Wobbly Start But 3 Points In & Stoke Preview

Happy Birthday Igweee the 14th
Image Credits: Arsenal.com

Aahhahh!!! Football is back, and we want to start off by wishing one of Arsenal's finest a Happy 40th Birthday Celebration. King Henry, the Va Va Va Voom of the Arsenal FC, 228 goals for the club making him the all time highest scorer....Iiiggweee!

What an opening weekend of matches we had and as always Arsenal was part of what made it a spectacle…..well depending on what team you trump for. The gunners didn’t disappoint in their opening day encounter with the Foxes from the city of Leicester, delivering a performance that had the excitingly annoying mix of the good, the bad, and the very ugly to watch. A seven goal thriller as a season curtain raiser is always going to be a joy to any neutral but to a team that ends up with zero points despite scoring three goals In such a match…..needless to say. Let quickly run through some of the positives from the game.

The Good.

Three points is always a welcome haul from any league match and this one isn’t different, the boiz went out wobbled and stumbled to them like two left Danny Welbz legs trying out for a ballet role in a Hollywood movie. Considering the fact that the gunners have won just one of their opening fixtures in the past six seasons makes this even more of a pleasant surprise so I will take it with joy. Lacazette had a dream league debut with a goal, plus the manner in which the team fought back for the win does tick the box for me the most. First it was leveling it at 2-2 just on the stroke of half time, then after we kept plugging away at 3-2 down with less than 15 minutes to go, reminiscent of a seemingly developing habit of fighting back. Two fabulous goals from two spot-on substitutes by Wenger and the tide was turned for the team. The cherry on the cake will be doing this without the distraction of Sanchez and a terrible makeshift back line of 3 wing backs and a midfielder. Now that’s something like a silver lining to cheer.....…init?

The Bad

It won’t be arsenal if we didn’t get some hairy nail-biting edge of ya seat moments will it? I guess it won’t, in my review of the community shield game, I said both teams (Arsenal and Chelsea) didn’t look ready for the season and their respective opening day performances buttressed that conclusion. The gunners true to character, delivered some horrendous defending I wish I could reach out from the perch of my seat and scream someone’s head off. First of all the whole team was without harmony and how in the world did Xhaka have such an awful day at the office? That’s especially after his stellar performance against Chelsea in the community shield. He was just a liability, he allowed Okazaki to win a header over him for Leicester’s first goal, he gave away possession cheaply in a dangerous area that lead to the second goal and he lost Vardy for their third goal. An absolute shambolic out of sorts’ cacophony of defending. I mean, after Lacazette put the team ahead in less than two minutes, you would be forgiven to think the gunners were gonna come out all gunz   cannons blazing ready to run riot on Leicester. Kudos to Leicester though, the gunners gave them a look-in and the Foxes took the game to their opponents. The right side of the team was weak, with Özil Bellerin and Holding. The Foxes smelt it and they duly attacked from there. If you ask me, I would say the gunners were lucky to snatch three points

The Ugly

All that negative being said above, we won and we had to scrap for those precious three points. If there is anything this team is showing in recent times, it’s the ability to fight back, it’s not always pretty but it’s nice to get the feeling that the boiz are up for a scrap. That boy Kolasinac is showing how to do an ugly job and I am loving it. He was ball watching for Vardy’s second goal but all through the game he was bulldozing the team forward. He crowned his performance with a peach of an assist to Welbz, plus his goal and assist in the community shield, you will agree with me he just might be the bargain find of this season. On an even uglier note, Wenger has come out to say Lucas Perez can leave the club which is a shame cuz I think he is very capable of hitting double figures in goals & assists but hey i ain't Wenger.

The Arsenal train chugs down to pay the potters a visit. Playing Stoke at the Bet 365 stadium has never been a cake walk so I am not expecting an easy match, however I expect the team knows the importance of bagging another the points in order to keep building the momentum. The gunners have just a win in six visits to Stoke and that’s not good. Stoke lost their opening day fixture at Goodison park so I would be wary of them rallying for a response. Shaqiri Allen Crouch and Fletcher could be tricky customers on their day and I wouldn’t want us to underestimate them. None of that lazy rag tag defending we saw against Leicester else Crouch will be smacking his lips at the prospect high going against them. Our Team news is much better than it was a couple weeks ago, Mustafi Coq & Merts are available for selection if Wenger feels like reigning Holding in, he had one of his less than impressive games against Leicester. Anyway let’s hope we can get a couple over them potters in their backyard. My expected line up still has Giroud coming off the bench, Welbeck and Lacazette get the nod ahead of him. My team sheet looks like:   Subs: Ospina, Giroud, Walcott, Coquelin, Elneny, Kolasinac, Niles, Iwobi.  

   

 I expect a tough game with the odds against us but i think that line-up should be able to handle what the potters bring on so lets hope i am right. That's it from us here, please remember to give us your feedback and like our Facebook page here. Enjoy the game wherever you are......Ciaooo