Its Squeaky Bum Time: Top 4 Quest

            Arsenal finally got back to winning ways in midweek after putting 3 unreplied goals past the hapless hammers. Not to take anything away from performance by an Özil inspired gunners, but West Ham were totally at sea in their second half display, after being very stoic and compact in the first half, coupled with the terrible refereeing too from Martin Atkinson who refused to give at least one of the blatant penalty calls. The win got the gunners up to 5th temporarily before this weekend’s round of fixtures and results. Can we build on this win with a consistent run….that's the question?

The Arsenal train stops with a visit to the eagles at Selhurst Park as the gunners keep a date with Crystal Palace. It seems such a long long time, the HFB aka Oliver Giroud scored that beauty of a goal, with the scorpion kick. It was in the reverse fixture back in January, then, the gunners were still in the running for 3 trophies, at least hypothetically if not realistically…abi? Anyway fast forward a couple months down 2017 and here we are, in 6^th position, seven points off the top four places, in the annual scrap for top four. That is the gunners’ quest yet again having fallen by the way side in the Champions league (no surprises there) and the Premier league contention, again no surprises there. This past weekend fixture results have put the heat back on the gunners, with Tottenham starring in a 4-0 win, while Liverpool and Man united picked up 3points too. The onus is on us now to go ahead and match them with a win on Monday, we are hoping the win over the hammers in midweek is a return to winning ways.

Big Sam and his boiz have had a fairly good run of form recently wining four straight games shocking Chelsea at home while at it before surprisingly losing to Southampton at home in midweek. Anyway such is the league these days, you can’t afford to underestimate any team especially one in a relegation scrap and coached by Sam Allardyce. Arsenal have it all to do if they are to attain the “Holy Grail” of top 4 this year. A must win match it is. Head to Head history is in favour of us though, whatever that counts for as the eagles have failed to beat the gunners at home since 1979. Now whether that is a sign of things to come is no guarantee but we can hope that Arsenal will somehow look back at the fiasco that was the visit to West Brom at the Hawthorns and learn from it or else, Arsene wenger should just forget about top four and possibly any contract extension. Let’s face it, this team (or more like group of players) has so far underperformed this season with too many lows than highs, the least you will expect is to finish the season strongly on a high. Looking at the team sheets for both clubs its obvious who has more quality players but the important thing is to knit them together to play like a team. This is not to trivialize the threat the likes of Benteke and an inform Zaha/Puncheon/Townsend can pose on their day…definitely not. If you place them side by side our Walcott, Welbz Sanchez and Özil then you get my drift. Having said that, we know how difficult games aren’t won by names or won on paper, so it’s up to the gunners to prove their mettle. I hope the defensive pairing of Mustafi and Gabby can handle the aerial threat of Benteke and his physicality. The midfield will also have to be on their toes to cut out the supply line that feeds Puncheon and Zaha. All in all, it would be nice to keep a second clean sheet in a row for young Martinez. My predicted line up will be as follows:                     Subs: Macey, Holding, Jeff, Ramsey, Gibbs, Giroud, Oxlade, Iwobi

Image Credits: The Uk Guardian Online      

The above team should be able to do the job of getting the much needed 3points, no one said it was gonna be a cake walk though. Whatever team goes out there, lets get behind the boiz, we can iron out our issues with the club management later. Dont forget to follow us on this blog and like our FB page here https://web.facebook.com/anaijagunner/.  Thats it from us, do enjoy the game whereever you maybe.....Ciaooo