It felt like an opportunity lost when Arsenal drew with their rivals Tottenham in the derby at home last Sunday. The Gunners took the lead with a Mesut Ozil free kick being headed into his own net by Kevin Wimmer late in the first half but the visitors equalised at the start of the second to get right back into the tie.
Arsenal with their players returning from injuries were expected to better Spurs especially since they were short on a few players having to change their shape to accommodate some new faces in the lineup. The difference, however, was felt when Mousa Dembele of Spurs played in the game in spite of doubts over his fitness, having twisted his ankle in the midweek European tie, while Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla was unable to feature in the game with a recurrence of his Achilles injury.
Arsene Wenger, who appeared concerned with the discipline of new signing Granit Xhaka, decided to put the combative midfielder in the midfield alongside Francis Coquelin. Xhaka had a very good game where he managed to keep his cool and take the right decisions in terms of tackling without making a single foul.
The Swiss international passed the ball well in the forward areas but was unable to provide the sudden burst of technical know-how which would have opened up the opposition with his take ons or combinations, something which Mousa Dembele was able to do. In one particular run from the deep region, Dembele got the better of a few defenders and earned a penalty which helped his team draw level.
This was something which the Gunners missed on the day. Lack of creativity was a problem again and the absence of Cazorla who always helps the team find the spark in those situations was deeply felt. Santi Cazorla offers the guile in the midfield along with his masterly distribution from the deep positions helping Arsenal bypass the press in the 2nd and 3rd zone of the field (from the opposition’s point of view).
Francis Coquelin was taken off in the 2nd half with Wenger deciding to bring on Ramsey to provide the dynamism in the middle of the pitch and to have someone to execute the third man runs into the opposition box. Ramsey did on a couple of occasions find himself in and around the box but his overall passing was not adequate to worry the opposition with the home side also failing to utilise him or find him with the balls in the advanced positions.
One of the few players of the team being able to deliver his A-game 3 times a week unlike Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla is the man who knits the game of his team together by providing the right balance.
With the players like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez disappointing with their displays the Emirates rued the absence of a player truly ‘World Class’ being injured out on the side-lines as the hosts were unable to grab all the three points on the day.
