This club continues to utterly and completely baffle me. How you can lose in such a frustrating and alarming fashion to Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton, to then score seven goals and beat Chelsea and Manchester United might be the most Arsenal thing ever.
There is no dull moment for Arsenal that is for sure, but Mikel Arteta has managed to make some crucial decisions to turn the side’s form around. In particular, has been the dropping of Albert Sambi Lokonga for Mohamed Elneny.
Brought in against Chelsea, the Egyptian international has been a solid presence for Arsenal. Against Manchester United, the central midfielder combined brilliantly with Granit Xhaka and the pair were critical in the side.
READ MORE: Arsenal vs Manchester United highlights: Saka, Tavares and Xhaka goals secure vital win
Exciting to consider that Arsenal are looking to upgrade their central midfield, and this has been without the talents of Thomas Partey. What could the selection be next season is an intriguing prospect.
Elsewhere, Arteta has had to deal with both his starting full-backs being out and this was the big weakness of the side today. Nuno Tavares got on the scoresheet but ultimately looked very suspect.
However, the standout disappointment was Cedric who, had it not been for Takehiro Tomiyasu only being fit for a few minutes, would surely have come off sooner. Mistake after mistake occurred in what was the Portuguese’s worst game in an Arsenal shirt. Thankfully it didn’t cost us.
Speaking of Tomiyasu, the hope will be the Japanese international’s presence will enable Tavares better security and bring balance to the defence. Despite Cedric performing well in the prior winning run in his stead, since Kieran Tierney has also dropped out there have been worrying signs.
Importantly, there is fight in this side and the turnaround has been massive for Arteta. Teams will go through these periods of poor form. Luck will not fall the way of the side and points will be dropped.
However, what has occurred consistently is a response. After the poor runs, the slide is addressed and the side shows how unified they are. Look at sides like Manchester United, Leicester City and Aston Villa this season whose form has fallen off a cliff at times, they have slumped to the end of the campaign. There is something within this Arsenal team like a coiled spring.
The side that started against Chelsea would have been eligible to start a PL2 game in the under-23s league. The potential of this side and the togetherness of the group is excellent.
Yet, it cannot be underestimated how quickly things can change and with a week to recover before playing West Ham, the opportunity must be taken. The fixture list was not kind for the run-in, but with five games to go there is much more positivity with both the Chelsea and United fixtures out the way.
Arsenal remain firmly in the race and with the chance to go to Tottenham to damage their main rivals’ hopes of getting into the Champions League. Two games are between now and then however and this series of cup finals need to be taken one at a time.
