Why can’t Arsenal do this more often?
THIS time for Arsenal the boots were on the other feet. Last Sunday at Tottenham they were blown away by a surge of energy at the start of the second half, and had no way back in a game they lost 2-0.
But here at the Emirates they did the same thing to Manchester United. Even the timing of the goals, separated by three minutes roughly 10 minutes after the restart, was almost exactly the same as at White Hart Lane week.
It was impressive to see Arsenal play this way, with focus, character and balance, not least because that has been so lacking from so many of their recent performances. This was, with not much competition, their best display in months.
Even the back three system, which looked alien to many of the Arsenal players last week, worked perfectly well here.
Of course the simple and obvious difference is that Manchester United, even at their best, are nowhere near the level of Tottenham. And this was nowhere near United at full pelt, with Jose Mourinho resting his best last players. And yet you can only beat the opposition in front of you and here Arsenal did just that. Alex OxladeChamberlain was excellent again. He dominated the right wing, played the perfect cross for Danny Welbeck’s header and never gave Matteo Darmian a second of rest.
Aaron Ramsey gave his best performance of the season too, in a midfield anchored by Granit Xhaka. It has been another frustrating year for Ramsey, who has struggled with muscle injuries and with a broken toe, but he gives Arsenal something that no-one else does.
Mesut Ozil, too, enjoyed one of those days when he makes playing elite football look like the easiest thing in the world. Darmian tried to man-mark him but his movement was too good, too clever and by the second half United could not lay a finger on him.
And then there was Danny Welbeck, another man who has had a frustrating season, ruined by a knee injury picked up at the end of last season. Here he showed again why Arsenal’s best team has him in
it. For all of Olivier Giroud’s strengths, Welbeck is more athletic and more dangerous and his brilliant header, just after Xhaka’s goal, was enough to kill the game. What would Arsenal’s season have looked like if Ramsey, Ozil and Welbeck had played this well all year? Surely better than this, still scrambling around in sixth place, hoping for a collapse if they are to get into the top four. Maybe those games at West Brom and Crystal Palace have skewed expectations because when Arsenal play competently it now feels like a welcome surprise, and it certainly shouldn’t. – The Independent