And so here we are. As the 2016
train slowly grinds down to a halt we at anaijagunner would love to wish all
our teaming readers, Football, Arsenal and Non Arsenal fans alike a very royal
welcome to 2017 wherever you may be. Happy New Year folks. 2016, like every
other year was one of highs and lows for us as Arsenal fans and Super Eagles supporters.
The emergence of Alex Iwobi on the scene from the tail end of last season,
teased us on what could possibly be...so much potential for his young age,
already capped and scored for the Eagles at the young age of 20 signed a
professional contract to boot. It seems the sky is just a starting point. Well
it hasn’t being a straight up curve of success for the young man though, he has
had criticisms for his seeming lack of goals amongst other things so I guess
the jury is still out on him on how good he will come. There was that 3-0
thrashing of Chelsea my gaaawwd, was that good? It’s been a long time coming and it was nice
to see the boiz raise their game to deliver such a blitz of a performance. For the
eagles though, Iheanacho’s star continues to shine as his stock does go up. He has
shown he can be lethal in front of goal for both club and country, though not helping the
eagles qualify for the 2017 AFCON. Next is the world cup qualifiers, let’s see
how it goes. Then the lows, I grit ma teeth to type theses even though it’s
easier to find yourself remembering the negatives while taking the positives
for granted. Losing to Liverpool, City then the draw against Spurs for me was
the height of ill preparation both mentally and physically. That’s just one win
in in 5 against top 5 opposition…..NOT good enough I will like to continue but let’s
just leave it at that for a little flash back on the past year, glass half full
perspective.
Fast forward to today, talk isn’t about
transfers on ins or outs. It’s the visit of Crystal palace to the Emirates in a
late New Year day Kickoff. The Eagles have recently hired a familiar foe in Sam
Allardyce after sacking former player and Coach, Alan Pardew for a bad run of
results… ouch!! Wenger and Big Sam encounters go way back to the Bolton wanderers’
days when they kind of became some sort of a bogey team to the gunners, other
meetings after that have been more favorable to Wenger. Our Boxing Day clash
with Westbrom was more steel than style according to wenger, I think we might
need more of such doggedness. Chelsea is flying high, having matched Arsenals
record on the number of consecutive wins, 13 on the bounce, while Liverpool suddenly
has found a way to win 1-0. The reds win over city was their third in the last
four matches. City is not looking as imperious as they should but the seat
above us in 3rd place. I don’t
need to hammer home the importance of 3 points at stake here, be it grinding
out these wins no matter how parked the opposition buses may be. Thats what i loved about the game against the baggies, we eked out a 1 Nil win, our first in 13 games but hopefully many more to come. Wenger says:
“Coming after two bad results, we didn’t panic,
we kept going,” Arsène Wenger said. “We had a relentless attitude and in the
end we managed to win it.
“We’ve done that many times this season, so that
means the resolve is there and the stubbornness too. We said we want to have
style and steel, and I think we may be showed more steel than style in this
game, but it will be important for our season.”
The Season is half way through and
the points at stake keep reducing with each passing game, the league is
obviously not won yet with lots of points to play for but Chelsea’s as Wenger
reckons are definitely super favorites thus theirs to lose. (They were top on
Christmas day) With Walcott and Ox out, It’s not all gloomy as the squad is
bolstered by the return of Mustafi and Danny Welbeck which a serious boost, if
we get things right. So can we? That’s the question for Wenger and the team to
answer. My predicted lineup here
Whatever the lineup we put out, the boys eed to be up for a fight cuz thats the way Big Sam will set up his team, get into our faces try to knock us out of our fluidity and hope for a hit on set pieces. We need to stay tough and stand up to the upcoming physicality. DO enjoy the game wherever you are....Ciaoo
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