The joke by many has actually become reality. Prior to Arsenal’s match with Chelsea on boxing day of 2020, it has been an ugly run of events for us as we kept on settling for low performances coupled with nasty results.
It took us weeks to recover from the spell and so good enough, our bounce came when we played host to our London rivals a day after Christmas. It was a 3-1 win for us, a surprise to many but normal to others who were of the view that no matter how bad Arsenal fared as a club at any point in time in recent years, the Blues have never been a hard nut to crack.
Following that massive result, many predicted that that will be the catalyst to the Gunners’ resurrection. They were not wrong after all, according to the results recorded in our last two matches.
Arsenal sealed the year 2020 which they began with a win over Manchester United with another win, though narrow, away at Brighton & Hove. We could hardly make the best use of the dominance because it was difficult for us to penetrate the final third of our opponents.
Dangerous crosses from both flanks, courtesy Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin were the major scenes in the first half. Brighton were the ones that hit so hard and would have gone ahead but Jahanbakhsh fired over the bar before his attempt to strike was denied by our vibrant Emile smith Rowe. Leno did well to stop him on his third try.
Our consistency in the next half was miles far from what we saw in the initial. We quickly raked five shots in the first nine minutes as against the one we had in the entire first forty-five. One of such came when Bukayo Saka raced through and directed a cross to Pierre-Emeick Aubameyang whose try could not do more than hitting the goalkeeper then going over the bar.
Gabriel Martinelli curled over, Auba shot wide and it was just about time we steppedup our game which we did. Upon the introduction of Alexandre Lacazette to replace the injured Martinelli, The Frenchman in less than 25 seconds after his introduction connected with Saka’s delivery and sent one into the bottom corner.
That was all we needed to secure all three points, our first consecutive league triumphs since first two matches of the campaign and also close the year with positive vibes.
Today,, January 2, we started 2021 on a good note too. This time, it was a rollercoaster of goals at the snowy Hawthorns on January 2. West Bromwich Albion sure did not bargain for what they got at the end of that encounter.
The night was highly buoyant, judging by the fluency in gameplay, thanks to the expertise of Saka and Emile Smith Rowe. Our hard work was crowned with two goals in each of the halves.
Bernd Leno had rescued us from conceding by denying a clear one from Matt Phillips/ It was not long after that we went ahead through Kieran Tierney. The Scot raced down and followed up with a curling shot.
Teamwork involving Saka, ESR and Lacazette helped double our lead just five minutes after opening scoring. It was Saka who brilliantly buried it in. Laca had two tries afterwards but was unable to earn us a third before the break.
Impressive work from Saka gave Laca our third and not long after, a counter attack ended in his path. He delivered on this to make it four on a cold night. Clean sheet secured!
Our next stop on Saturday will be in the third round of the Emirates FA Cup at home against Newcastle United. We will remain at home for another home match against Crystal Palace on January 14, but this time in the Premier League.
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