Perfect week for Arsene Wenger as Arsenal lay down title marker
Well, Arsene, it really doesn’t get any better than this.
True, Manchester City staged a most unexpected late rally, but otherwise the visitors were largely woeful as they produced a performance that will do very little little to dispel the notion that Pep Guardiola could do rather better than Manuel Pellegrini with this lavishly-assembled side.
But Arsenal, having survived those late scares — and they were huge, huge scares — were very good indeed.
Mesut Ozil, their creator-in-chief, was once again at the heart of everything and he claimed another two assists as he laid on the goals for Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud.
And although Arsenal are still two points behind Leicester there is a growing feeling that this could be their year, or at least that Wenger will never have a better chance of winning his fourth Premier League title.
Ozil agreed.
“We had a lot of difficult games but we are happy to win. All the team are happy, and me too. I am happy to help the team, you see that on the pitch. Today was again an important game and I try to give my best,” he said.
“We believe in us. We know our quality if we play our game, we can win the league. We will give all the season our best.”
After all, the other main contenders are in various stages of meltdown. Mourinho has exited the Stamford Bridge stage; Louis van Gaal seems set to do the same at Manchester United in the next few weeks.
Pellegrini is now in danger of being fatally undermined by Guardiola’s newly-confirmed availability, while Tottenham, Liverpool and Leicester are not expected to last the course.
Above all, though, Arsenal are beginning to look the real deal. They wobbled late on as they nearly paid for not taking second-half chances, but there is a core which can provide enough stability to win a league that is notably short on quality.
Arsenal are also learning there are different ways to skin a cat. Their win at the Etihad last season was based on an unusual amount of pragmatism as a team designed to attack instead decided to defend.
They adopted that approach again here, despite being the home team, sitting deep and looking to play through City. Yet those old frailties could not be erased completely.
There were times when Mathieu Flamini and Aaron Ramsey were caught out in the middle of the park and City forwards had space to run into.
There were times when the full-backs, Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin, pushed too far forward and were caught out.
After almost half-an-hour the two nearly coincided to devastating effect for the hosts as Sergio Aguero flicked the ball around the corner for Kevin De Bruyne to run onto, with Monreal nowhere to be seen.
The Belgian seemed unable to make up his mind whether to cross or shoot and chose the latter option, only to drag his shot wide of the far post.
It was to prove a costly decision as within a minute Arsenal had scored from their first shot of the game. It was a goal as superb as it was unexpected as Ozil played the ball in to Walcott, who checked back and unleashed a devastating shot into the far corner from 20 yards.
It was Walcott’s 100th goal for both club and country, and brought up Arsenal’s century in 2015, but it also showed a new, cut-throat approach from the hosts.
This is a side that traditionally need a dozen chances to score, but this was brutal efficiency — and having mastered the technique they improved on it with their second goal in injury-time.
Again, Ozil was the creator — he now has a barely credible 15 Premier League assists to his name this season, just five behind Thierry Henry’s all-time record — and his direct run created a hole that Olivier Giroud exploited perfectly, firing low through Joe Hart’s legs.
City, for their part, responded by rectifying Pellegrini’s original mistake in bringing on Raheem Sterling – mystifyingly left out of the starting lineup - for Fabian Delph. They applied the pressure but Arsenal had the rapier thrust, Campbell firing over when he should have tucked home Monreal’s low cross.
Aguero directed two headers straight at Cech but Arsenal were sharper, a delightful move leading to Hart saving superbly from Aaron Ramsey after the visitors had been cut open.
City claimed hopefully for penalties after Sterling and then Toure went down easily in the penalty area but they came back into the game when the Ivorian lazily found the top corner with a superb left-footed shot with eight minutes remaining.
Walcott said: “When you have to hold on for 10 minutes it’s very hard, they scored a stunning goal out of nowhere. A special moment. We got the three points and that’s all that matters.”
Suddenly it was game on again and it was all hands to the pump as Wilfried Bony and Toure went close.
Corner followed corner, and the announcement of four added minutes seemed it may be a bridge too far.
Toure, hitherto anonymous, was dictating play. But it was too little, too late.
Arsenal had done enough, and Wenger had enjoyed his perfect week. Carry on like this and it will be a perfect season.
Wenger said: “It was a very intense game, with both teams giving everything. We always looked dangerous. We got great goals in the first half and we became shaky at 2-1.
“We knew how big this game was, Theo Walcott scored a fantastic goal which surprised Joe Hart and it put us on the way. Olivier Giroud is influential in every game. We missed chances, that’s the fear you have. When you see Wilfried Bony and Jesus Navas coming on you know they can make a difference.
“Yaya Toure, I have known him since he was 15 years old and he can play in every position. He has scored so many late goals but this one is one of the exceptional ones.
“It is too early to talk about the title but we are up there. It gives us confidence. I believe we have a very strong spirit, there is life in the team.”
Pellegrini felt the better team lost. He said: “I am uncomfortable because we played better than Arsenal. When we had possession we had chances, before the beautiful goal from Theo Walcott. We took more risks and created chances but you cannot make mistakes in these important games.
“We will continue to fight for the title.”
Cech 7; Bellerin 7, Mertesacker 7, Koscielny 7, Monreal 8; Flamini 7, Ramsey 7; Campbell 8 (Gibbs, 69; 6), Ozil 9 (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 77; 6), Walcott 8 (Chambers, 89; 6); Giroud 8.
Hart 8; Sagna 7, Otamendi 6, Mangala 5, Kolarov 6; Delph 5 (Sterling, 45; 6), Fernandinho 6; De Bruyne 7, Toure 6, Silva 7 (Navas, 73; 5); Aguero 6 (Bony, 64; 6).
Andre Marriner.
