Crystal Palace vs Arsenal 0-2

Huge win for us today! Many will think "well if we don't beat fucking Crystal Palace, who will we beat?" but to Palace's credit they put in a very good performance and made it extremely tough for us today. If it wasn't for Szczesny, the scoreline could have looked much different.

We struggled for big periods of the first half. Palace were very organized at the back and we were having a very tough time breaking them down. Except for an early header from Giroud and a strong Ramsey shot that was blocked, we didn't create too many chances. On top of that, our passing was a bit sloppy and we weren't passing the ball around freely. On the other end Crystal Palace weren't shy to shoot the ball and Bannan missed a great chance, just curling his shot wide.  

The second half couldn't have started any better for us: Gnarby made a great move in the penalty area and was brought down. Arteta took a great penalty and we were up in front.  We really needed that goal to change the flow of the game and calm us down a bit. Unfortunately and inexplicable if you ask me, 20 minutes later, we had a corner kick and Arteta was one of only two players back in our half of the pitch. In contrast Palace had 3 players charging towards our side of the field and when Chamakh got the ball and Arteta brought him down, shit got real with a red card for the Spaniard. After the red card there were 10 minutes where we were fortunate not to get scored on with Ward hitting the crossbar and then Szczesny coming up with a phenomenal save from Jedinak's shot.

But to be honest, after we weathered the storm, we played much better with 10 men than we did with 11. It's true that Palace had to go forward and that opened up space for us, but we were passing the ball so much better and eventually got a second goal from Giroud after an unbelievable pass from Ramsey.

Winning today was vital for us if we want to stay in contention for the title. The tough matches are coming up and we needed to have all the points that we can get before we go into that tough stretch of fixtures. Not long ago we would have folded and probably tied or lost in a game like today's, but we showed some big balls and desire to close out the game!

Notes:

The defense looks shaky which is not good considering Suarez and Co are coming to town next week.  The diving Uruguayan is in great form (scoring a hat-trick today) and we will need to be rock solid at the back to keep him and Sturridge at bay.

Ozil really needs to improve physically so he can be even more dominant in this league. In the first half he was getting pushed around constantly and it affected his passing. He was much better in the second half, but was running out of gas towards the end.

Cazorla is still struggling to find his form. Showed flashes of his abilities at times today, but a lot of his first touches were off, also missed a lot of passes. We need him to find his form soon, because he can be deadly when he is playing well.

Flamini hobbled off early with what looked like a groin strain, we need him back ASAP because only him and Arteta are playing like true defensive midfielders for us.

Wilshere really livened things up after he came on as a sub, same could be said for Monreal who made some great runs going forward.

I would like to see a lot of changes for the Capital One Cup game against Chelsea. Guys like Vermaelen, Bendtner, Rosicky, Monreal, Gnarby, should be starting. We have good enough players who are not playing regularly, to play and get a result against Chelsea.  

Big games coming up, let's hope the team can keep rolling. C'mon You Gunners!!!

West Brom vs Arsenal 1-1

Tough game for us today. From the start we didn't look as composed and as fluent as we have been in the last 9 matches or so. Going forward we were uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball, even though we had a good amount of possession we never really created any chances in the first half. West Brom did a great job of closing us down and making it difficult for us to find any space in their half of the pitch. On top of that, when they got the ball, they weren't scared to pass it around and put us under pressure. Our defense was struggling all day long, Sessegnon and Amalfitano were consistently threatening, sending crosses and making dangerous runs. After one of those crosses Yacob scored a nice goal, but you have to wonder why no one was even close to him. After what both teams showed in the first half, West Brom were deservedly in front.

We played much better in the second half, but the game could have been out of reach for us had Anelka scored the great chance that he got, being one vs one with Szczesny. It was a simple pass on the wing and bad defending by us, but luckily Anelka missed a bit wide. We started playing better going forward and Wilshere scored a nice goal after good link up play between Giroud and Rosicky. We created a few more chances after that with Giroud being close to scoring in two situations. West Brom also had their chances in the second half and the game could have gone either way up until the end.

I felt Gnarby could have provided us with a spark today. We needed someone with pace to take advantage of the gaps that were starting to open towards the end of the game. Ozil and Wilshere had some nice through balls for Giroud and even though he did well on some of them, he is not the fastest guy out there. Having Walcott, Cazorla and Podolski back will be a great boost for us and it's games like today when we are not playing our best, that you wish you had some of those guys on the bench.

Notes:

Wilshere was awful in the first half. Constantly complaining and arguing with the refs; lost the ball a lot of times; kept slipping and falling and never looked comfortable out there. He played much better in the second half and credit to him, but he is still pretty far from his best form.

Ramsey looked a bit tired and burned out. I don't blame him given the amount of games he has played lately. He seemed bothered by an injury as well, i hope it's nothing serious.

Rosicky looked very lively, but his first touch was missing the whole 35 mins that he played. He set up nicely Wilshere for his goal, but the rest of the game he had trouble controlling the ball which is surprising coming from him.

Jenkinson's ability in the air is very questionable. On more than one occasion he headed the ball in bad areas and he just doesn't look as comfortable with his head as he is with his feet. Koscielny also had a rough game and was VERY lucky not to give away a penalty at the end. Not so much that he can't bump Long in the penalty area, but his timing was horrible: he bumped him, way before the ball got there and it could have easily been a penalty. I think Mason showed some leniency because earlier he denied us a penalty against Wilshere, which was a 50-50 call but could have easily been given as well. Mertesacker also struggled at times, he was the one who tried to get Anelka offside in the beginning of the second half, but was a bit late in doing so and the Frenchman was alone vs our keeper. 

Szczesny was great today. He made a tremendous save in the first half after a deflected shot. He was also pretty good at coming out of his goal for high crosses.

At the end, considering our performance, a draw is a good result for us even though we need all the points that we can get before we start playing the top teams. Hopefully we will take care of business against Norwich and Crystal Palace in the next two rounds before some tough games against Liverpool and Man U. C'mon You Gunners!