Arsenal hosted their fierce local rivals Tottenham at the Emirates last night in another entertaining and dramatic North London derby.
The Gunners once again got the better of Spurs, who had started the game brightly by scoring the opening goal, but found themselves a man short when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Santi-Cazorla-c32505.
The Togolese had once again scored against his former club, but went from hero to zero as he left his team with a colossal disadvantage.
Arsenal fully capitalized on Spurs’ handicap, and went on to score three goals in the first half. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Per-Mertesacker-c29680 made amends for his mistake that led to Tottenham’s first goal by scoring a towering header.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Theo-Walcott-c34873 rounded off the scoring in the second half by slotting in 2 more. Arsenal conceded a second goal when Gareth Bale ran past Mertesacker and Koscielny and got a
consolation for his side.
There were still questions to be asked of both teams, especially Arsenal’s defensive lapses and individual errors. Once again, they failed to keep a clean sheet, and looked fragile and frantic on the Tottenham counter attack. This has to be a major concern
for Arsene Wenger, whose team have failed to manage a clean sheet since the 2-0 victory over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 back in September.
With http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Santos-c32532 to fill in at left-back. The Brazilian has however been poor there, and was a major contributing factor to Arsenal’s recent slip ups and horror showings.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Thomas-Vermaelen-c35002 had also looked unsure and shaky, he recovered well last night and put in an excellent game. At the moment, a back-four of Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Vermaelen remains the best possible option for Wenger.
Koscielny is slowly getting back to his best, and provides adequate cover for Mertesacker’s lack of pace at the back. The Frenchman was one of the league’s top defenders last season, and is a prized asset for the club. He has surely made a strong case to
be included back in the starting line-up, and poses a serious selection headache for Wenger when Kieran Gibbs returns from injury.
A worrying factor for most http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gareth-Bale-c14422 on the left wing. With Mertesacker’s lack of pace and flashes of Sagna’s dismantling by the Welshman two years ago still fresh in memory, you can hardly blame
them. However, Arsenal dealt effectively with Bale, though he got a consolation goal in the second half, which was more Arsenal’s fault than anything else really.
If Arsenal can address their defensive issues, they will improve as a unit, and can really push Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and other teams in the top 10.
The midfield and the attack were the talking points of the day, and displayed Arsenal’s ruthlessness going forward. Cazorla, Arteta and Wilshere are possibly the closest thing the Premier League has to rival Barcelona’s midfield trio of Andres Iniesta, Xavi
and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 also are strong contenders here).
Wilshere was immense, and showed exceptional maturity and composure for a player who is only 20-years old. Arteta was solid in the defensive midfield position, and Cazorla was back to his magical self as he glided past defenders and roamed around the middle
of the park in his favoured free-role.
After having faded out for a while, Cazorla looked likes his usual self, and was everywhere on the pitch. The Spaniard assisted Giroud for Arsenal’s third goal in the first half after some neat work on the ball. He also bagged a deserved goal in the second
half, and came close with a long-range effort.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions in this article do not reflect the editorial policy of Bettor.com
Tags: