Poll: Who Are We Missing the Most?

It is well documented that Arsenal have a full waiting room outside the doctor's office. We currently have 7 injuries - namely: Walcott, Cazorla, Sanogo, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Zelalem and Diaby. Arsenal are playing exceptionally well at the moment, so we aren't feeling the casualties too badly.

Cazorla, Podolski and Walcott are the players that I would like to see return sooner rather than later. Their respective, expected return dates are quite murky. Assuming that we had a magic genie who could allow any injured player to no longer have their current injury, who would you choose?

Both Walcott and Podolski also have good selling points, but If it were up to me, I would choose Cazorla to be the first to return. Saliva is pouring from my mouth at the thought of Özil and Cazorla playing together and providing a plethora of goal-scoring opportunities.

How Gibbs Performed Compared to Other Left-backs

Kieran Gibbs had a relatively successful campaign . Injuries kept him out for some parts of the season but good form at the end ensured he was first-choice going into the off-season. He has great potential, and showed some of his abilities this season.

Let's see how he compared to more experienced players. Statistics definitely don't tell the whole story, but it gives a good idea of where he is in relation to the top left-backs in the premier league. I will be comparing him to Evra, Clichy, Cole and Baines. I did not choose a Tottenham representative becaue they didn't have the same person play left-back for more than 20 games. All statistics are from performances in the Premier League and taken from whoscored.com.

Player Season Analysis: Per Mertesacker

When the big German came to Arsenal in 2011 I thought he would be like my younger brother: I would rather play squash with a pretty girl, but if she's not available my brother will do. He's slower than Tony Adams is now and already 28 years old, but Per Mertesacker had a good 2012/2013 season.

It didn't start particularly well, but his performances improved as the season went on and he formed an important partnership with Koscienly in the second half of the season. The centre-back scored 3 important league goals and received his third career red card. He played the third most games in the premier league behind Cazorla and Arteta. Statistics are taken from whoscored.com.
Here are his statistics in the premier league:

Starts

Sub

Goals

Assists

Shots

Target

Fouls

Fouled

YC

RC

33

1

3

0

17

6

12

19

3

1

What is The Ox's Best Position?

The hype around Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has slowly decreased over the past season. Arsenal first bought him from Southampton 2 years ago and after a couple of exciting performances, fans were insisting that he got more game time. The arrival of Podolski and inconsistent performances from The Ox has meant that he has been on the bench more than he would like. He started 12 times in the league last season (13 as a substitute), only completing the 90 minutes once.

He is still young and I’m glad Chamberlain doesn’t have the same pressure that Wilshere had a couple of seasons ago, but if we want him to develop he needs to play more. He’s been playing well for England and according to his dad he is more relaxed, “I can see that he is more relaxed playing for his country than he is playing for Arsenal.” Hopefully he can start relaxing when playing for Arsenal. He’s only 19, and still has a lot of time to fill his potential.

A Different Dilemma at Left-Back

Since the sale of Ashley Cole in 2006, Arsenal have not had a reliable left-back. Wenger put faith in the Englishman and many were hoping that he would be an Arsenal legend and possible future captain.



I'm quite annoyed that I couldn't find anything without Gervinho!

He departed for Chelsea on deadline day, leaving many fans annoyed. Clichy was a good enough replacement (I rated him quite highly), but his frailties soon shone through: his defensive ability wasn't great, often being caught out of position. The Frenchman’s attacking play didn't cover up for his lack of defensive qualities either; I remember numerous crosses that were kicked straight out or over everybody’s heads. Kieran Gibbs looked a good prospect when Clichy was injured and had his first international call-up at 20, big things were expected of him, but he had quite a few injuries and Gooners around the world cringed when Clichy and Gibbs were injured, resulting in the hapless Traore being deployed at left-back.

Match in Brief: Arsenal vs Norwich City

It was a very important and hard-fought victory by The Arsenal on Saturday afternoon.


Michael Turner opened the scoring in the 57th minute with a header from a Robert Snodgrass' free-kick after a number of first-half Arsenal chances. Mikel Arteta converted a suspect penalty late on to give Arsenal hope, and Olivier Giroud and second-half substitute Lukas Podolski finished the turnaround.

Talking Tactics: 4-2-2-2

 

You’re all probably as disappointed as I am. Yes, the ref made two bad decisions which gifted Chelsea two goals, we played well in the second half, Jack Wilshere is a great player, etc, etc.

Wenger was forced to put Santi Cazorla on the left wing because we don’t have any decent left wingers available. Chamberlain and Podolski were injured and ill respectively, Gervinho is at Afcon and Arshavin is totally out of form. Although after Santi played poorly on the left wing during the Swansea game, I was surprised that Wenger didn’t change it up. Cazorla is an integral part to Arsenal’s attacking play. He already has 6 assists in the Premier League and his creativity was evident when he played a near-perfect pass to Walcott for our solitary goal from the centre of the field, not from the left. I think Santi is a great player, but not a natural winger: he can’t influence the game enough.