EPL Review: Stoke City 3-2 Arsenal (No commitment on the pitch and on the bench)

No commitment was shown on the pitch as well as from the bench as Arsenal’s disastrous season got more sickening as Arsenal lost 3-2 away to Stoke City.

It took just 20 seconds for Stoke to take the lead against the Gunners. The Arsenal players were completely out of focus from the very beginning and it got worse as the half progressed. Stoke were 3-0 up at half-time. That scoreline is pathetic and disgraceful for a team like Arsenal Football Club. The manager just kept on sitting on his bench and didn’t do anything to motivate the players. This shows the lack of passion the manager has for his job anymore.He doesn’t answer any of his critics nor he listens to the fans of the football club. He just think what’s good for him and his players and how to finish in the top 4. That’s his only ambition and it has been his ambition ever since we moved to the Emirates Stadium.

Even though the Gunners pulled two goals back from a Santi Cazorla penalty goal and a Ramsey screamer it was too little too late at the end as Calum Chambers red card offence totally killed all the momentum Arsenal mananged to gain in the second half.

FA Community Shield Review: Manchester City 0-3 Arsenal (The Cup champions have downed the League winners)

Last seasons FA Cup Champions Arsenal have downed the Premier League winners Manchester City at Wembley to win the FA Community Shield for the 13th time in their illustrious history. The Gunners completely dominated the game. Manchester City had a lot of players missing but Arsenal too were without their World Cup winning German trio along with Theo Walcott so it can be said that the men in red & white wanted this win more than City. It was a great confidence booster ahead of the new season which kicks off this weekend against Crystal Palace.

Few of our new boys were on show and the performances of Alexis Sanchez, Mathieu Debuchy and especially Calum Chambers impressed a lot of football experts and fans alike. This is the Gunners’ 2nd silverware in 4 months. The footballing world are now witnessing Arsenal tasting the fruits of their 9 years of hard work and determination. Arsenal now not only have a world class stadium but also have house-hold stars at their disposal. 

After the win, Aaron Ramsey, who scored the 2nd goal in the match said, “The atmosphere at the training ground is the best since I’ve been at the club. This club is on the up now.” 

Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud were the goalscorers.

FA CUP CELEBRATION (Pictures)

 

 

FA Cup Final Review: Arsenal 3-2 Hull City (9 year trophy drought is OVER)

9 years of pain and frustration has finally come to an end as Arsenal managed to complete a dramatic final comeback win over Hull City 3-2 at Wembley Stadium. It was a moment of complete happiness for all Arsenal fans and the club as a whole. They lived up to the expectations and made the 2013/2014 season a special one. It is Arsenal’s 11th FA Cup win and with that they have equaled Manchester United’s record of 11 FA Cups. 

 

The game started terribly for the Gunners as they went 2-0 down inside the opening 10 minutes and were shell shocked. Old woes seemed to have kicked in the players minds and the whole stadium was silenced by Hull’s brilliant beginning to the game. But, Arsenal were determined not to throw this final away and left back Kieren Gibbs’s off the line headed clearance gave Arsenal the impetus to get back into the game as quickly as possible. The Gunners have a very bad record in scoring free kick goals but on this occasion they were quite fortunate as Santi Cazorla’s brilliantly taken free kick went in to start Arsenal’s comeback. Although Arsenal kept on pressuring Hull’s defense, the Tigers were able to keep the game at 2-1 at half-time. In the second half, Wenger made a vital substitution and brought on Sanogo for Podolski and that gave Hull something to worry about as the Gunners changed their formation to 4-4-2. Yaya Sanogo’s strength enabled Arsenal to go up a gear and suddenly they were getting lots of possession in key areas. Santi Cazorla’s corner kick was dramatically scored by none other than Arsenal’s last game hero of the past 2 seasons, Laurent Koscielny to take the Gunners into extra-time and that’s where Arsene Wenger master tactics proved fruitful as he brought on 2 fresh players in Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky. Hull couldn’t handle Arsenal’s series of attacks and were lucky to go into the half-time of extra-time with no goals conceded. But, the pressure got to them and Arsenal scored that vital match winner at the start of the second half of extra time and the match winner was none other than Arsenal’s best player of the season, Aaron Ramsey. It was a special moment for the Welshman who turned down Manchester United in 2008 and chose to sign for Arsenal and then had to sit in the sidelines for a season and a half with a broken leg but his perseverance finally rewarded him as he lead Arsenal to glory after 9 long years and helped bring the first piece of silverware to Arsenal’s new home, Emirates Stadium. 

