Today’s game reminded me a lot about how I defend on FIFA12, need I explain more? Lee Dixon correctly pointed out recently that the art of defending is going out the game and to some degree he is right. When you think of the best defenders in the world you can only think of the aging players who have been around for years. Today’s game demonstrated open attacking football, just the way Arsenal love to play and love to play against. Just when everyone thought Arsenal were in crisis we find ourselves now three points behind Chelsea after winning seven of the last eight games.

What’s your dream CB pairing?

It’s hard to be either ecstatic about the result or be a bit pessimistic because of the nature of our defending. Again we conceded a goal from a set piece, again our eleven-foot German failed to clear a cross with his head that allowed the opener and then letting John Terry poke home from a corner. Then again we beat Chelsea in their own back yard, scoring five goals and our worst player on the pitch Santos even scored against them.

Being realistic there’s still work to be done with our defence.  While most fans dream of the Mertesacker/Vermaelen pairing at the back I personally believe a Koscienly /Vermaelen partnership would be our best at the moment. Kos has been in excellent form recently and a strong shout for man of the match for me. Santos looked very off the pace today, beaten too many times by Mata but typically going forward looked great.

It’s fair to say both defences were put to the sword a number of times, notably in the opening fifteen minutes when either side could have been two nil up already. Walcott had Cole in his pocket for most the game and the space Santos had for his goal says it all. In the end it came down to the team with the best attack and Van Persie again showed why he is one of the best players in the World right now and why it’s vital for Arsenal to pin him down to a new contract.

Walcott ‘Revival’

I’ll admit that I am a big Walcott fan, through thick and thin, and today I felt he played a great game. He played great balls into the box; his dribbling has improved and he took his goal wonderfully after somehow managing to take it past three players. A lot of fans have jumped on the bandwagon with the arrival of Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has definitely impressed us all, but claims that Walcott should be looking over his shoulder are premature and he proved that today.

Walcott also looked like he had been given more freedom to roam inside the middle throughout the game. Van Persie can get quite isolated up and like Rooney is always looking for the ball. Every time he came deep it was either Gervinho or Walcott heading the attack down the centre.

The downside to his game is that we need a strong right back to cover for Walcott’s attacking nature. With Sagna out for a while it’ll be down to Jenkinson to provide that steadiness down the right or even Djourou or Koscienly.

What’s the Mata?

After our indifferent start to the season Arsenal have definitely put it behind them with this result. A strong line of results in the League, Carling Cup & Champions League has boosted the confidence of our players and you can see it in their football. To have the likes of Arshavin unable to make the starting eleven speaks volumes for the depth in the team and we’re starting to look like we have better options for cover Van Persie’s eventual injury. Yes he decided the game for us today but you cannot hide the fact that Gervinho, Walcott, Park & Arshavin are more than capable of leading from the front.

Ramsey gets a special mention after today’s game because the boy is becoming a man this season. Even with Mata playing well for Chelsea and scoring a beauty today I’m not worried about the fact we ‘missed’ out on him. Ramsey has been thrusted into the spotlight following Fabregas’s departure and in my eyes since we bought him he was always the natural replacement. His partnership is blossoming well with Arteta which again begs another question as to who will be our best centre midfield pairing? Certainly once Wilshere returns it’ll be interesting what direction Wenger will go in.

My last point today is about a comment someone made before todays game ‘Whatever happens lets hope todays result doesn’t get decided by the referee’. While every decision wasn’t spot on I felt football totally dominated todays game and for the neutral was an amazing game to watch.  My actual last point will actually be able the fact you could almost buy our starting eleven today with the money paid for Fernando Torres.

Arsenal Ratings

Szczesny 6, Santos 5, Koscienly 8, Mertesacker 6, Djourou 6, Song, 7, Ramsey, 7, Arteta 6, Gervinho 7, Van Persie 9, Walcott 8

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