Five Things Learnt from Arsenal’s win
Back in the race, confidence for The Ox and shooting practise needed for Bournemouth
Arsenal saw off AFC Bournemouth at Dean Court earlier today thanks to first-half goals from Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and it’s time for SillySeason to pick their highlights from the match.
Two goals in a matter of minutes gave the Gunners a vital victory following a bit of a blip, and it’s a win that lifts them above Manchester City into third and level on points with local-rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
What stood out during the 90-minutes though? Here are SillySeason‘s Five Things learnt from the 2-0 win.
5) Mathieu Flamini A Lucky Boy
Arsenal fans inhaled deeply and sat on the edge of their seats as Mathieu Flamini recklessly lunged it two-footed in the early stages of the game.
Luckily for the visitors and the Frenchman, he only got booked when he could have easily seen red.
It was a stupid tackle and a reckless one, which on another day, would have been greeted with a red card.
Yes Flamini got the ball, but he went in two-footed and everyone knows that is not allowed in the modern game. He should have been sent off.
4) Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Needs To Push On
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is losing a lot of Arsenal fans because of his failure to develop and perform on a regular basis, but after scoring today, it’s time for his to finally push on.
He’s struggled for fitness, he’s struggled for form so when Arsene Wenger named him in the starting XI today, it was met with a few raised eyebrows.
However, Wenger’s trust was repaid in the 24th minute when he doubled Arsenal’s lead with a nice finish. Bizarrely, that was the winger’s first ever away goal for Arsenal.
It’s time for The Ox to push on now though and stamp his mark on the Arsenal first-team. The odd sporadic goal won’t do that and he needs to find some consistency.
He’s still got plenty of years ahead of him, he just needs to stay fit and now push on in his career.
3) Shooting Practise for Bournemouth
Despite the scoreline, Bournemouth did actually create a fair few chances for themselves.
Albeit most of them were long-range hopeful shots, but they did have some glimpses of Petr Cech’s goal. However, when they had them, they wasted them.
A few were saved well by Cech, but the others flew hopelessly over the bar or wide and when you come up against the likes of Arsenal, you need to be more clinical.
Shooting practise for Eddie Howe’s men this week we think.
2) Petr Cech Comes Good Again
We said Bournemouth wasted chances, and they did, but the shots that did go on target were denied by this man.
What a signing he’s been and once again today he proved how valuable he is for the Gunners.
One phenomenal save in the first-half to keep the score at 2-0, and a couple of neat saves late on to keep the Cherries at bay.
His experience and his winning mentality is massive for Arsene Wenger’s side and once again today he proved how important it is to have a top-class goalkeeper.
1) Vital Win for Arsenal
After their recent run of results, a win was a must for Arsenal today and that’s what they did.
Draws against Liverpool, Stoke City and Southampton, and a loss against Chelsea had crashed Arsenal from league-leaders to fourth spot, so today they needed to win and bounce back.
More pressure was put on them after Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur won yesterday, but that didn’t faze the Gunners as they did their job in the first-half.
Two goals and a clean-sheet gives them hope again in the title-race.
Leicester at home next weekend. Must win.
So there are our Five Things Learnt from today’s game.
Comment your highlights below!
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt