At last Arsenal have fully recovered from the disastrous defeat on the opening day of the season at the hands of the twelve men of Aston Villa + Taylor. It has taken 22 games for Arsenal to have achieved the same number of points from exactly the same fixtures as last season (for the sake of symmetry I am setting off this years promoted teams against the results for last years relegated teams).

“How can this be?” I hear you cry – we are 17 (yes seventeen) points better than our total for 22 games last season and our Beloved Leader has said few if any teams have had more than 51 points at this stage of the season. This achievement is further underlined by the MotD pundits citing that in the Invincible season Arsenal had only one point more at this stage.

The truth is that the fixtures we have, and in which we have done so well that we lead the league, are all fixtures in which we did comparably well last season.

This means that for our same remaining 16 games we only got 23 points out of the 48 available in the same fixtures last season. We must therefore have realistic hopes of getting significantly more than our 73 point tally last year.

Let’s first look at the media pundits clamour that we have to beat the top teams to establish our credentials for a real title challenge. In fact this is a difficult area because the games against Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton and Spurs are all away and only the Manchester double of City and United have to come to The Home of Football.

2012/13 results against top six teams: Won 6 Draw 5 Lost 5

The good news is that for these outstanding six games, last season produced only one win and two draws for Arsenal. It is not at all unreasonable to suggest that we can get two extra wins and a draw from say Spurs (A), Man U (H), and Everton (A) which would give us six more points.

What of the remaining ten teams we have still to play none of whom are likely to be challenging even for fourth place? Indeed most look likely to be in the relegation dog fight. Last season our results here were five won three draws and two defeats and this amounted to only 18 points from the 30 available. It is not over optimistic to see the new efficient Arsenal with an excellent mean defence turning this into an outturn of 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat which would give an extra 7 points. Certainly against these teams so far this season we have suffered only one notorious defeat and one draw so I am only asking we stay consistent.

The mathematically astute among you will notice that I am suggesting we garner 13 points more than our poorer results last season and this would take us from the 73 points that delivered fourth place to the 86 points which are talked of as a probable title winning total this curious season.

Whilst I have the mathematicians attention we have amassed points to date at the rate of 2.318 per game and the further 35 points I am positing would only be at 2.187 per game.

One final ray of hope in comparing this season to the last one. We finish strongly. Last season we only dropped 9 points from the 48 available in the last 16 games which included only one defeat. Even if, as may be the case, we have a slightly harder run-in this season I am still allowing 13 points to slip away from us in reaching a potentially title winning tally.

So ignore media & pundits, Keep the faith and COYG.

Chris H

This post was submitted before the Southampton game and therefore it’s acknowledged that we aren’t TOTL at the moment.

The line-up was greeted on twitter with a general meh and a ‘where’s the attacking fluency going to come from’? Flamini and Arteta were both picked along with Ozil and Cazorla. Where is the balance in that selection?

From the off, Southampton dominated possession and chances. Arsenal players were falling over. Fair enough the team coach was late but surely there was enough time to sort the correct studs. Early on, Nacho was caught with the ball in our own penalty area and Szczesny came to the rescue. After 20 minutes a superb tackle by the BFG was penalised by Lee Mason and Southampton scored after a Shaw cross (not sure I like the conjunction of those two words) was headed in by Fonte who looked to have shoved Monreal in the back. Szczesny could have done better on his near post. Dreadful all round.

More Southampton possession eventually resulted in a real gift for the home side but the chance was spurned with Szczesny closing the Saints player down. The TV company put up some stats, 7-0 to Southampton. We hadn’t turned up yet. A few minutes before half time Koscielny saved us yet again with a last ditch block when 2-0 looked a certainty.

Kos then had our only effort on goal from a corner and Boruc was lucky it bounced off his massive frame when it could have gone anywhere. Lee Mason refused to book Fonte after a shocking WWF bodycheck on Nacho just before the first 45 was up..

Half time and what a shocking performance it had been. Disjointed, clumsy and lacking in virtually any team interplay.

