4 Thoughts From Arsenal’s 2-0 Win Over Tottenham

Arsenal beat Tottenham 2-0 on Saturday night to secure their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Here, Gunner333 gives us some thoughts from the game.

At last the FA Cup arrived for Premier League sides, with two of the top six clubs in England clashing in the third round. Being the sixth North-London Derby in the competition’s history, both sides were sure to treat it as a great opportunity for a trophy win.

The atmosphere was electric in the early stages, with Tottenham’s Emmanuel Adebayor unsurprisingly on the end of some rough treatment from the home support.

Theo Walcott, playing down the centre, created the first opportunity of the match. A burst of pace allowing him to hit a low effort towards the bottom corner of the net, but Lloris was equal to it. After some minimal Tottenham pressure at the other end, Gnabry’s chance blazed over the bar and Walcott fluffed a one-on-one chance, Lloris yet again Spurs’ saviour.

Eriksen seemed the dictator of Tottenham’s play but was unable to conjure up anything of note. Instead, Santi Cazorla was the man to draw first blood. His  thrashed effort from the left side of the goal, flying into the top corner of the net following great work from Gnabry. The Gunners taking a vital lead.

Sherwood seemed to inject more energy in Tottenham during the second half, with Adebayor threatening to grab a controversial equaliser. Arsenal were still the victors in the midfield battle though.

With Tottenham failing to create anything serious, Arsenal took the initiative to fire themselves further ahead. Danny Rose dispossessed in the centre-circle by Tomas Rosicky, who darted across the remainder of the pitch and kept his composure to lob the on-rushing Lloris for 2-0.

Moments later and more frustration for the Gunners in the injury department, as forward Theo Walcott was stretchered off, with a rather severe looking knee problem. Some controversy arose in the Englishman’s departure. After being stretchered past the Tottenham fans’ end, his ‘provocative’ gesture of the score-line sparked some aggressive actions by Spurs fans.

Rivalry aside, the game ended after a truly brilliant display from the Gunners. Tottenham out of the FA Cup whilst Wenger’s side progress to the fourth round.

Here I will give you some thoughts from the game;

1) No Sell-By Date For Rosicky

The 33-year-old Czech has been dealt some criticism in the past but on Saturday he performed exceptionally well. Week-in, week-out there’s no doubting his fantastic attitude to the game, but he often fails to deliver any stellar showings.

His excellently worked goal capped off a much improved performance, with Wenger choosing to remain with the ex-Dortmund man in the ”number-10′ role. With so much drive and experience behind him, he is slowly becoming a vital component in the team, despite coming to the end of the career.

2) More Pace Up Front

In this game especially, we showed ‘snippets’ of pace in the front-line, mainly via Walcott, which supplied our game with a new dimension. Of course it’s worked so far to stick Giroud or Bendnter up top and rely on the midfield men for mobility, but there’s nothing wrong with experimenting.

When Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain eventually returns from the sidelines, he and Theo could be a nightmare for defences with their pace. While we’ve coped pretty well without them, I think having the likes of Theo back has added a new dimension to our attack and one that will make us only stronger and more dangerous.

3) Nacho Typical Full-Back

A left-back requires more energy in the attacking areas and this is exactly Nacho Monreal’s current dilemma. Unlike Gibbs, he is unable to get the balance right between attack and defence and when he does seldom delve forwards, he exposes the right-flank for attacking teams.

Monreal has often been very quiet in the games he’s started this season and has brought very little to the side offensively. In his time at Malaga, he set up far more opportunities and since his move to North-London he has racked up just the single goal and assist. If Wenger gets the Spaniard to drive forwards more often, he could create the perfect supply-line for Olivier Giroud in future.

4) Cup Ambitions

Believe it or not, the FA Cup is a competition valued greatly by myself and is one I feel a lot of our attention should fall on. Understandably, with our Premier League title challenge still going strong, it’s still not considered a main priority. However, the further we go in the competition the more emphasis the boss should put on it.

We have a huge task in trying to progress past Bayern Munich in the Champions League and even if we do somehow manager to beat the reigning champions, then we will still have to beat the likes of Real Madrid or Barcelona to lift the cup. In the FA Cup however, I would fancy us to beat anyone. We have a great opportunity to reach the fifth round after being drawn to play Coventry and home in the next round, so if we take this competition seriously then we’ll have a great chance to end our trophy drought.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment below.