3 welcome points, but 3 worries for Arsenal

After the West Ham debacle, it was pleasing to see Arsenal grab the Eagles by the feathers and give them a good shaking.

However, it wasn't the easiest of victories, despite the much-maligned Giroud scoring a spectacular opener from Ozil's centre. Quite how the Frenchman swivelled to volley the ball in when the cross was behind him is beyond me. A sublime piece of skill, which should hopefully keep the detractors off his back for another week.

Giroud added on 'Match of The Day' that Wenger has told him to shoot with his first touch more often. What a good piece of advice that was, based on this evidence.

Talking of evidence, we have a bit more to suggest that Koscielny should try to press the ball when an opponent is shooting, rather than turning his back on him. Surely this can be ironed out in training, as this habit has cost Arsenal two goals so far this season. I can see he doesn't want to risk handballing it, or causing a wicked deflection, but standing still and turning your back to the ball surely is not the answer.

In the end, Arsenal had to rely on Alexis Sanchez winning a ball he had no right to win to covert a Bellerin cross via Delaney's wanton slash at the ball. An own goal will do nicely thank you.

Aside from Koscielny's worrying tendency to turn his back on a shot, another issue that needs addressing is Coquelin. He had a reasonable game, but he looked a dead cert to get sent off. He was extremely lucky not to be, as the ref had to let him off two 'iffy' challenges after he picked up a yellow card. Personally, I'd have taken him off at half-time.

This brings me on to the third worry: Wenger's indecisiveness. The manager shouldn't need Per Mertesacker to tell him when to sub a player. He did the right thing eventually, by putting on Arteta for Coquelin, but it should have happened much sooner.

Nevertheless, it was a well-deserved win and although Cazorla got man-of-the-match from Sky, I'd have given it to his compatriot, Monreal.


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