SAN FRANCISCO, January 03, (THEWILL) – In truly awful conditions for football on Saturday as the snow refused to let off, Mikel Arteta’s charges made it three wins from three in Arsenal’s bounce that has seen them climb to 23 points and to the 11th position on the table. Their victory over Chelsea was the turning point and they have refused to look back.
It begs an easy question: What changed? This is because many things are still the same. It is still the same team which could not string enough passes together to threaten Everton, Burnley, Tottenham Hotspur or Wolves; the same team finding goals difficult to come by especially by their previously free-scoring captain; the team plagued by indiscipline and picking up red cards at random; the team embarrassed by frequent own-goals.
All of a sudden they beat title favourites Chelsea, scaled past Brighton and dispatched West Bromwich Albion to record their first trio of consecutive victories for the first time this season. What changed?
The answer lies just beneath the surface of what is immediately obvious from the outside. Arsenal’s game is now more fluid as transitions from defense to attack are peppered with pace, creativity and intent. This is a stark contrast from how they performed during their slide towards the relegation places at the bottom of the table.
This new-look Arsenal is differentiated by the fact that it is spearheaded by youngsters Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. They present the Gunners a different proposition. The Arsenal of just a few weeks ago would almost certainly have crumbled at the Hawthorns with the wintry weather. But, not these Gunners. These boys have no fear, and with talent to burn, why should they?
If only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can recover his scoring boots and bring that goal-poaching potential he commands back to the side, they could convincingly put the dreadful slide behind them for good. But, the Gabonese striker remains well off the pace. He has now only managed one goal in eight games.
The Gunners only consolation is that, quite unlike in previous seasons, Arsenal are not quite as reliant on their skipper as they once were. In the Albion game, for instance, the Man of the Match award was a close contest between Kieran Tierney, Saka and Smith Rowe. However, the quality of Tierney’s opener, which set Arsenal on their way to victory, edged it for the full-back.
Despite winning the FA Cup and the season opening Community Shield, the final lap of the previous calendar year was a tough one for the Gunners and their manager in his first stint as a full blown boss calling the shots. But, presently, 12 points clear of the bottom three and only six shy of the top four, the narrative has quickly turned in the London giants’ favour and Arteta can smile again.
He has the impressive performers in this newly hewn side led by Tierney, Smith Rowe, Lacazette and, of course, Saka without excluding some seriously disciplined defending from Rob Holding to thank for that. Saka was the subject of much post-match discussion at Brighton after a superb assist for Lacazette. On Saturday, he himself was the beneficiary of the fine work of his team-mates as he scored himself. It was as thoroughly deserving as it was neat.
Arteta might tweak the squad to give other players looking for some competitive game-time the opportunity to feature when the Gunners field out to take on Newcastle in the defense of their FA Cup trophy on Saturday, January 9, and he will do that with the confidence of a manager who has weathered the storm of a bad tide and has emerged smelling like roses. Yet, they will do well to avoid complacency which can easily bring back the tempest.
