It was a London derby and it was at the Emirates. On a Saturday evening, the gunners welcomed relegation threatened fulham. A win was expected since the others in the three-horse race seemed destined to win their matches: Manchester City hosted Cardiff City and Chelsea was to welcome injury-hit Manchester united 24 hours later.

The gunners huffed and puffed but had to wait till the second half when Santi Cazorla’s Ambidexterity came to play. The double footed magician scored two well-placed goals in 4 minutes to gift the gunners the precious 3 points.

The Resurrection of the Magician

Since returning from Injury, Cazorla have yet to find the form that made him narrowly miss the EPL team of last season. He has been poor and out of form, although increasing in form as the game went by. In the last 2 games the Spanish magician had improved immensely and these 2 goals against Fulham is a testimony to his hardwork. With Ramsey out, Ozil not on top, Cazorla seems to have taken up the mantle to lead the gunners on. The gunners would hope that he continues.

Clean Sheet.

It is becoming customary for the gunners to finish a game without conceding a goal. Though they let in one at Villa Park, the gunners have kept… despite conceding 6 at City, the gunners still possess the best defence with just 19 goals conceded in 22 games. The pairing of kos and per is becoming legendary and Szczesny has kept his box well. With City scoring with reckless abandon, the gunners can take solace in numerous clean sheets and less goals conceded.

More Goals Please

2-0 is a decent scoreline. It looks decent until you concede one late on in the game and 2-1 becomes unstable. At Villa Park, the gunners had to defend their slim 2-1 lead. Against Fulham, they had to keep to their 2-0 lead. It is now normal for the gunners to huff and puff, and after getting a two goal lead, they switch to idle. Some may argue that the players need to relax and cool their tempo but the gunners need to instill the fear of God in the hearts of their opponents. A 4-0 win scares the next team and psychologically gives you a 2-0 lead even before the ball is kicked.

In all, 3 points is more important than a goal harvest. But another goal won’t kill; it would increase the confidence of the team.

Cardiff City scored twice at the Etihad but conceded 4 to give the citizens 3 points. Chelsea made light work of Moyes’ United with Eto’o getting his first hattrick in 5 years. Spurs won 3-1 at Swansea, Everton got a point at West Brom and Nigeria qualified for the quarter final of the ongoing CHAN 2014 by beating South Africa 3-1.

Bring on Coventry.

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