After over 5 hours of Premier League football without a goal, the Gunners had double within 88 seconds. Mesut Ozil opened the scoring with a volley in the 24th minute. 88 seconds later, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored his first away premier League goal for Arsenal.
The gunners needed to win at the Vitality stadium with results at the Etihad and White Hart Lane going in favour of other title challengers. Leicester City were 3-1 winners over host Manchester City and were 8 points clear of the gunners before the game at the Vitality stadium. Spurs had a late win over Watford with Odion Ighalo firing blanks. These put pressure on the Gunners to respond.
They had gone ages without scoring despite creating so many chances that should have been converted to goals and ultimately points. There was tension in the air and the opening stages of the game was with mixed reactions with Flamini lucky to still be on the pitch after a two footed challenge. He got a yellow and still managed to finish the game. The power of a billionaire.
Mesut Ozil’s last goal for Arsenal was in the reverse fixture in December and it was nice seeing him add more misery to the red and blacks. It was first goal since he started using those green lace-less boots. We would surely need to see more goals and assists from the German lord.
The two goals were scored in the first half with 88 seconds separating them. Ramsey laid the pass for the Ox to grab the second. The tension was doused and Arsenal took their legs off the pedal till the end of the game. Alexis did try to score and but you could see he is not there yet. The Coq also had some minutes under his belts as he continues to build fitness. The gunners could have gone three goals up but somehow Ramsey failed to convert. Cech was called to duty late on as he made a double save to keep his 12th clean sheet of the season.
Three points taken, two goals scored but 5 points behind the leaders. Leicester City will visit the Gunners on Valentine’s day. Hopefully, it becomes a lovely day for the Gunners by cutting the lead to 2 points.
Till then, enjoy the 88 vitality seconds.
SoccerGunz 