You could point the finger at various issues and incidents for Arsenal over the last eight months and argue that this was the the main factor in our failure to take advantage of the struggles of the likes of Chelsea and Man City and cruise to the Premier League title.
Just a few are; the loss of Cazorla in central midfield or the loss of Coquelin around the same time, the shocking performance of Mike Dean at Chelsea, the hammering at Southampton on Boxing Day and the loss and a draw at West Brom and Norwich in November.
However, despite the setbacks along the way, Arsenal would have been in a much better position, probably top spot or very close to it, if our forwards had been finishing even a decent amount of the many chances coming their way from the likes of Mesut Ozil.
Perhaps the worst offender has been Olivier Giroud but the Frenchman was on fire in the first half of the season. I am not looking to absolve him of blame here but trying to find a reason and perhaps the fact that his dry spell coincided with the absence through injury of Alexis Sanchez was a major factor. A lot more of the pressure to score then fell on Giroud and he does not seem to have handled it well and he has contibuted largely to Arsenal’s goal drought.
So as well as the hamstring injury keeping our best forward out of action it could have affected the form of our main centre forward. And now the Chile international has revealed in a report by The Sun that it has had a third negative impact on Arsenal’s goal power.
Alexis admitted that his performances have been below par since his comeback and he puts this down to his fear that the hamstring problem might flare up again.
He said, “Before my injury I was 100 per cent fit. I was feeling well. After the injury I wanted to get back but it was hard.
“I had a setback and when I played I was scared I would get injured again because the thing I like most in the world is playing football and when I can’t play I feel sad.
“I think I have adapted well to the club but I am never satisfied with what I do. I want to win the Premier League, the Champions League. I always want to win everything.
“Football is my passion, my life and I always want to win.
“If I lose, I always go home sad, I can’t sleep and that upsets me. When I win, my team-mates are happy and enjoy their families the next day. Football is my life.”
After the last game against Watford when the striker looked like his old self and the Arsenal goal drought was certainly put to bed, has that injury fear now gone? Or will the tweak that saw him replaced towards the end of that game have brought it back to affect his mind and his form?
Earlier when we had this line up we were at our best
Cech
bell/kos/mert/monreal
Coquelin/Cazorla
Ramsey/Ozil/Alexis
Walcott or Giroud
However If Cazorla was healthy today, I would play
Cech
bell/kos/Gabs/monreal
Coquelin/Cazorla
Iwobi/Ozil/Alexis
Welbeck
Loss of Cazorla and Coquelin earlier in the year was a HUGE loss to the team
We have predicted this case earlier when Santi and Coq axis was ruling Arsenal’s salivating football. Both of them don’t have equal back up. Arsene failed to recognize this, he tried to correct with Elneny but surely he won’t find any deep lying play maker at the market to run Santi’s role. Ramsey or Jack (if he’s fit) don’t have the right discipline to defend and don’t have “the right passing” to counter back. However, it didn’t stop Mesut to create plenty chances. So, on top of it, I think our low conversion rate is killing us. We don’t have +30 goals striker a season. We’re (almost) done.
Alexis has definitely had a mild season compared to last year, perhaps Wenger should put him on the bench for the first half and then when hes chomping at the bit to play, throw him on at half time. Maybe he will be more worried about losing his place than he is about injuries.