‪It is a fortunate coincidence that the adopted blog schedule fell directly on one of my favorite days of the year – Boxing Day! After a couple of dragging results, it was a treat to see Wenger switch up the lineup to start Giroud and Gibbs! ‬

We dominated the first half with stats including 80% Possession, 498 passes to their 111, 90% pass accuracy, and 42% of match time played in the final third. Still, we had to wait for a late Giroud header off of a cross from Ozil before we could breathe again. The performance was rather comfortable, but it was exactly the performance that was needed to get our focus back. Watching the replay of the match will show just how solid and important some key players, specifically Coquelin and Koscielny, truly are.

‪I, like many others, so nearly bought into the belief this season. Readers will know that I generally have a reasonably optimistic outlook, but there is no reasonable explanation for the combination of events that have led us to the current outlook in the league. Writing this before the result of the Boxing Day match against West Brom, I want everyone to put the recent results into perspective. If we look back at a season with losses to only Liverpool, Everton, and Manchester City, we’ll be proudly celebrating!

‪The anxiety-ridden status that Arsenal fans have found themselves in is a result of a familiar problem; the team has not taken the opportunity to break looming thresholds. It’s sad that this mentality applies at multiple levels. There were positive changes in the manager’s approach toward the beginning of the season, but the players have not stepped up to solidify dominance on the league. It seems like the team needs to go behind in matches before showing the willingness to grind for the win. Lastly, Arsenal has squandered multiple chances to get to and stay at the top of the league! These three concerns have been amplified by watching us dive down the table to fourth place, directly after drawing Bayern Munich in the Champion’s League. ‬

‪Find us on back to back Head2Head on RunRideDive.com for Matchweek 19 and Matchweek 20! This is an ITKS competition with an explanation required, and it was super fun when I was able to get involved last season. Click here to link to that post and check out the great work on RunRideDive through the links in the article or on the Friends page!‬

• Head2Head Week 19 with RunRideDive.com (click link)