Sagna with a little dink down the line to Giroud who skillfully controls on his chest and, with a little turn, plays in the on-rushing Ramsey who spots an unmarked Ozil powering forward and delivers a perfect ball to the German who, without breaking stride, side foots past the despairing dive of Pepe Reina and into the onion bag. Sounds like a dream right? Not so however as this is the high standard that this Arsenal squad have delivered time and again lately and long may it continue.
Going into the tricky away fixture against Swansea I can honestly say that I would have taken a point but this team doesn’t do draws as 8 W’s in a row shows since the despairing loss to Villa on the opening day. This whole Arsenal team gives you that confident vibe every time they play. Expecting nothing less than 3 points, they always seem to find a way to win even if not at our best like at The Liberty Stadium on Saturday. Two classy goals and some stubborn defending was enough for the three points though.
Onto the Champions League game vs Napoli and surely this would be a real test of where we stood, how far we have come and how far we still have to go. The high-flying Italians came to London with an impressive unbeaten record in Serie A this season, scoring 14 goals in just 6 games along the way so this was a true test. Like most Gooners when the whistle blew for kick off i was expecting a great battle between two top teams but Wow, just Wow! Arsenal absolutely destroyed the visitors in the opening 15 minutes with some quite sublime one touch football; the movement was unreal, interchanging positionally and making triangles, hexagons and whatever other shape take your fancy; this was football poetry that had the Wenger template stamped all over it. Quite simply it was football porn. Downright delicious stuff that had fans watching in sheer awe and Napoli looking for the coach back to the airport.
I cannot stress enough how truly great this performance was, it’s the kind i haven’t seen since the Invincibles. Yes, I said it! I really think this team has that special ingredient that great teams have and need to succeed. The old heads like Per Mertersacker, Sagna, Mikel Arteta and Laurent Koscielny add the experience and the calming influence to help the younger players through the tough times. Ramsey, Jack Wilshire and Tomas Rosicky add the spice and energy in midfield, whilst Kieran Gibbs, Szczesny and Walcott add the youthful exuberance, improving with every game and ahead of them all Giroud has become the real deal, a proper quality striker who has everything. Mathieu Flamini is also proving to be a great bit of business on a free transfer. Consider that I’ve not even mentioned the little Spanish magician Santi Cazorla who is a pure dream to watch. Of course, add in the crème de la crème of summer signings in the shape of German superstar Mesut Ozil who simply put is a football genius with a silky touch that just caresses the ball like a baby. We still have Gnabry, Podolski, Monreal and Oxlade-Chamberlain to add to the mix meaning that this squad is top class and could do very special things in the next five years as it reaches its prime.
The headline of the piece is “We have to keep our feet on the ground don’t we?” and put bluntly, yes we do have to as we have had too many heartbreaks and false dawns in the last eight years, so for now let’s just enjoy the epic entertainment coming out the mighty Arsenal but remember that NO trophies are given out in October so please, feet firmly on the ground.
Until next time, Up The Gunners.
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