It was again not a vintage performance by the Gunners on Wednesday but in the end, all that matters were the three points and progress to the next round in the champions league.
This marks our 11thh successive season in the knockout stages of Europe’s premier club competition so it is something which we should savour. Not even the likes of Manchester United can boast such a record. And we did it without any sugar daddies to reinforce our coffers or local government to bail us out of debts.
Whether we progress further this year will be down to our luck in he draw and our performances come February. We should not be too pessimistic about our chances because our performances in February are typically better than the ones in November/December. We just have to go back to the 2006 season when in the run to the final, we took out both Real Madrid and Juventus.
Although we did not play our best last night, I am happy that Le Boss is thinking about accommodating both Chamakh and Van Persie in the same line-up. It didn’t work so well last against Belgrade but that is down to a rusty Van Persie still finding his feet after being out so so long. One thing that pleased me was the goal by Walcott. The young man still cannot do much right on the flanks but his finishing this season has certainly improved leaps and bounds
And finally, a word of encouragement to Kieran Gibbs. You’ll be back in no time mate. Keep the faith.
Submitted by The Arsenal Kid.