The second half began with the team looking as though it had had a rocket up its collective derriere. Immediately we created a chance and in the blink of an eye and a Sagna cross, Giroud had managed to pirouette the ball into the Southampton net.

Suddenly Arsenal looked as if they might be the top of the table side that had come to St Mary’s for 3 points. Mesut pulled the ball back across the edge of the area and Cazorla sliced it, with the precision of Nigella using a credit card, beyond Boruc’s right hand. Two one up and the away supporters wondered what they had been worrying about at half time.

In our recent defensive performances, one of the changes from recent seasons had been that we hadn’t conceded just after scoring ourselves. Well, unfortunately, we slipped back into old habits and immediately let Southampton back into the game from a hopeful long punt up field. The ball was not dealt with by Sagna and he allowed a cross towards an unguarded penalty spot and we were back level.

Just 5 minutes without giving them a lifeline, that was all we needed and I’m convinced we’d have gone on to win.

Ozil went on a scintillating run 10 minutes later and his deflected shot bounced off the bar with Porky beaten. Much of our good attacking play ended up at the feet of poor old Nacho who had a real stinker. His wildly shanked effort when clean through in the 72nd minute a case in point.

Flamini was sent off with the sort of challenge that even I knew merited a red card. What part about two footed challenges not being allowed does Mathieu not understand. He landed with both feet on the ball but could have caused serious damage if it had been on an ankle.

Our football suffered no noticeable degradation when down to ten men, which was, perhaps an indictment of the initial team selection. Santi looked mightily relieved when Gibbs was brought on in his place. He had been battered all game with no protection from the referee at all. Last night would have made him wish he was still in Spain.

We hung on for a point with no real scares in the 6 minutes of injury time. It would be difficult to say we deserved the 3 points, especially after such a shocking first half display, so maybe it was a point won rather than 2 lost. The pouring rain and a front 6 that looked like 3 pairs of two rather than any sort of cohesive attacking unit must give us all food for thought.

Anyway, upwards and onwards and on to Palace on Sunday.

Ratings

Szczesny– A couple of good saves, a dodgy punch, poor positioning for the first goal and a boot in the crown jewels……7

Mertesacker – Firefighting for much of the game, some timely interceptions and up to his usual standard of commitment……7

Koscielny – Some excellent blocks, tackles and all round competence from Laurent……8

Sagna – Played well apart from their equaliser. Superb assist for Giroud’s goal….7

Monreal – Struggled throughout the game. Weak defensively, weak in attack. I wish Gibbs had been playing…..5

Flamini – Lacked his usual bite in midfield. If he plays with Arteta, I’m not sure if he knows whether to stick or bust. Did neither and the sending off could have cost us …..5

Arteta – Mikel looked rusty and a bit slow on his return from injury but gets some leeway because of that …….6

Ozil – Looked disinterested in the first half when it was lashing it down. Showed some class in the second half …..7

Giroud – Tried hard with no support for the first 45 but struggled to hold the ball up and bring others into the game. Improved in the second…..6

Cazorla – Santi must be bruised to pieces after that. I’m still not sure if Cazorla and Ozil works. …..7

Gnabry – Not Serge’s finest performance in an Arsenal shirt. Made several poor decisions about when to pass. Maybe should have been taken off at half time…..5

Subs

Chamberlain – Looked lively……..6

Podolski and Gibbs weren’t on long enough to rate.

Lee Mason – one of those refs who thinks Arsenal don’t deserve free kicks unless someone has been chopped in half……….2

Written by chas

The title sums it all up for me, a four-nil cruise into the fifth round which was only slightly less troublesome than the previous round against Tottenham.

It had been reported that Coventry had been playing some decent football recently and that they were likely to come to the Emirates to give us a game. No doubt they would have been hoping for a helping hand from Wenger’s team selection but no such generosity was shown. It is easy to imagine the sigh of disappointment in the Coventry dressing room as the Arsenal team, with so many big hitters, was read out: Ozil, Mertasacker, Koscielny, Podolski. This smacked a bit to me of using a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

I was trying to work out why Ozil had been picked when an injury to the most talented player at the club would have had such a seriously detrimental affect on our season. The only answer I could come up with goes back to the much talked about conversation Wenger was supposed to have had with Ozil – in German — that persuaded him to move from Real Madrid.

