ARSENAL 2017/18: NEW SEASON, SAME OLD ARSENE WENGER?

It’s Groundhog Day as Arsenal disappointed yet again at the beginning of a new season as did the boss, Arsene Wenger with some questionable decision making. The Gunners extended their ignominious record of losing one of the two opening league games for the 8^th season in a row.

After securing a record 7^th F.A Cup with Arsenal as manager, Arsene Wenger signed on for two more years, despite much publicised calls from the Gooner fan-base for his sacking (including flying banners by plane). The Gunners broke the bank for securing Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon for an estimated €53m, making him the club’s record signing. Arsenal also added to its roster, Bosnian international Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer from Schalke

Arsenal embarked on a pre-season tour of Asia and Oceania where they played against Bayern Munich and English Champions Chelsea. Back home the Gunners took part in the Emirates Cup, where other participating teams were Sevilla, Benfica and RB Leipzig. Arsenal’s pre-season culminated with a trip to Wembley for the F.A Community Shield where they beat Chelsea 4-1 on penalties (FT 1-1) to pick up the first piece of silverware for the season

Premier League 2017/18:

   

The 26^th edition of the Premier League kicked off at the Emirates Stadium on an unconventional Friday night as Arsenal played hosts to 2015/16 Champions Leicester City. The Gunners got off to a dream start as a first time cross by Mohamed Elneny found new boy Alexandre Lacazette in the box, who held off Wes Morgan and planted a header into the bottom corner with barely 2 minutes on the clock. (1-0),the joy was however short-lived as only minutes later, from a corner Leicester kept the ball alive from the back post and it fell to Shinji Okazaki who headed home with Petr Cech in no- man’s land (1-1). The Gunners had the majority of the ball and chances, but it was Leicester who took the lead, errant passing from Granit Xhaka deep in his own half gifted the Foxes the ball, with Jamie Vardy sweeping home a cross from the left (1-2). In first half injury time, the Gunners equalised with a miss-hit shot from Lacazette falling kindly for Kolasinac, who squared it for Danny Welbeck to stab home (2-2).

In the 61^st minute slack defending from Arsenal saw Vardy run on to a ball from a corner unhindered allowing him to head home for his second of the night (2-3). Just as it seemed Arsenal were destined for more opening day doom, Xhaka found substitute Aaron Ramsey with a deftly placed outside foot pass, the Welshman’s first touch was sublime and he lashed home. (3-3), with only 5  minutes to go for normal time, Xhaka’s ball from a corner was powered home by a towering header from ‘super-sub’ Olivier Giroud  sending the supporters at the Emirates into delirium (4-3). Towards the end, Kolasinac pulled off an audacious Zidane-esque double drag drawing ‘oooh’s from the Emirates faithful, the big Bosnian had an excellent debut. In the end the Gunners held on, bringing an end to a breathless encounter, setting the tone for an incredible season ahead.

Arsenal’s next assignment was a trip away to the Bet365 stadium against Stoke City. Arsene Wenger’s dubious team selection tactics coupled with questionable refereeing decisions meant a forgettable day for the Gunners as the Potters won 1-0 courtesy a goal from ex- Real Madrid man Jese Rodriguez.

Despite fielding a line-up similar to the one that won narrowly against Leicester, Arsene Wenger’s luck ran out against Stoke as the Gunners couldn’t mount a similar rescue operation. The gaffer’s ploy of playing natural left backs Kolasinac and Nacho Monreal in a 3-man defence and playing traditional right back Hector Bellerin in the LWB role backfired as the team was deprived of the desired cohesion. After losing the ball in midfield, the Gunners couldn’t track back as Rodriguez easily slipped behind the makeshift Arsenal central defence to score the only goal of the match in the 46^th minute. After scoring, Stoke City sat back and soaked up the pressure. Despite having around 76% possession the Gunners couldn’t find a way past the Stoke defence being extremely wasteful in the final third. The refereeing was also sub-par, with a couple of crucial decisions going against Arsenal, the first of them being Andre Marriner refusing to give a penalty, when Bellerin was clearly brought down by Kurt Zouma, also in the 72^nd minute Lacazette’s thunderous shot into the top corner was harshly called offside by the linesman, replays showing him clearly level with his marker. Wenger’s decision to sub off Kolasinac and Xhaka in the final minutes and bring on Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi in the final minutes also befuddled many as Giroud, clearly was deprived of the long ball service he usually feasts on. Walcott certainly now a liability at Arsenal managed a meagre 3 touches of the ball in 15 minutes.

Arsenal’s next game of the season is a trip away to Anfield against Liverpool the next Sunday, 27^th August. It promises to be a stern test against a quality side, but the Gunners would be bolstered by the return to the starting line-up of the inspirational Laurent Koscielny (serving a 3 match suspension) and star man Alexis Sanchez (abdominal strain), who has been the subject of intense speculation all summer over a possible move to rivals Manchester City.

Author: Debajit Sarma