English Premier League: Arsenal vs. Manchester City – Arsenal team analysis (Part 5)
Samir Nasri
Quite easily Arsenal’s player of the season so far, Samir Nasri had all the pressure on his shoulders going into the game. With Fabregas being absent for so long, Nasri made it a personal mission to keeper Arsenal’s hopes of winning some
silverware right on track.
Nasri was initially appointed the position of playing as the right winger, however being a natural attacking midfielder the player more than occasionally made unintentional movements to the centre of the pitch from where he proved to be
like a knife cutting through a City team that were nothing more than warm butter to him.
Nasri was the player who broke the deadlock on the night, in the twentieth minute when everyone thought that City could potentially beat Arsenal despite being down to ten men.
Nasri made a brilliant run from the midfield and with Gareth Barry on his tail the French sensation played a one-two with Andrei Arshavin, before brilliantly lifting the ball into the near post with power. What made the goal more remarkable
was the fact that it was constructed all the way from the midfield and came as a result of some signature passing, however the most notable factor about the goal was the ease with which the player went on to beat Joe Hart at his near post. Beating Hart in
itself has been a tough ask for most players, but doing it with such ease was something that was considered to be close to impossible earlier on in the season.
The player also helped in creating the third goal that went on to silence the home crowd and decide the result of the match once and for all. In the eighty eighth minute Nasri received the ball near the halfway line, the player then went
on to play a near impossible through ball into the path of Nicklas Bendtner, who despite not being the fastest player around managed to receive the ball with plenty of space and time on his hands to go on and finish the move off with a brilliant finish over
the on rushing keeper.
Nasri over the last couple of weeks started proving that he was the player that Wenger had always imagined him to be and as a result of his brilliant performance against City, the player was even offered a new five year contract at the
club.
Unlike many other Gunner players the fitness level of Nasri also seems to be in supreme condition. The managed to play entire ninety minutes, despite being one of the most active and present players on the pitch which only added to his
list of credentials. Nasri was even voted to be the fan’s man of the match.
That being said Nasri has quite simply been the man to watch on the Arsenal side and if he does carry on performing the same way that he did against City, then it is safe to say that he could single handily help Arsenal lift at least one
trophy by the end of the season.
Andrei Arshavin
Andrei Arshavin has been largely criticized to be Arsenal’s most inconsistent player so far this season. Most people claim that the player’s game is quite patchy and unpredictable. The player is brilliant for parts of the game and is then
rather useless for the other part.
Arshavin who recently admitted to the fact that his game could be better, seemed to have gone into the game with a mission to prove everyone wrong and prove just why he was known as the ‘Russian Assassin’.
Arshavin was quite simply brilliant during the game, in fact the player could have opened the scoring on the third minute, but he was unjustly ruled offside. The player instead of complaining and moaning about that goal, he went on to
up his game even further.
Arshavin’s display against City was the player’s most consistent and best performance in the league so far this season.
Another aspect of the player’s game that was largely criticized was his inability to track back. However that didn’t seem to be the case as the player were mostly present in the back to help out like; Gael Clichy, every time the side back
was left up front or failed to make a return back to his position on time.
However there was one downside to the game, despite being so many positives. Arshavin finally started to show the effects of aging as he seemed breathless and almost incapable of completing the ninety minutes on the pitch and as a result
he was substituted on the seventieth minute. However the Arsenal fans appreciated the player’s contributions and helped him walk off the pitch being cheered on and appreciated by the Arsenal fans for his contributions.
Arshavin will have to make the best from the time he has on the pitch, because the way things were progressing made it seem like he won’t be able to play the complete ninety minutes in the future. Nonetheless the player has recently proven
that he can be the deadliest player in a very limited amount of time and now Arsene Wenger will be hoping to either use him as an impact starter or a super sub in the future.
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