Yes, it was only a friendly, but all augurs well for the season ahead for Arsenal after the 1-0 defeat of Chelsea in the Community Shield.
That's not to say that Arsenal looked invincible. Far from it. However, with Petr Cech in goal it was no big surprise that the Gunners kept a clean sheet.
Cech's quiet assurance was a welcome relief from some of the manic keeping that Arsenal fans have had to endure over the years, post-Lehmann.
No matter what was going on in front of him, Cech always appeared confident and unfussed. He seemed to enjoy every moment of the game against his ex-employees.
What made the victory all the more sweet for Arsenal fans was to win it without Alexis Sanchez, arguably their best player.
In the end, Arsenal were only marginally the better side but, with Cech in goal, that may be enough.
That's why I'm predicting a tight league championship ahead with Arsenal eventually emerging as winners by the narrowest of margins: a bit like yesterday.
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Starting with the FA Cup, then Asian Cup, Emirates Cup and now the Community Shield, that is 4 bits of silverware won in a short space of time. In 6 games we have scored 19 goals and conceded 1. I get so annoyed when critics try to play down these achievements. If we had lost any of them then they would be crowing we are not good enough
ReplyDeleteHowever there were some caveats yesterday. I still am not convinced with Walcott as the central striker; we looked far more balanced when Giroud came on though I would very much like us to sign Benzema.
The few chances Chelsea created were mostly from the gap left by a missing Bellerin. I would have preferred the experience of Debuchy out there.
Except for the FA Cup we have done all this without Alexis Sanchez - what a thought and optimism for the coming season