Arsenal: Are They Now Back On The Title Race?

Same old, same old. This phrase best chronicles Arsenal's ten-year struggle for Premier League supremacy. Apart from the 2004-05 season where they finished second place behind champions Chelsea, Arsenal's league seasons since then have been littered with a string of scrappy, uninspiring fourth place finishes. Add to that, with Arsenal going through a nine-year long trophy drought in all competitions during that period, fans, including me, were calling for Wenger's head on the chopping block.

At least, on the trophy front, the 2013-14 season offered a milestone phase for Arsenal. From nearly squandering another chance of a trophy after going two-nil down in the first eight minutes, Arsenal recovered and won dramatically at extra-time against Hull City in the FA Cup Final. Obviously, it was a day of elation for everyone associated with the club, but it was sensible the way to take Arsenal forward was to challenge for the title in the 2014-15 Premier League season.

So far, it's been the typical Arsenal season, where at the end of the day, they're most likely to be nothing more than top four-bound. Midway through the season, they already find themselves 11 points behind league leaders Chelsea, which is quite a sizable gap to close. If you're a fan of the numbers, Chelsea would have to lose five and Arsenal win by the same number to overtake the blue-shirted supremos. Though, this is a Jose Mourinho team who, despite "embarrassingly" losing to Bradford at the FA Cup a weekend ago, is not a side who tends to let such big advantage go.

On the evidence of the last two performances, a disciplined performance in the 2-0 win away to Man City and a scintillating attacking display in the 5-0 thrashing of Aston Villa, perhaps the tide could finally turn for the better. Still, the fight for Champions League spot does not get as tougher for Arsenal as it is this season with the likes of Southampton, Manchester United, Tottenham and a resurgent Liverpool all with equally decent chance of getting there. However, after a weekend which saw the top two teams of the division battled out a 1-1 draw, thereby preventing Chelsea from making it an eight point gap and for Manchester City, from closing the gap to two points, could it open the gap for those teams, most particularly Arsenal, to produce a late rally to ruin the two-horse race scenario? If so, then these could just be the key points to achieving that.

Gameplan

So often, the Arsenal of late has been accused by football journalists and pundits alike as “flat track bully”. As much as it pains me, their accusation of Arsenal is somewhat accurate. The worry is less about beating the lesser likes, which with the World Cup pedigree of an Alexis Sanchez or a Mesut Ozil at your disposal should do enough to brush those teams aside, but it’s when they have to lock horns with the bigger teams that they flattered to only deceive.

Last season’s wretched run of form away from home against the big guns spoke volume as to why Arsenal’s blistering first half of the season quickly tailed off come the second. At the end of the day, the foundation of a champion is through beating the best in the business, and certainly, a sequence of results which went like a 6-3 loss at Man City, a 5-1 loss at Liverpool, and a 6-0 loss at Chelsea in Wenger’s 1000th game in charge does not breed any confidence of sorts. Suddenly, what has changed?

Well, the simple answer to that is by going back to basics.

I’ve been a fan of Arsenal since the Invincibles, and what impresses me of them back then was how they were a much lethal force when they go on the counter-attack. Arsenal weren’t short of talented technicians during that period, but a lot of Arsenal’s best passage of play comes once their midfield powerhouse like a Patrick Vieira set fleet-footed wingers in the likes of Robert Pires and Fredrik Ljungberg off from their own half to the other. Eventually, either the two went for glory or assisting Thierry Henry, goals on the opponent’s end are always the most likely conclusion. At the same time, there is also a balance in the team when defending, with Gilberto Silva sitting in front of that back four, offering solid protection while full-backs Ashley Cole and Lauren bomb on. Overall, Arsenal were always a side both fearsome and solid in that 4-1-4-1 system.

Since then, the importance of the counter-attacking football has taken a back-seat when the Spanish national team began dominating world football with their Tiki Taka brand. Whether Spain’s success came into Wenger’s mind regarding the change of Arsenal’s approach to a more possession-based football along with the new 4-3-3 system, I just felt it slightly dampens Arsenal’s aggression. Certainly, it suited Cesc Fabregas, who was given the free rein to string up play when he wore the Arsenal shirt, but since he left, Arsenal’s possession play comes off more as labored and passive. At the same time, Arsenal doesn’t have a Gilberto type of player to properly cover the back-four. Consequentially, when the full-backs start pushing forward, they did not recover in time to deal with the opponent’s counter-attacks.

So, I repeat, last weekend’s win away to Man City goes down to ditching their possession-based approach in important games for a more direct, effective counter-attacking play. Truth be told, Arsenal have started employing this tactic away to Liverpool back in December, but they simply perfected the new craft against Man City. If they managed to get another win with this tactic against Tottenham, Liverpool, Man United or Chelsea, 11 points could just be surmountable.

