In one of those strange coincidences they will play Hull for the third season in a row in the competition and I think that has to be seen as a good omen. They beat Hull in the 2014 final after trailing 2-0 early on and then they beat them 2-0 in the third round last season. Hull beat Bury 3-1 in the fourth round with Chuba Akpom scoring a hat trick for them, but he won't be playing in the next round as he's on loan from Arsenal.
From an Arsenal perspective we were treated to the return of Francis Coquelin after injury as well as Alexis Sanchez making his first start in 10 games after recovering from his injury too. Alexis had come on against Chelsea, but it was good to see him from the start and hopefully the two of them will be available to play from the start against Southampton. Alexis was by far the best player on the pitch despite being a little rusty be he showed what the team has being missing for the last couple of months.
We were also treated to Mohamed Elneny making his debut after singing from Basel and Tomas Rosicky making his first appearance of the season after his latest injury. Unfortunately Rosicky picked up another knock and will miss another month which could spell the end of his career at Arsenal. Elneny did well on his debut although he has more attacking instincts than some would have hoped for and he certainly doesn't look like he was bought to cover Coquelin.
The performance was far from spectacular, but getting the win was important after taking only two points in the last three league games. There's a game against Southampton to come tonight and it's a game that has to be won to keep pace with Leicester and City. I can't see City dropping any points at Sunderland, but Leicester won't have it all their own way against Liverpool.
The boss definitely has a few decisions to make for that game after Saturday's game and he will have to think long and hard about his team. There are no pushovers in the Premier League and he needs to pick a team that will take the three points. The games are coming thick and fast now and it's reaching the stage in the season where any slip ups can be fatal. I'll look into that game against Southampton in my preview a little later, but for now it's just good to be in the next round of the cup and to see some different players in an Arsenal shirt.
That's it for today.
See you tomorrow.
I think wenger rushed Rozy. And I also wish he benches carzola even when he's back coz Rambo is more radicle and pushes upfront 4goal, his shorts are more promising than carzola's and hell have atleast 3shots on target per game. He releases the ball faster than carzola since he's nt a confident dribbler as carzola. He's a descent passer though. And last, Hes (ramsey) a more complete midfielder than carzola going for aerial balls, tackles and runs all over the pitch 4m our box to the opponents box making him box to box player. Overall, he does a greater job in the centre than carzola and given the fact that coq is bak, he concetrates deeper and gives cover wen ramsey goes upfront. We dont need to players sitting back. We need an extra player in the opposition's half even wen we dont hav possession. And that is definately RAMSEY
ReplyDeleteI think you're selling Santi a little short. He makes the team tick and gets his fair share of goals too.
DeleteJon how would u say Rambo is better than Santi,? that's a huge fallacy, it's like u don't watch Arsenal matches Ramsey is good but Carols is far better, a better passer, a better shooter and a far better dribbler with both feet.Carzola is Our Deputy Creator in chief behind Mesut.
ReplyDeleteBoth Akpom and Hayden could play for Hull against Arsenal, similar situations have occurred before.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure on the rules about them playing, but I would be very surprised if Arsenal allowed them to play if they have any say in it.
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