Özil Back In The Middle & Back To His Best
Match Review: Aston Villa 0 Arsenal 3 - Premier League 20.09.14
After a challenging week, Arsenal returned to winning ways in style. A gruelling encounter with Dortmund in the week left a lot of questions about the state of the current Arsenal side, with a lot of criticism for Özil in particular. After a slightly nervy start, we finally clicked into gear and produced a magical five minute blitz which yielded three goals and killed the game. After a concerning couple of weeks, it was a badly needed victory and also a good performance to go with it.
There was brief concern at the start of the game as it seemed that Alexis had been named in the starting XI, but was injured in the warm up. However, it was soon confirmed that there had been a mistake on the team sheet and that Alexis was meant to be starting on the bench. Chamberlain came into the line up, with Cazorla and Chambers also moving up from the bench. Wilshere dropped to the bench, while Bellerin was left out of the squad completely. Welbeck started his third game in a row up front and Özil started again, but in a role that saw more freedom for him to play centrally.
The first twenty minutes were a bit shaky, with Szczesny forced into a good low stop from Delph’s shot. Both teams created a few half chances, before Villa had the first golden opportunity in the 23rd minute. Tom Cleverley delivered possibly the first good cross of his career to find Clark unmarked, two yards out. The defender got his head to it, but Szczesny somehow spread himself wide enough to smoother the ball behind. A really warning shot for us and I’d like to think it was the catalyst for us to really switch on, as what followed ten minutes later was breathtaking.
The first of the goal glut came on 32 minutes, from a beautifully simple passing move. Mertesacker passed to Ramsey, Ramsey to Chamberlain and then Chamberlain to Welbeck in the space of three touches. Welbeck took the ball on for a couple more touches before sliding an inch perfect ball through Villa’s defensive line to set Mesut Özil clear. The German stayed ice cool, took one touch and passed the ball into the net. A classy goal from start to finish, with the only anomaly being that you would have expected it to be Özil providing the through ball and Welbeck finishing the chance. We didn’t have to wait long for that to be put right…
© It was another gorgeous passing move that yielded a second goal in as many minutes. Gibbs to Wlebeck, Welbeck to Ramsey, Ramsey to Özil and then from the left side of the area (ha!) Özil delivered a simply astonishing ball across the six yard box, to give Danny Welbeck a near tap in for his first Arsenal goal. Another lovely, flowing move to tear apart a Villa defence that had been extremely solid before facing Welbeck and Özil. In the space of about 90 seconds, both had registered a goal and an assist and put Arsenal in complete control.
But we weren’t done yet and while the first two goals had been sumptuous Arsenal moves, the third was an altogether more scruffy affair. The move started down the right with Chambers, Chamberlain and Ramsey all involved. Eventually, Cazorla had a shot which was blocked away by Senderos, but fell to Gibbs about 25 yards out. The left back took a swing at it, but ended up pulling his shot towards the corner flag. However, it worked out fantastically for us, as Chamberlain’s presence spooked Cissokho and the left back, who had a terrible time at Liverpool last season, put the ball into his own net. To be fair to him, Gibbs’ shot turned into a very dangerous cross and without intervention, Chamberlain would have almost certainly have converted. A four minute blitz and the game was effectively dead.
After the flurry of goals and excitement, that was it. There was nothing at all of note for the rest of the game as we passed the ball around and ambled forward when we fancied it. We conserved our energy ahead of a home League Cup tie against Southampton and then the North London Derby on Saturday. In the process we put up some very impressive stats: most passes by any team in the League for two years, 71% possession and Mertesacker had a pass completion rate of 99.1%. If that’s not control, i’m not sure what is.
It was a really important win for us and one that will help lift the pressure from the team and also players like Özil and Welbeck. At times our passing was its fluid, silky best and while you can’t say that all our problems are now in the past, this performance will bring confidence and was probably our most complete of the season so far. The League Cup game should see some of our younger talent get a run out, before another big game. Sp*rs don’t look a side we should be worried about at the moment, but you can be sure that they’ll be right up for Saturday’s game and we’ll have to be too.
Teams
Aston Villa (4-1-4-1)
Guzan, Hutton, Clark (Y), Senderos, Cissokho, Sanchez (Bacuna 84’), Richardson (N’Zogbia 77’), Delph, Clerverley, Weimann (Grealish 45’), Agbonlahor
Subs
Okore, Bacuna, Cole, N’Zogbia, Given, Lowton, Grealish
Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Szczesny, Chambers (Y), Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey (Y) (Wilshere 78’ (Y)), Cazorla, Özil, Chamberlain (Rosicky 78’), Welbeck (Podolski 78’)
Subs
Ospina, Rosicky, Wilshere, Diaby, Coquelin, Alexis, Podolski
Player Ratings
Szczesny - 7/10 - Made a couple of very good saves, but one kicking mistake too
Chambers - 6/10 - Quiet game, did ok, but skinned by Agbonlahor for his yellow card
Mertesacker - 7/10 - Untroubled
Koscielny - 7/10 - Untroubled II
Gibbs - 7/10 - Much better game than in the week
Arteta - 7/10 - Will have probably been glad for a much quieter game
Ramsey - 7/10 - Actually had a good game and was involved in all the goals
Cazorla - 7/10 - A quietly effective performance
Özil - 8/10 - Stunning, absolutely ripped Villa to shreds with a beautiful goal and assist
Chamberlain - 7/10 - Gave it his best, but didn’t get much joy
Welbeck - 8/10 - A lovely goal and assist and looks to be linking well with Özil
Subs
N/A all round as they only had 12 minutes
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