Personnel

Apart from tactics, a change of personnel in recent games certainly play a role in Arsenal’s upturn in form. The fact could not be as straightforward as this, but both Wojciech Szczesny and Mathieu Flamini are as good as second-fiddle in this Arsenal squad now. Arsenal fans cannot be faulted for singing praises of a Santi Cazorla or an Alexis Sanchez, but the inclusion of unsung heroes like David Ospina and Francis Coquelin since the turn of the year deserved some recognition too.

To be honest, Ospina has not had the best of starts in an Arsenal shirt. Apart from a solid World Cup campaign with Colombia, the latter parts of 2014 have been spent heavily on the sidelines. At the same time, with Szczesny being the undisputed number one almost the whole season, you’re never sure if the Colombian is a decent alternative given his little game time. Though, I was very confident a fit Ospina has a good shot at overtaking Szczesny’s number one spot, and so far, with four domestic appearances, four clean sheets, the signing proved to be a master class. Ospina somehow personifies calm and trust, qualities which you don’t really find in Szczesny.It’s less about the shot-stopping skills, which evident from his late save from Kieran Westwood against Villa he’s always going to be good at, but it’s more about building trust with the back-four and so far, the chemistry has been working.

Also, throwing Coquelin straight into first-team contention has given Arsenal that much-needed presence in front of the back-four. For a long time since both Patrick Vieira and Gilberto’s departure, Arsenal have long sought after that fifth man defensive presence. Certainly, looking at the performances of Flamini and Mikel Arteta anchoring our midfield, that piece of the puzzle is still missing. Somehow, out of the Championship bag from Charlton Athletic, comes Coquelin. Unlike his more senior counterparts who often resort to slack passing and rash tackles, Coquelin has done better on those fronts. His passing distribution will not be the most commendable, but his timing when intercepting the ball or tussling with opponents is impeccable. David Silva, so often Man City’s magician, barely had a sniff against the young Frenchman. Whether Coquelin is the long-term answer, we’ll wait until the summer transfer window but in the near future, he’s the undisputed first choice in that holding midfield role.

Last but not least, I would like to address some of the people’s question regarding the Ozil and Cazorla situation. There’s been words out there that if Ozil returns, then its Cazorla’s loss, and the same thing the other way around. Obviously, against Villa, the two played together, with Cazorla in his much-favored role as the no. 10 and Ozil being pushed into the much-dreaded winger position in place of the injured Alexis. Simply, Ozil had the game of his Arsenal life on Sunday, being on the creative end of Arsenal’s scintillating forward play.Though, when Alexis should return in the North London derby, the same question could just be raised again, either keeping Cazorla or Ozil in the starting line-up.

At the moment, Cazorla is at the peak of his game, so for sure, for that no. 10 role, he’ll be my first pick. It’s not just his exceptional ability on the ball but his link-up play with the other brought the best of Alexis and certainly, Olivier Giroud. With the North London derby being as massive as the Man City game, it would be a shock if the Spaniard is elsewhere but in that no. 10 role.

The Liverpool Spirit

On a mental front, Arsenal need to keep their feet firmly planted. In this case, they’ve got to be realistic about their plans, take it one game at a time but still having the belief they can go on such run. Their rival, Liverpool’s run last season perhaps can be the perfect example.

As you can all remember, Liverpool were famously close to winning their first league title in the Premier League era. Obviously, the title for the 2013-14 season belonged to Man City, but looking back at Liverpool’s performances throughout the first half of that season, there’s never that much hint of a title assault for them. Having been out of the Champions League running since the 2009-10 season, finishing fourth was the ultimate objective. If I’m not mistaken, they drew 1-1 at West Brom due to a calamitous Kolo Toure error in the build-up to the game against the then-league leaders Arsenal, and never mind the title, top four started to look like an uphill battle for them.

Though, that game proved to be Liverpool’s turning point. Over the season, the world of English football was taken by storm by the attacking menace of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge (SAS) scoring goals after goals and in a breathtaking 20-minute spell, the two, Raheem Sterling’s pace and Martin Skrtel’s corner routine compound to Arsenal’s nightmare as they rip the North Londoners to shreds. Since then, they never looked back. With a run of 11 straight wins which included a 3-2 home win over fellow contender Man City, they looked like setting one foot on the title.

At the end of the day, due to the excessive concession of goals and costly slips against Chelsea and Crystal Palace, Man City pips them to the title. Though, it gives a lesson that anything is possible if you believe you can go on a run. It was not just Suarez’s goals, Sturridge’s goals playing the part in Liverpool’s unexpected rise, but with belief running through their veins, they proved the doubters wrong.

So, as an Arsenal fan, a mundane top four finish, defending the FA Cup title and a sustained run in the Champions League knock-out stage should constitute another solid season. Though, the Premier League have seen lost hopes reignited with a run of victories. Surely, Arsenal went on a 13-game winning streak in the 2001-02 season to win a tightly-contested title. I am not going over the moon, but nothing’s impossible.