Well, if you’re going to bow out with a relatively meaningless game, you might as well do it in style and having watched Arsenal dismantle Burnley yesterday you can’t say the Arsenal players didn’t do that in the Bank Holiday sunshine.
Arsène was given a guard of honour and the fans chanted his name for most of the day and it appears that Burnley even decided to gift Arsenal the freedom of north London yesterday, a gift which Arsenal duly took, then made hay in said sunshine.
Arsène named pretty much the same team as he did against Old Trafford and I have to say I was impressed by the younger players once again. It’s true that the game itself was one in which Arsenal were in pretty much total control of throughout, so defending with backs to the wall wasn’t exactly called for against the Clarets, but I thought Chambers and Mavropanos did really well in the early of the defence, whilst Kolasinac got a great goal and also looked decent going forward.
I’d talked up giving some of these players a run out to see if they’re good enough to stake a claim for next season and whilst I don’t know whether Arsène will still do that against Leicester and Huddersfield, he did yesterday and there was plenty to be pleased about.
My hope is we see more of Mavropanos, Chambers and Maitland-Niles for the next couple of games, because I’m hoping they’re the real deal.
I’ll tell you who is certainly the real deal though, and that is Aubameyang and the Gabon international showed just how good he is in the box yesterday. I know his first goal was a tap in but when you watch the movement again you see just how good he is. He took that step in between the defender and the goal to stay on side at the precise moment which enabled him to touch the ball home. It was a great finish and I have to say I am getting quite excited to see what he can do next season.
I’m also excited for whether Lacazette and Aubameyang start together more often. A lot has been said about the Mkhi and Auba partnership but Laca and Auba appear to be striking up a bond. Add in the mercurial talent of Mesut Özil into the mix and I think we’ve got a very tasty looking forward line. Lacazette got another tidy goal and having gone through quite a drought in the midpoint in the season – probably when we were at our worst – he is cropping up with goals left, right and centre at the moment, which is pleasing when you couple it with Aubameyang’s form. We’ve got some quality players in our attack that’s for sure.
And that was on display yesterday with a 5-0 win. Sure, it doesn’t expunge some of the woeful performances this season, but as a football fan you always need hope and I certainly saw green shoots yesterday and hopefully next season we can see that attacking flair on show, but with a more disciplined and organised defensive set up.
Even Iwobi got on the scoresheet yesterday and the finish for his goal was pretty special, I have to say, with a weird technique but the way he rifled that ball into the roof of the net was very impressive.
The result was a comfortable one in the end and Burnley never really turned up if truth be told. But this was a day of appreciation for Arsène. At a time where the fan base have been fractious and at each other’s throats at one stage, it was nice to see everyone unified in appreciation for a man who has given us plenty of highs and is at least leaving the club with the fans singing his name. If you think about what it could have been if he’d have seen out his contract next season, it could have looked a lot uglier and whilst he’ll be sad he didn’t get to see out this deal and it wasn’t his plan to go, hopefully in hindsight he appreciates that this is better for everyone and we all get to give him the send off his service deserves.
The season is thankfully nearly over. There’s a couple of away games for us to probably lose but let’s just get them done and get on with our lives.
Up the Arsenal.
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