Arsenal Celebrate Another St. Totteringham’s

Welcome to another Guest Wednesday. This week I welcome Yash, Follow @RY98_ who reviews the Arsenal vs Newcastle game.

Happy St Totteringham’s Day!

Last night Arsenal beat Newcastle United in the Premier League to secure a 19th straight St Totteringham’s Day and gave Gooners some to celebrate about a league campaign that promised a lot more than it will deliver. Getting one over Tottenham is always great and Arsenal knew a win would confirm St Totteringham’s but it wasn’t just that. With Everton’s loss at Southampton, Arsenal had the opportunity to go 4 points clear of fifth spot and 99% ensure Champions League football for next year and boy did we seize that opportunity.

Newcastle came into this game on the back of 5 defeats that’s left them stagnating in 9th spot, with their manager back in the dug out after his suspension and with key players back such as Debuchy and Rémy. They had a game plan to sit back and defend deep and Arsenal pretty much started the game as you’ve come to expect in the past few months, lethargic at the start but picking up the tempo as the game goes on.

The first goal came from a set piece from a Cazorla FK swung in to perfection, which was quite a shock to be honest but not so much as to see Koscielny at the end of it. The goal came at an opportune time with Newcastle realising they couldn’t sit deep and had started pushing forward. The second came from a counter-attack with Giroud (of all people) beating Newcastle’s offside trap, bringing down an Arteta pass and then running towards the goal but scuffing his two efforts, the last of which rebounded to Özil who was there to tap in his first Premier League goal since December.

Now with Arsenal firmly in the driving seat, the first half finished with a two goal lead. The second half started quite similarly to the first until a Ramsey pass found Özil near the edge of the box who swung in a beautiful cross for Giroud to head in. With the game secured and I assume Arsène content with the scoreline he substituted Özil and Ramsey who Wenger will want to manage carefully to see out the season with a top four finish and a cup win.

This performance and the Hull game highlights the importance of Ramsey and Özil to the team and we seem to have our mojo back with those two returning to the team. Both players bring their own ability to the foray but just as importantly they clearly improve the game of others around them especially Giroud and Arteta which begs the question “what might have been had they stayed fit throughout the season?”. Certainly we might still have lost to Everton, Chelsea and Liverpool but certain draws and losses could easily have been wins i.e Man U, Southampton, Stoke and Swansea which would have had us still challenging for the League. I’m still a little bitter about that.

Player ratings:

Szczesny – 8; Sagna – 8, Mertesacker – 8, Koscielny – 9, Monreal – 8; Arteta – 8, Ramsey – 9; Cazorla – 8, Özil – 9, Podolski – 8, Giroud – 8.

What do you guys think? Would we still be contenders if certain players had stayed fit? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

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