First-half goals from Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey secured a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa as Arsenal climbed to the top of the Premier League table.
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The win completed a good week for the Gunners, after their heroics against Olympiakos to clinch a last 16 Champions League place, where they will now face Barcelona.
“It’s a big game, we want to win at home and beat City at home”. Had they lost against Villa, it would have been put down to fatigue, and the fact that getting up for a much less meaningful game only days after a huge Champions League victory just isn’t easy. It will be an interesting one but we at least can recover first and prepare then.
With Garde admitting that he’s spent more time working directly with the players than he normally would owing to a smaller coaching staff at this minute, Sinclair said there was a heavy focus on looking at our negatives in games and working on them from the new gaffer. Just why there was even a debate about who should play upfront for Arsenal when Theo Walcott was insisting he should play there, I really can’t comprehend.
Giroud was certainly an outlet here, regularly launching himself into the air in order to win as many long balls as possible, and while he occasionally came off second best in his battles with Joleon Lescott, his presence was an undoubted nuisance for the Villa defender.
“[Criticisms may be because] he doesn’t have electric pace, he prefers to play with his back to goal and bring others in, so he’s maybe not spectacular individually. Sometimes, he’s frustrated that he doesn’t get the same balls back but he’s a very important link in our game”, he said. “He is also mentally very strong”.
The win sees Arsenal in second spot on 33 points as Remi Garde’s Villa remained at the foot of the standings having failed to salute since opening day.
The former Lyon boss said: “We can still be safe but we are coming into a period where we have to win. This is an opportunity for us to find that consistency”. “I don’t believe that anybody questions still Petr Cech today, he’s an absolute all time great in goal and the record speaks for him”.
But the last few weeks have started to see Arsenal look less and less like Arsenal and more like a team who can be genuine title contenders this season. “We are struggling, I still haven’t won a game and I’m very frustrated but I know in football you can change things with work”. The performance is not the one you expected but I never saw a player wearing the Villa shirt that was not proud to do that.
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So going into their match this weekend against Manchester City leaves Arsenal in an odd position once again.