 

This win was marked as the greatest FA Cup achievement by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger who now have won his 5th FA Cup as the manager.

FA Cup Preview: Arsenal vs. Liverpool (Revenge time?)

 

Will it be revenge time for Arsenal as they get ready to face Liverpool again but this time in the 5th round of the FA Cup? Only time will tell but after suffering that humiliating and demoralizing 5-1 loss last week at Anfield, the Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger have said that the first team he would want to face after such a defeat will be Liverpool and even though the Gunners have had a stalemate match against Manchester United in midweek, they now have the opportunity to avenge their loss at Anfield when the two sides meet in a blockbuster 5th round clash of the FA Cup at the Emirates Stadium.

Team news: Mathieu Flamini is back after a 3 match suspension and Santi Cazorla is out with illness.

Though both the clubs are very much in to win the Premier League this season but the FA Cup will still be their realistic chance of picking up a silverware according to most people out there. That 5-1 defeat have had a deep effect psychologically as the Gunners couldn’t produce a win against a poor Manchester United side in midweek but what they would be glad about is the fact that they didn’t conceded and were able to keep a clean sheet. Arsenal’s home form is very strong at the moment suffering just 2 defeats earlier in the season against Villa and Dortmund. Wenger would be hoping to see that form continue ahead of a run of home fixtures to come for the Gunners in all competitions. Liverpool are clear favorites ahead of this particular FA Cup tie having defeated their opponents very heavily just a week ago in the league. This is a very important match especially for Arsenal as after a defeat and a goalless draw, all Gooners around the world would be hoping to see their team get back on track with a win and continue their journey in the FA Cup.

EPL Review: Southampton 2-2 Arsenal (Complacency kills)

Complacency kills as Arsenal dropped a couple of vital points against a determined Southampton side who literally dominated the Gunners throughout the match but Arsenal somehow, someway managed to grab hold of the draw and takes a point.

It was a very sluggish performance from the players last night. Nobody looked prepared along with the bad news that we had no Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky and Aaron Ramsey to give us some power in the midfield cost us. Southampton dominated the Gunners left, right and center in the first half and deservedly went ahead through a Jose Fonte header. It was our worst performance of this season thus far. Wenger needed to wake our players up at half-time which I’d like to think that he did as they came out all guns blazing in the 2nd half and quickly went ahead to lead the match 2-1 with a couple of great goals from Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla. But, after that we switched off again defensively which is very rare considering how well we have been defending this season and got paid for it as Adam Lallana burst through our midfield and scored the equalizer for the Saints. After conceding that equalizer, there was still about half an hour left in the game but we couldn’t create anymore clear cut chances and our hopes of winning the match went up in the air after going down to 10 men as Mathieu Flamini deservedly got sent off for a two footed tackle. Flamini’s stupidity restricted us from going all out for the win and we had to settle with a point at the end. Full time score: 2-2.

As a result of this result, Arsenal could go down to third in the league if Manchester and Chelsea wins their respective matches. So, it’s an early warning for Wenger’s men to regain their focus before heading into the nightmarish fixtures of the coming two months.

FA Cup Review: Arsenal 4-0 Coventry City (Deadly Podolski sends us through)

 

Deadly Lukas Podolski helped Arsenal to cruise through to the 5th round of the FA Cup after a convincing 4-0 win against Coventry City. Podolski’s first half brace and Santi and Giroud’s cameo at the end have booked a place for Arsenal in the hat for the 5th round draw of the FA Cup.

It was a chilly night with rain pouring over the Emirates Stadium but it took just about 13 minutes for the Gunners to open their scoring as Lukas Podolski netted home a brilliant left footed finish through a delightful assist from Mesut Ozil. Some 15 minutes later, it was Podolski again who scored but this time through a header from a corner kick. Coventry did had a chance but it was saved brilliantly by Fabianski. Arsenal took  their feet off the paddle a little bit in the second half as Coventry had a more productive spell in front of Arsenal’s goal but couldn’t convert the chances that were gifted to them. At the end, it was the super substitutes Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud who gets the job done for the Gunners with their cool and calm finishes. Arsenal won the tie 4-0.

