EPL | Arsenal vs Chelsea | 24th of September at 17:30 (GMT)

[Sanchez11]

I think the longer giroud stays out of the starting lineup the better. It brings us back to the good old days of proper counter attacking football and zipping it around with pace and direction. We have a great and big squad and we have squad rotation going on already, it just proves how far we have come. If city win it il be gutted but still happy with 2nd. Lets keep going string 10 wins together and keep the pressure on.

 

[remains]

Goes a small way to healing some of the hurt they have inflicted on us over the years. Beating them at the Bridge too would be the icing on the cake.

 

[BobP]

Thought the way we managed space, especially when attacking, was really very impressive.

You can kind of see the logic behind playing Sanchez and Walcott as our 'strikers' so to speak.

Montreal and Bellerin were providing maximum width, Iwobi would move into the left half space, Sanchez would drop and Walcott would become the most advanced attacker.

So it would more or else end up looking something like this.

----------Cazorla-Xhaka
Bellerin--------------------Monreal
--------Sanchez-Özil-Iwobi
----------------Walcott

This is Wenger at his best, there's a framework which accommodates the playing ability of his players.

In fact, I was thinking about the utility of having all of Iwobi, Sanchez and Özil gravitate towards the left half space. I thought it may have been more effective having Özil gravitate towards the right half space, considering he's a left footer. But by overloading the left, you provide fields of space for our two quickest players who may not be the best in a technical sense.

In other words, by organizing space in such a way we both maximize the strengths of Bellerin and Walcott whilst shielding them from situations which bring out their weaknesses.

Our second goal was perfect in this sense, diagonal pass from Iwobi from the left half space to Bellerin who squares to a Walcott who has already shifted in to cover the space vacated by the dropping Sanchez.

By playing him as a false nine, Wenger is trying to give Sanchez the freedom to operate through central areas which has always been his favorite area. He played his best there for Udinese, behind Di Natale and he played some of his best stuff for us behind the striker when Özil was unavailable.

 

[MLK79]

ONe has to admire how the man handles himself in defeat. How he sees his teams situation and how he refused to blame the players - even though he's obviously seething.

What a refreshing change to have a reasonable and rational, though far less entertaining, human being as a Chelsea manager.

Can you imagine Maureen in his place?!!!

Mourinho would've blamed us for playing 21st century football.

 

[Lollipoppins]

Police simply ringing for information about that 90 minute gang rape on the pitch at the Emirates. Always good to get your info first hand.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

I'm still smiling this morning. The funny thing is that if you look at the PL from the start, we are still ahead of Chelsea on the head to head meetings. That's why yesterday meant so much after 11 years of hurt inflicted on us by a rich man's money.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

the music

 

[Highbury Rock City]

One of the f-ing best days of my life

 

[Penn_]

Giroud didn't look like he wanted to come on when he was getting ready, don't know why we didn't continue with the counters and go with Perez.

 

[BobP]

Giroud didn't look like he wanted to come on when he was getting ready, don't know why we didn't continue with the counters and go with Perez.

Giroud is a battering ram.

Usually very effective at pounding tiring defenses into submission.

 

[RacingPhoton]

the music

I don't have to watch porn today.

 

[BobP]

I've been very impressed with Mustafi.

I said around the time that he signed that he looks like the ideal Wenger defender.

All action.

 

[Makingtrax]

Giroud didn't look like he wanted to come on when he was getting ready, don't know why we didn't continue with the counters and go with Perez.

We should definitely do that. Wenger has found an excellent system for both defence and attack that suits the players. Perez needs to replace Alexis occasionally to get a feel for the same role, so that the team can adopt the same style when Sanchez needs a rest or gets a temporary injury.

Giroud coming on changes the dynamics, necessitating a switch of formation.

 

[carlito'sway]

 

[MLK79]

the music

That's the best thing I've ever seen on twitter. Whomever did it, has won the internet for the rest of the decade.

 

[Rimaal]

the music

I can watch this on a loop for hours. A visual pleasure elixir.

 

[Makingtrax]

the music

All those crazy f***ers that said Arsenal can't defend should be locked in a padded cell and made to watch that for the rest of their lives.

 

[celestis]

So we actually managed to kick Costa off the park and not get punished . It was brilliant because it was cynical , subtle and the team took turns which means the ref couldn't single out anyone .

 

[Lancelot]

Giroud didn't look like he wanted to come on when he was getting ready, don't know why we didn't continue with the counters and go with Perez.

I thought Wenger picked Giroud purely from a defensive standpoint (against any potential set-pieces late on in the game) as we weren't as sharp going forwards as we had been in the first half to warrant an addition of Perez in the hope to finish the game off by scoring another goal.

It was also vital not to concede a goal and to try to keep the clean sheet, in my opinion. Psychologically speaking, we didn't want to lose 'the second half' to Chelsea going into the next game.

Subbing Gibbs on about 10 mins earlier had been done in a similar manner since he provided much better cover for Monreal and at several points late on in the game, we fought Conte's 3-5-2 with 5-4-1 defensive setup with Monreal as our 3rd CB.

It's worth mentioning that Wenger's substitutions lately have been brilliant and the team benefited from them.

 

[Axel_Gunner]