Summed up I suspect by: If you come to THOF you will play.

What ever the reason the gulf in quality took very little time to show itself, Arsenal were passing the ball around as slickly as a hockey puck glides over the ice, leaving Coventry chasing shadows. Podolski was the star of the first half skilfully rounding the goalkeeper before slotting home for his first and then heading in at the far post for his second. There was a lot of rustiness in the likes of Bendtner, Jenkinson and Fabianski but this is not meant to be critical it is simply what happens to players when they do not play regularly.

It was unusual to be watching Arsenal on a Friday evening, I think it is the first time ever, I certainly can’t think of anther occasion, so it was a bit confusing when the lights went down towards the end of the first half, the question was asked: is this normal, is this mood lighting all part of the Friday evening experience, can we expect this in the future? The mobile phones being turned on to help light the pitch were fun.

Arsenal were bored and it showed in the beginning of the second half as they struggled to stay focussed. Coventry realising that the tie had gone started pushing forward and it has to be said that they created a couple of chances that they should have scored from.

Wenger was prompted to make changes, Cazorla came on for Bendtner and we got our first glimpse of Zelalem who I must say looked very slick. This gave Podolski a chance to play CF but he was tiring by then so we didn’t really learn too much.

Did you count how many German speakers were on the pitch at this time – 5. Who would have ever imagined that Arsenal’s lingua franca would become German?

Giroud came on and having just seen Bendtner and Podolski we all got reminded of just how much a superior option he is up front. It took him seemingly no time to fire home a quality pass from Gibbs. Coventry were a spent force, they couldn’t even muster the energy to protest, all that was left was for Cazorla to make it four and send us all home with smiles on our faces in the pouring rain.

Onwards and upwards.

Player ratings:

Fabianski: a clean sheet always says that a Keeper did well enough, but there was the odd moment when we were forced to remember how lucky we are having Szezceny. 6

Jenkinson: same applies really, hadn’t had too many first team minutes recently and it showed. Any player who grew up with an Arsenal duvet on his bed gets a lot of leeway with me. I hope he turns into the player good enough to eventually fill Sagna’s boots. 6

Mertasacker: immaculate. 9

Koscielny: this really is turning into a Batman and Robin act, a plyer may on occasions be able to out run Per but they are not going to outrun Kos. 8

Gibbs: I suppose last night was evidence that he has now slipped down the pecking order with Monreal although I regard him as being more advanced in claiming the LB spot than Jenkinson is in claiming the RB spot. Some excellent runs down the wing. 6

Wilshere: So we had Arteta out and Flamini rested, who did Wenger turn to for a bit of defensive cover? This young man has trigger issues, when a shooting chance is begging he will always opt for a pass. That said he did a perfectly decent job. 6

Oxlade-Chamberlain: Given the role of supporting Jack just in front of the back line, stayed there for two minutes, got bored and was last seen augmenting the attack. 6

Ozil: to question this players ability is to question Bergkamp’s ability when he was playing alongside John Hartson. I haven’t got time to go into this in detail but the knowledgeable should know what I mean. By far the most talented player on the park, I’m going to start gushing so I will stop. 9

Bendtner: still playing with the halo of saving our bacon against Cardiff with his last minute goal. The bar had been raised too high last night, I don’t want to start being rude save to say I hope he gets his big move in this transfer window. Good luck Nicky. 6

Gnabry: with Walcott’s injury this player is being fast tracked now, not as impressive as he should have been against such poor opposition but hopefully he will get there, if not the Ox will snuffle up his place quicker that you can say acorns. 6

Podolski: hungry, wanting, seemingly determined to get his place back – I like it, excellent player to have in the armoury. 8

Written by LB