It was another clean sheet victory for the already impressive defense of Arsenal. Last season, Arsenal bowed out of the FA Cup in the 5th round at the hands of Blackburn so they must be ready and focused if they don’t want to repeat that again this season.

EPL Review: Arsenal 2-0 Fulham (Santi to the rescue)

 

Santi Cazorla to the rescue as Arsenal maintains their top spot in the Barclays Premier League through his 2nd half brace against Fulham. It was another struggling performance from the Gunners but like many other times this season, they just knows how to get the job done and they did get it done once again.

Arsenal started the match in fine fashion and created a golden chance when Wilshere’s pass reached Ozil but the German couldn’t get a clear touch to net it in. After that, Fulham slowly came into the game and started to throw in a few counter-attacking threats and Sidwell made Szczesny work from outside the box. The score stayed at 0-0 at half time and Arsene Wenger had to wake his players up as Manchester City were winning their league match against Cardiff at the same time. Arsene Wenger’s half-time talk seemed to have worked as in the second half we saw a hungry Arsenal team pushing forward to get the lead. Their persistence paid off as Santi Cazorla scored a couple of goals with his right and left foot respectively within a space of 5 minutes to secure the Gunners another precious 3 Premier League points. 

With this victory, Arsenal have equaled their best run in the English Premier League this season with another 5 consecutive wins. Arsenal now also have the best defensive record in the league with 10 clean sheets under their belt.

FA Cup Review: Arsenal 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur (North London is still red)

 

North London is still red as Arsenal eliminated their neighbors Tottenham Hotspur from the FA Cup in a very convincing and dominating manner. Arsenal made a lot of changed while Spurs only made one but still the Gunners outclassed and outperformed Tottenham in many levels. This victory is immense for the morale of the team and the players deserved to go through to the next round of the competition.

Arsenal dominated both halves of the game. They knew what this game is all about and that’s why went for it from the off and it took them about 30 minutes to open the scoring after waves after waves of attack when the youngster Serge Gnabry gave a beautifully weighted pass to Cazorla who finished it in brilliant fashion to give Gunners the lead at half time. The second half was more of the same and it was soon 2-0 to Arsenal when Spurs’s player Rose lost the ball in midfield to Rosicky who continued to rush towards the goal and managed to score a gorgeous chipped goal. Bad news from the game was that both Arteta and Walcott got injured at the end and the Gunners had to survive the final 15 minutes with 10 men and they did that pretty well and were able to keep another clean-sheet.

This was Arsenal’s 2nd 2-0 home win this year so it’s good to see that the year 2014 has started in fine fashion for the Gunners who are now in for achieving a double this season. Hope, the players play like this in the next round and try to get a ticket to Wembley in May. 

EPL Review: Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool (Finally a big match win)

 

Arsenal showed their title aspirations and proved that they are a title contender this season by beating the in-form Liverpool team quite convincingly at the Emirates 2-0 to stretch their lead to 5 points in the English Premier League table. 

Going into the game, both clubs had something to prove and with Arsenal losing both of their last 2 home games against big teams such as Dortmund and Chelsea, Wenger’s men really needed to stand up and make themselves count and they did exactly that. Arsenal were in control for most parts of the game. It was a tactical battle but Arsenal’s star-studded midfield outshone Liverpool’s lethal strike force as Santi Cazorla made it 1-0 to the Gunners in the 19th minute of the match. Arsenal went on to create even more chances but couldn’t convert them before half-time. Liverpool, on the other hand were lackluster in the final third. In the second half, Liverpool started brightly and created a few clear-cut opportunities but Szczesny was there to deny them an equaliser. Witnessing Liverpool’s resurgence the Gunners pressed their switch on button again as Giroud helped Arsenal to again be on the ascendancy as he missed couple of easy chances but Arsenal carried the momentum gained from those misses and doubled their lead when Ozil’s looping pass was brilliantly netted it by the in-form player for Arsenal, Aaron Ramsey. In the final 20 minutes, the players were a little tired but they had enough in the tank to keep a clean-sheet against the Premier League’s deadliest striking duos. The Gunners won 2-0 and went 5 points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League. 

The win was hugely important for the players as they were able to finally beat a top side to prove to the world that they are indeed a genuine title contender. Now, Arsenal’s next challenge is to get a must needed result away at Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League’s 4th group stage match.