Coquelin & Ramsey Increase Their Influence

Match Review: Burnley 0 Arsenal 1 - Premier League 11.04.15

Arsenal’s stunning form has stretched to eight wins, but Saturday’s victory over Burnley was far from spectacular. After the destruction of Liverpool last weekend, a very different performance was needed to edge past a Burnley side looking to beat the drop and who made things physical to say the least. We can’t rip teams to shreds every week though and a gritty away win like this is as important as any other.

One similarity from the Liverpool game was the team, as Wenger named an unchanged side. Surprisingly, this meant Ramsey continuing down the right over Welbeck and Walcott, intensifying transferrumours around Theo, in a game where you’d have thought a more pacey and direct attacking threat was called for. But Wenger’s choice was justified just eleven minutes into the game.

In truth, three different players could have scored the goal, which started with Coquelin intercepting in midfield and driving a pass forward to Sanchez. Sanchez worked room for the shot, which was blocked and fell to Özil whose effort was saved. Sanchez's follow up was blocked again, before Ramsey was able to control and lash into the top corner. The Welshman has had a difficult season so far with injury trouble and a dip in form, but he’s been very important to us in recent weeks and there’s no doubt Wenger sees him as a key member of the squad.

The first half was fairly scrappy, there was nothing clear cut apart from our goal. Burnley were intent on stopping us from playing and committed foul after foul, but in such away that they avoided yellow cards. The first Burnley booking came just before half time. To be honest there’s not a lot to talk about, simply because it was such a tight, scrappy affair. Ospina made a decent save from a Burnley free kick and Cazorla was inches away with one of his own, but that was all there was of note.

The second half a much more nervy affair as Burnley put more pressure on us and probed for an equaliser. They started the second half quicker and we were a little slow out of the blocks. Luckily Burnley have absolutely no cutting edge and no matter how many times they got into good positions, they never had the composure or quality to trouble Ospina. Eventually we settled down and we had a few chances ourselves. Alexis forced a good save from Heaton and Ramsey possibly should have done better after Özil’s stunning pass gave him a clear sight of goal.

With the score at just one-nil though, we were vulnerable and there were a few moments. Hector Bellerin had his pants pulled down by Ben Mee and fizzed a dangerous cross in but Boyd slipped at the vital moment and Danny Ings also had an overhead kick saved. That was as good as it got for the hosts though, as they failed to cause any serious problems to the Arsenal back line. Danny Welbeck had a late chance to put it to bed, but in the end, it was a scrappy but deserved win.

Following Chelsea and United’s wins, it seems that we are in a fight to hold on to second rather than one for the title. Chelsea could lose to us and to United and then the race would really be on, but I can’t see Chelsea letting it slip from here. They are effectively ten points ahead, seeing as their game in hand is against Leicester, whilst Man United are worryingly finding some good form. With the FA Cup semi final next, it gives a chance to secure our place in the final and then put all our focus into winning as many of our final games as possible. At the very least, we need to take advantage of City’s implosion and secure one of the two automatic Champions League spots.

Teams

Burnley (4-4-2)
Heaton, Trippier, Shackell, Duff (Y), Mee (Y), Arfield, Jones (Taylor 93’), Boyd, Barnes, Ings, Vokes
Subs
Kightly, Taylor, Jutkiewicz, Ulvestad, Gilks, Ward, Keane

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Özil, Alexis (Chambers 93’), Giroud (Welbeck 82’)
Subs
Szczesny, Gibbs, Flamini, Rosicky, Chambers, Welbeck, Walcott

Player Ratings

Ospina - 7/10 - A good display, made some routine saves
Bellerin - 6/10 - Had a tougher time than against Liverpool, slightly naive at times
Koscielny - 7/10 - Had a reasonably solid game
Mertesacker - 7/10 - Also pretty solid
Monreal - 7/10 - Steady too
Coquelin - 9/10 - Man of the match, made eleven interceptions. Ridiculous
Cazorla - 7/10 - Nearly scored an absolutely brilliant free kick
Ramsey - 8/10 - I’m sure he’d rather be central but he’s doing a job out wide for us
Özil - 8/10 - Another majestic performance, pulling the strings again
Alexis - 7/10 - Busy and hard working as usual
Giroud - 6/10 - Shut out of the game a bit, but has earned the right to have a quiet game
Subs
N/A - Neither were on long enough

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