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Match Review: Arsenal 3 Man Utd 0 - Premier League 04.10.15

Wow. Before the game I believed 100% that Arsenal are a better team than Manchester United. The Northern club have become a money spunking machine that is desperately trying to propel themselves back to the top of the league by buying anything that resembles a reasonable player. They've had a lot of straightforward games and despite a win against Liverpool, I've not been remotely impressed by them. Despite all this, to blitz them 3-0 is a long way beyond what I expected, especially after the disaster against Olympiakos.

As expected, Wenger reverted to what seems to be his first choice team. The only player that was missing was Koscielny and with Gabriel deputising - I don't think we were missing much. Theo Walcott has been slowly growing into the central striker role and seems to be the first choice, while Aaron Ramsey has been doing a similar job at right midfield. The Welsh midfielder has had a sticky start to the season, but seems to be getting to grips with the wide role.

One of things that frustrates me most about watching Arsenal is slow starts. Too often we start in this tentative fashion that allows visiting teams to settle in, establish their shape and stifle us. But every now and then we blitz a team and establish a dominant lead before the game has even got going and to my surprise and delight, we found the mojo this Sunday.

We were all over United from the first minute and with only six minutes on the clock we broke through. After a poor clearance from Blind, Ramsey slotted a ball in behind for Özil, who managed to cut the ball back with his right foot. Alexis sprinted in front of his man and with nonchalance of a man who's in top form, he back-flicked the ball into the net. The movement that was so lack midweek was suddenly there in spades and Man U were all at sea trying to defend us. An early goal was as much as we could have expected, but things got crazy very quickly.

We barely had time to catch our breath before the Emirates was rocking again. Cazorla found Özil, Özil slid it to Walcott and after Walcott had given Blind nightmares, the forward presented the ball on a plate for Özil to calmly stroke home. Two goals in two minutes, United were in disarray, the Arsenal fans were in disbelief.

Two nil after seven minutes was dreamland. Three nil after twenty? Oh go on then. United actually reacted pretty well, but they left themselves open at the back and we pounced. Ramsey threaded an excellent pass for Walcott and in turn the England man picked out Alexis in acres of space. The Chilean cut to the outside of Darmian, who got a toe on the ball, but couldn't stop Alexis shifting the ball out from under his feet and belting it into the top corner. It was reminiscent of his goal against Liverpool and we were on cloud nine.

Possibly the most impressive thing about this win though, was how we reacted to going three nil up. It's so easy to get carried away when you start like we did, but I was delighted to see us calm things down, take stock of the situation and play sensibly with a big lead. After seeing the first half, with the help of a brilliant save from Cech, we changed formation to a compact 4-1-4-1, allowing Man U the ball and soaking up the pressure. You don't usually associate Arsenal with disciplined, sensible tactics, but we were professional and composed in seeing out the result. Cech only had to make one more save of note and towards the end Oxlade-Chamberlain hit the bar with a delightful chip that deserved a goal.

Arsene Wenger, for all the criticism he got midweek, answered the critics perfectly on Sunday. He looked at the game when we were 3-0 up and could have gone for more, tried to humiliate United, but he was sensible and switched the formation to hold what we had. The second half was one of the most enjoyably uneventful halves I've seen at the Emirates. We stood firm, repelled what little United had to throw at us. I saw the famous 'Thanks for the memories banner' before the game. I wonder how those complete mugs who brought it are feeling now?

Teams

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal, Coquelin (Y), Cazorla, Ramsey, Özil (Chamberlain 75'), Alexis (Gibbs 81'), Walcott (Giroud 75')
Subs
Ospina, Chambers, Debuchy, Gibbs, Chamberlain, Giroud, Campbell

Man Utd (4-2-3-1)
De Gea, Darmian (Y) (Valencia 45'), Smalling, Blind, Young (Y), Carrick, Schweinsteiger, Mata (Wilson 82'), Rooney (Y), Depay (Fellaini 45'), Martial
Subs
Romero, Jones, Wilson, Fellaini, Valencia, Schneiderlin, McNair

Player Ratings

Cech - 8/10 - Made two big saves to keep his clean sheet
Bellerin - 8/10 - Ashley Young will be having nightmares about him for a long time
Mertesacker - 8/10 - Dealt with everything brilliantly, intercepted and read the game
Gabriel - 8/10 - Showing why Wenger was so excited by him, brilliant again
Monreal - 8/10 - Solid in defence and complimented the attack well
Coquelin - 8/10 - The man is a beast, dominated the midfield
Cazorla - 8/10 - Coquelin's dominance allowed him to distribute freely, with great effect
Alexis - 9/10 - Unplayable, you can't stop him when he's on top form
Özil - 9/10 - If you give space he'll destroy you as he did to Man U
Ramsey - 8/10 - Growing into the right midfield role and should have had a goal too
Walcott - 9/10 - Gave the United defence a ton of problems and pressed brilliantly

Subs
Giroud - 7/10 - Didn't have much time to get into it, but missed a good chance
Chamberlain - 7/10 - Very unlucky not to get a goal with a lovely chip
Gibbs - N/A

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