Monday 7 November 2011

Gunners Keep On Rolling


Arsenal's comprehensive 3-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday makes it four consecutive Premier League wins on the trot. The boys from N5 are really on a roll at the moment, banishing the early season memories. After that horrible start we've really turned things around and the whole squad are on top form right now, especially the man up front leading the attack, captain Robin van Persie. The flying Dutchman scored one goal and created two more this weekend - everything is clicking for the guy and the squad feed off this. Van Persie is having the season of his life and his goals are up to double digit numbers already. Naturally this is incredible news but every Arsenal fan out there, though enjoying our recent success, is also petrified of van Persie picking up an injury because be honest, who else have we got? Chamakh, as much as I want the guy to do well at the club, just looks lost out there every time he takes the field. Park Chu-Young? After a well taken goal against Bolton in the Carling Cup he stumbled around against Marseille in the Champions League, looking extremely rough and not quite ready for the big stage. Both players need match time to build confidence, but neither look close to filling van Persie's enormous shoes should the unimaginable happen and he get hurt. Past experience shows he will eventually - let's just hope he can stay healthy for all the important moments because we need him desperately. 

But lets not dwell on the future we have no control over and can't possibly foresee. Instead let's celebrate the comeback of Thomas Vermaelen, certainly one of our best players and don't we just look a lot better with him back in the side? With the Verminator running the show in defence alongside the excellent Koscielny and the physically imposing Mertesacker, our defence are starting to tighten up and the entire team look more confident. Vermaelen is of course a huge factor in our recent run of wins and his performance on Saturday was typical of the effect he can have. Solid at the back and ridiculously dangerous in attack you can't not love the guy. We really missed his leadership last year and especially his beautifully taken goals; he really does strike the ball like a centre forward and his goal against West Brom was a perfect example. Every Arsenal fan must pray that both he and van Persie can put their history of injury woes behind them and continue their fine form for a long, long time. If we can keep our best guys fit, which we haven't managed to do in years, then this team has the ability to win things. I still feel we lack depth to challenge for the title but an F.A Cup or a Carling Cup is never out of reach and if everything slotted into place perfectly then maybe even the Champions League (I'll keep dreaming about that one...).

Thanks for reading.

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