ARSENAL ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS

For the first time in a long while I sat pitch side at the Emirates last night: row 2 to be exact, an interesting perspective on the game as I generally sit upstairs. What struck me was the pace and control of our midfield against a rather flatfooted Liverpool side. At times it was 5-a-side stuff out there as Rosicky, Carzola, Ramsey and Ozil, ably assisted by Arteta, bossed the middle of the park. This was a midfield with Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlaine, Flamini, Wilshere and the promising Gnabry absent and perhaps therein lays one of the keys to our excellent league form. A squad that is certainly on the thin side has an abundance of players in the centre of the park (I haven’t mentioned Diaby as unfortunately his career seems to be on permanent standby).

The back four look increasingly confident and our keeper, one aberration aside, looks to be a proper player now. Giroud may lack the clinical qualities of an Ageuro, Suarez or Van Persie but he gives us an out and has a work ethic that has been remarkably team based, he causes other teams problems and is growing in stature.

Come the final whistle you could see what the elusive clean sheet meant to the defence as they embraced in victory and a defence with belief is the foundation of a good team; these players seem to have a growing belief that they can shut out opponents now.

The atmosphere at the Emirates continues to improve and there were genuine rumblings of content as the stadium emptied at the final whistle.

Questions keep being asked and at the moment we are responding in the league. Those same questions are still floating about in regard to Europe so the next game against Dortmund is another opportunity to take a step in the process of answering those questions with a hearty “yes, we can”