Remember — it’s November, warns Wenger
THERE is something about November that makes the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger nervous. Rather than accept the plaudits as Arsenal sat momentarily top of the table on Saturday, he was guarded, pointing to the pitfalls of a month which has been both costly and cruel in recent years. Twelve months ago, Arsenal had won five on the spin in the league before a November which opened with a 5-1 drubbing at Bayern Munich, followed by a home draw against Spurs, defeat at West Brom and a draw at Norwich. The month ended with calls for Wenger to go.
Go back two years and after defeats by Swansea and Manchester United, one banner read: ‘Enough is enough. Wenger out’.
And on November 3, 2012, again at Old Trafford, Arsenal lost 2-1 and dropped six more points with draws against Fulham, Villa and Everton. So Wenger is right to sound cautious.
‘I believe we are more mature than previous seasons, yes, but that’s what we want to show over a longer distance,’ he said. ‘By the end of November we’ll know more about ourselves.’
Coming up is Sunday’s north London derby at the Emirates, then a visit to Old Trafford. Wenger, though, senses a change in resolve in his ranks, evidenced by Saturday’s three-goal blitz of Sunderland when the score was 1-1. It took just six minutes and 20 seconds for substitute Olivier Giroud to score twice and Alexis Sanchez to net his second.
‘Sunderland felt that they had done the most difficult thing in getting back to 1-1, that at least they’d get a point,’ Wenger said. ‘But they were surprised by the strength of our push again. The desire and mentality is great in the side, but we have to show we can do it week in, week out.’
SUPER STAT: Sunderland have the worst 10-game start to a Premier League season — two points and -13 goal difference.
SUNDERLAND (4-2-3-1): Pickford 5; Jones 5, Kone 4, O’Shea 5 (Djilobodji 42min, 4), Van Aanholt 4.5; Rodwell 4.5, Ndong 5; Khazri 4, Pienaar 5.5 (Januzaj 70, 5), Watmore 6 (Gooch 84); Defoe 5.5. Subs not used: Mika, Love, Manquillo, Anichebe. Scorer: Defoe 65 pen. Booked: Khazri, Ndong, Pienaar, Djilobodji. ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Cech 5.5; Bellerin 6.5, Koscielny 6.5, Mustafi 5.5, Gibbs 7; Elneny 6.5, Coquelin 6.5 (Maitland-Niles 89); OxladeChamberlain 7.5 (Ramsey 78, 6), Iwobi 6.5 (Giroud 69, 7.5), Ozil 7.5; Sanchez 8. Subs not used: Ospina, Gabriel, Holding, Jenkinson.
Scorers: Sanchez 19, 78, Giroud 71, 76. Booked: Cech, Gibbs, Sanchez.
Man of the match: Alexis Sanchez. Referee: Martin Atkinson 7.