Chelsea had gone up the table a night before following their 2-0 win over Fulham and the ball was in Arsenal’s court to climb back to the summit of the table for the first time since 2009 since Liverpool had loss a day before.
Ozil appeared at the emirates for the first time donning the famous red and white of the gunners. it took just 5 minutes for the German to instill his presence on the Potters. Wilshere won a foul and the resulting freekick by Ozil was parried into the path of the most in-form midfielder on the Milky way: Aaron Ramsey.
The Welsh international reacted first and quickest to coolly slot the ball behind Begovic to put the gunners ahead. the goal was a vindication of the horrible tackle by Shawcross on Ramsey some seasons ago. prior to the goal, the Stoke fans had shamelessly booed Ramsey and he shut them up with that goal.
Stoke came back in the 26th minute, but Metersacker headed in Ozil’s corner kick to make it 2-1 to the gunners. koscienly may have added to Begovic’s misery as he seemed to have blocked the goalie from seeing the flight of the ball or feigning to head the ball.
The second kick-offed slower than the first with stoke holding possession. it is quite unusual for a team known for the hoofy-footy to keep the ball on the ground and pass around. The one-time Rugby FC have turned to Arsenal FC. Maybe Mark Hughes is trying to reform them to a winning side, but definitely not at the Emirates.
Arsenal put the sword deeper to finish up the tie after Sagna turned in Ozil’s freekick. The ball sailed gleefully into the net to the amazement of the fans. who would believe that arsenal would score 3 goals in a match from set pieces other than penalties. It is meant to be the other way round but the 3 points matters.
I was disappointed not to see Oliver Giroud continue is scoring form in the Premier League but his link-play was superb and he stood tall over the stoke defense. Flamini deservedly got the Barclays man of the match after having the best pass completion and winning so many tackles and timely interceptions. He is really at home at the emirates.
It was interesting to note that Niklas Bendtner was on the bench. If Giroud had scored, I believe Wenger would have given Nik the chance to kick the ball. Gnabry came in for injured/sick Walcott before kick-off. Ryo also featured for the gunners and Mikel Arteta returned. the squad is getting bigger!!
Arsenal is on top everywhere, from the goals scorer to the assists to the table. I hope we remain there till we win the League.
We are back to the top of the table until we face Swansea in Wales by the next weekend. Before then, we must beat WestBrom at the Capital One Cup affair at the Hawthorns. hope to see some young bloods there.
Meanwhile the Nominations for the best Nigerian blog is on. Do good to nominate https://soccergunz.wordpress.com as the Best New Blog and the Best Sports Blog on Nigerian Blog Awards. Thanks A lot.
see you moro.
SoccerGunz 