lot worse not long afterwards when Ospina took out a Koln attacker in the box, but the play had been whistled dead for an offsides.  Holding was having an un-Cannavaro-like game and may have been our worst performer, though Walcott may have edged him out in that category.

Kolasinac came in for him in the second half, and the tide turned quickly, thanks to a superb volley from the sub in the first three minutes.  We spurned some more chances, and then Alexis curled a beauty from 25 yds inside the far post with the keeper rooted to the line.  Hector knocked in a rebound to seal the points in the final stages.  But Koln had chances, and our defense was suspect.

We didn't learn a lot from this game.  I'd like to see 90 minutes of urgency from this squad, like we showed in the FA Cup final.  They played as though they expected Koln to roll over.  Well, three points is three points.  On to Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal 3 - 0 Bournemouth

The Gunners put the abject Cherries to the sword in a game that was never competitive.  Lacazette's strike for our second was sublime.  We snapped into tackles and allowed Bournemouth few looks until well into the second half, at which point the points were won.  I am not going to get excited about this game.  It wasn't so much that Arsenal was good as it was Bournemouth being bad.  We should have had more goals.

If someone had told you that four games in we'd be sitting on six points, I don't think you'd have been surprised.  Few expected a good result at Anfield, and Stoke is always a tough place to visit (as Man U found yesterday).  The thrashing by Liverpool was discouraging (if City beat them 5-0 and the Reds beat us 4-0, will City beat us 9-0 or 20-0?), but decent calls from the ref and the linesman should have been enough for a 2-1 win at whatever they're calling the Brittania these days.  On balance, though, I don't like what I'm seeing from the team.  They have lost faith in the system and the manager, and maybe with each other.

The two new guys have been really good.  Lacazette will score 20 in the league this year if he stays healthy.  Kolasinac is a beast--I like everything about his game, and he will only get better.  We can still expect excellence from Kos and Nacho and Cech.  Bellerin seems to be rounding back into form.  Giroud will be a valuable asset.  Welbeck will contribute.  It's the midfield that worries me.  Coquelin's day is about done (even before the hamstring injury).  Elneny isn't hitting his stride here; he can do better.  Walcott just needs to accept his utility player status and start doing his job--all of it.  Ozil seems unmotivated, and he should learn to play defense too.  Who knows what Jack can do?  Ramsey needs discipline.  The occasional rumble forward can be devastating to an opponent; abandoning his defensive duties on a regular basis has been devastating to us.  Xhaka is like a dumb version of Arteta:  impressive passing range, average defensive abilities, the ability to score from distance a few times a season, and (unlike Mikel) shockingly poor judgment several times a game.  He gives the ball away too much and he does crazy things trying to undo his mistakes.  He's also stubborn, refusing to change his game even when it's killing the team.  Can Wenger drum some sense into him?  A lot depends on it.

The Europa League draw isn't bad.  A trudge to Belarus late this month to play their tractor boys, Belgrade in October, and a short plane ride to Cologne in November for the away games.  If we don't win the home fixtures, shame on us.  First up is Koln on Thursday.  I bet I know who Podolski will be supporting.  I hope we take all the cup competitions very seriously.  There are men at the club with prodigious talent and a point to prove, like Ospina, Iwobi, Wilshere, Walcott, Chambers, Debuchy, and Elneny (and more).  They aren't just guys you throw in there to rest your starters; they're capable of winning games going away against the likes of Belgrade and Doncaster.

It'll be interesting.  I hope it's in a good way.

Honduras 1 - 1 USA

Other than the Honduras goal and a couple of nice free kick attempts, this was an ugly game.  The referee allowed a lot of contact from both sides, so it got very chippy.  It seemed as though we had no plan--or at least none that we could follow.  Honduras pressed, but it wasn't so fearsome that we had to lump it upfield at every opportunity.  For long stretches, it seemed that neither team had much possession--the ball was always up for grabs.  The Catrachos had more energy, or more desire, or a better idea what to do--or all three.  Honestly, a US loss would not have been an unfair result.

Well, we're in good position to advance to the World Cup, but we'll have to play better than this or we could be in trouble.

USA 0 - 2 Costa Rica

They executed their game plan, and we didn't.  Our finishing was poor, theirs excellent.  Their defense was good enough, ours was definitely not.  On both goals, Tim Ream and Geoff Cameron were ridiculously far apart and were marking no one.  CR started by bullying our midfield and should have picked up an early penalty, but the referee took a very lenient view of matters.  Navas made some nice saves, Howard looked bad on their first goal.  Arena was riding his luck a little, but he will be furious with the dreadful giveaways and slack defending.

Now it's a case of having to win away in Honduras.  That's not going to be as easy as winning at home was.  It's not panic time yet; we could (and probably should) get nine points from the last three games, and that would be good for an automatic berth.  But this was a fall to earth for Arena and the US team.  They looked rather ordinary tonight.