Four points from the Arsenal victory over Chelsea

Arsenal’s win against Chelsea on Saturday gave me happiness in more ways than I could count. Whether it was the style of play or the sheer commitment on the pitch, I was just very happy to see what I was seeing. In light of Wenger’s 20^th this week, this victory meant so much more. Here are my four takeouts from a very, very sweet victory.

A delayed victory never tasted so sweet

Well that felt good, now didn’t it? In the only way I can probably describe it as a fan, last night was one of the sweetest victories I have tasted with Arsenal. Arsène Wenger grows to 20 years as Arsenal manager this week and the last time he hit a huge milestone at the club, Chelsea made sure he didn’t celebrate very much. The fact that Arsenal managed to exact some kind of retribution at the Emirates yesterday must have felt like poetic justice to him. It did for that fans, I can assure you. It took it’s time but it happened in the right way possible. A clean game, with lesser than no dubious decisions and goals to match the Wengerball of 2010, ‘sweet’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. A total team performance, with no man giving less than his 100% on the pitch. That’s all the Gunners faithful ever want from their team, and I hope they continue to give us that.

Wow Walcott

I’m not largely musical, but Theo; you say it best when you say nothing at all. For the last four weeks, Walcott has been quietly working his bottom off in giving everything he has on that right flank. While Bellerin may have proved he can take care of his winger no matter where he is on the pitch, seeing Theo rushing back every time to support his full back was a sight to behold. He has been constantly providing the team with a perfect outlet on the right and seems to have finally made improvements with his final ball. The fact that he was still out of breath when he was giving his post match interview tells you about the effort he is putting in. A lot of questions have been asked about Alexis as a number 9 experiment, but that helps maintain a very fluid front three with Walcott making those decisive runs in behind. Theo looks like a man on a mission; a mission of ten years.

Kos-Must be the Costa solution

The man many labeled to be Drogba’s heir in terms of tormenting Arsenal was kept quiet in the game by the excellent Koscielny and Mustafi. No doubt, he was doing his every bit to make it harder on them, but for the first time, Arsenal’s centre backs backed themselves against Costa. And thankfully, not in the way Gabriel did last year. It was a tight, strong and skillful defensive display by the new partners, both keeping their heads whenever Costa tried to rile them up. By the end, he looked rattled to have been beaten at his own game; being Costa-fied is probably a lot less fun. It was a good sight to see him shake hands with the pair too, at the whistle. Guess he finally met his match.

Whisper it quietly, Arsenal are building a head of steam

Despite the injury to Coquelin, the positives of last night’s game far outweigh the negatives. True, neither of Elneny or Xhaka are not the same kind of defensive midfielder as Le Coq, but the fact that Arsenal have both of these options-as well as Ramsey-waiting in the wings shows the quality in the squad. With Cazorla looking settled in with his new midfield cohort, it was only a matter of time before Xhaka took that first team spot from the French destroyer. Had Arsenal scored another yesterday, it would have been for the third time in a week they had scored 4. The consistent goal scoring performances from the effervescent Sanchez and ‘a completely different-player’ Walcott (as quoted by Wenger himself), mean that the Gunners should be looking at their next seven games with a smile. Five of these will be at home, including matches in the EFL Cup and Champions League. And before you know it, Arsenal will have entered their doom month, November. If they manage to win all seven in this time period, which is looking very possible at the moment, there is no reason why they cannot tackle the tough fixtures of that month. And if they play anything like they did against Chelsea, well, watch out Manchester City.