This early in the season, even the injury plague ravaging the Arsenal squad isn’t strong enough to overcome their rise, with Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud keeping it together despite hardly seeing any sort of rest since the start, and soon are going to be in dire need of one.
Championships and Arsenal haven’t been words that go together in the same sentence for quite some time, but the way the league is shaping out, it seems there’s no denying that the Gunners, even with all the injuries that include Theo Walcott, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla, are primed and ready to stay at or near the top of the table for the entire season.
While Arsene Wenger must be thinking how much longer he’s going to have to play both Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey without having any sort of backup for his two hottest players, the two can’t stop scoring, assisting and winning. Arsenal have won five consecutive league matches since their season-opening loss, and have made it eight in a row in all competitions.
Aaron Ramsey, aggressive, accurate and incisive as ever, wound up scoring his eight goal in all competitions this season, with Olivier Giroud setting him up. The talent Arsenal now have in their midfield with Mesut Ozil pulling the strings while Mathieu Flamini does an excellent job of providing support from behind and Jack Wilshere finally finds a non-disturbing role playing on the left wing seems to be perfect for counter attacking and giving up slow and tedious build up. It doesn’t take too much for Ramsey or Giroud to find themselves with an excellent chance.
However, the misses that keep coming from Mesut Ozil, never known for being a good finisher, and from Olivier Giroud, failing to score in the last two matches and looking like someone who clearly needs some minutes off of the pitch, might provide costly in a different scenario, against a better team than Swansea. Winning 2-1 at the Liberty Stadium did come with plenty of late and nervous moments, which might have been avoided with some better finishing.
As always with Wenger, there’s plenty of youth movement participants to be proud of, as Serge Gnabry is making the most of Theo Walcott being injured, which might be the situation for at least one more month. Gnabry is an 18-year old German winger who looks very similar to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but is a player with a lot more purpose in his game. Every dribble is filled with speed and aggression, and he doesn’t hesitate to test goalkeepers, scoring his first senior goal thanks to his persistence.
At the moment, due to their results and also their ability, Arsenal are the best team in the Premier League, which is a sentence no one has heard since Thierry Henry was playing for the club. The problems for Wenger will begin if there’s a need to show depth and he doesn’t have the resources to provide it. If the midfield being shorthanded is a stroke of bad luck due to a weird amount of injuries, the moment Giroud breaks down with no one to cover for him will once again point the fingers at the French manager.