Today’s win sees Arsenal move up to third after a 2-0 win against Everton. Arsenal needed a reaction after the midweek debacle. The first surprise although many fans had predicted it was that Mertesacker had been dropped to the bench meaning Gabriel made his first league start, although, the official line was that Mertesacker was being rested. The match also saw Oxlade-Chamberlain replace Welbeck.
Arsenal got off to a fairly slow start but went 1-0 up with a Giroud goal from Ӧzil corner. Everton then came back into the match until the 89th minute when Rosicky’s shot was deflected in to make it 2-0.
There were good performances from Giroud who put his midweek drought behind him as well as an impressive Coquelin and a very good David Ospina. Ospina made some very good decisions today as well as saves and showed an element of bravery on a cross which he resultantly got winded from.
Gabriel also had a very good game after a shaky start which Ospina tidied up from. However, after that a misjudged header Gabriel began to look like the real deal with some no nonsense clearances and some great sliding tackles. The impressive part was that he stayed on his feet until late. Arsenal may well have found a new partner to Koscielny.
After the match Wenger had the following to say;
"We were focused, it was a mentally determined performance. You could see we suffered on Wednesday night against Monaco and that was still in our mind but we were patient, that got us a good chance and we got a good win today.
"We were a bit cautious. We just wanted to do our job and win. I am very happy with the mental aspect of our response. With the ball we could do better but the win was the focus today. We just needed the win because the result was very significant for the rest of the season.”
Wenger was also keen to talk about Giroud’s performance;
"I defended Olivier Giroud because nobody misses chances on purpose. Everyone misses chances and even if strikers don't score if you finish 0-0 it is still a good result. He deserved his goal today."
Wenger was also asked about the race for the top four where he responded by saying it would be down to consistency.
Overall, it was a professional performance and saw Arsenal pick up an important three points which were needed after wins for Manchester United and Liverpool. Arsenal now move on to the next game on Tuesday which see us play QPR away.
