By Walter Broeckx
We had 3 changes in the final leauge match of the season. Gabriel came in the place of Koscielny in the centre of the defence. Aaron Ramsey was given a rest and Coquelin came in his place in midfield. Up front Walcott came in the place and Giroud was on the bench. So Jack would be at the centre of the attack as Jack Wilshere continued to play and made his 100th league appearance. And on the bench we had the return of Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The starting team : Ospina, Bellerin, Gabriel, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Coquelin, Cazorla, Wilshere, Ozil, Alexis, Walcott
On the bench: Szczesny, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud
Starting Theo paid off as within minutes he scored the opening goal. I would have loved to talk you through it but my stream went down just before and it only recovred after the last replay seeing the ball in the net. Oh well, I will take it anyhow. 1-0 to the Arsenal after 4 minutes. Edited later on: Theo got the ball, made some room for himself in the penalty area on the right hand side and then just hit it hard and clean in the opposite top corner. What a strike! What a finish!
Alexis with a low shot but this time the keeper could stop the effort. Arsenal keeping up the pressure and when another attack finished in front of Walcott he dribbled his way pas the last defenderd and poked it in the goal. 2-0 after 14 minutes! Both goals from Theo the new central striker! Theo going to the physio who had worked with him to make him fit again.
A corner from Arsenal after Theo again making a good run but the ball was cleared but it went to Gabriel who passed it on to Wilshere who volleyed it in from on the edge of the penalty area with a lovely volley just under the crossbar. What a goal! 3-0 to the Arsenal after 18 minutes. And just as Theo so did Jack and went over to the physio to celebrate the goal with him. What a way to celebrate your 100th league match.
Another fine attack from Arsenal starting with Wilshere intercepting the ball, to Alexis who gave it to Theo but this time the keeper could turn the shot away. Arsenal really treating their supporters so far. Alexis then again feeding Wilshere but his low shot was straight at the Myhill this time.
A foul on Cazorla just outside the penalty area near the corner flag gave Özil a free kick chance. He gave it to the unrushing Mertesacker but his shot was held by Myhill. A bit later a distance shot from Cazorla that was diverted in to a corner. Özil again with a great ball to Walcott who passed it back to Alexis but his shot was blocked by a defender and seconds alter Walcott with a too poke but it was too weak and Myhill could catch the ball.
This seemed a bit too much for nr. 25 of WBA who made sure that his shoulder went in to the face of Coquelin. Ref ignored it. Wilshere then with another attack going through the middle after a fine 1-2 with Alexis, the ball going to Cazorla who passed it to the far post and Walcott was there to tap in his hattrick. 4-0 after 37 minutes.
Özil with a great defensive action to stop a possible WBA shot and “lazy” Özil setting up Theo at the other and but Myhill could palm his low shot out of the goal. Ref then inventing a foul in favour of WBA a few meters outside the Arsenal penalty area and the shot took a deflection but Ospina could smother the shot. Özil at the other end with yet another brillant pass but for once Cazorla his techique let him down and the ball went out for a goal kick. Seconds later again Wilshere after a great attack but the goal bound shot was diverted by a defender.
4-0 at half time after a real masterclass by Arsenal with Theo showing his finishing ability when completely fit.
Bellerin got a yellow card when he came in too late on Morrison near the corner flag. But the resulting free kick was flicked very wide by WBA skipper Olson. Be careful Hector don’t get a second card!
Özil with a great dummy after a pass from Alexis but Walcott couldn’t get to the ball that ran out. Coquelin with a great ball to Bellerin and then he tried a volley bit it got a touch from a defender. Cazorla got the ball tried a curler that was palmed out by Myhill and Walcott couldn’t get his leg aroung the ball to make his fourth goal.
My stream then went down and I just saw a replay of a headed goal after a corner for WBA. Ospina didn’t get to the ball in time and was beaten. 4-1 after 57 minutes.
Arsenal no longer running riot as in the first half but a lovely turn from Özil got him some space but Theo just couldn’t reach his cross. WBA being a bit more adeventerous but not really much danger came from it. Ramsey and Giroud making themselves ready and they came in the place of Coquelin and Theo Walcott after 68 minutes. A big round of applaus for both players going off.
Gibbs seemingly suffering from his left shoulder but game continued and Alexis had a low shot saved by Myhill. The rain was coming down now at the Emirates. Alexis being just that little bit unlucky with his actions that just wouldn’t come off. Brunt on the other side with a shot that was well saved by Ospina and the rebound was shot over by Gardner. With 15 minutes to go Wilshere came off and Oxlade-Chamberlain came on after his injury for the first time. Great to see him back!
Arsenal now with no defensive midfielder any more so it was down to the midfielders to be disciplined when it came to defending. Özil setting up Ramsey with a shot from just inside the penalty area but it cannoned off the post with a big bang. And hardly a minute later Ramsey again with a great shot but this time Myhill could get a hand to it and it ended up against the post again. Unlucky! And again a minute later Ramsey with shot that went wide this time.
At the other end a low shot from Baird but Ospinae could stop it in two attempts.
The match was slowly nearing the end with both teams trying to add a goal but you could see a few legs getting tired. Dawson with a good block on Oxlade-Chamberlain and at the other side Ospina almost spilled a shot from Gardner but luckily for the keeper it bounced up on the crossbar in to a corner.
Arsenal ran riot in the first half then relaxed a bit in the second half but they could have scored a few more goals in the second half but the goal posts wouldn’t want to know anything about that. Theo went back on the field to collect the ball after his fine performance. 4-1 the final score. Arsenal finishes in 3rd position in the league and that looked completely impossible for the non believers during the first half of the season.
Up to next week. Up to Wembley. Up to the Emirates!
Congratulations to the team, a year with a bit of transition, a difficult start, one of the worst injury spells I can remember, but in the end, third place, finishing above one of the big boys and two media darlings, and no tricky qualifier.
And still the chance for the icing on the cake next weekend.
I really hope theo stays….
Thanks Walter for this and all the reports this league season.Ditto Mandy’s comments above.
COYG!
Just doing my hobby Kenneth 😉 Still trying to think about next week as I will be in the Emirates and will not have a laptop at my disposal during and after the match….
I tried my Phone last year but it jammed at the Emirates and I am still paying my Phone company for the internet connection that somehow kept on running and running….
Congaltulations for Arsenal!
3rd pace is an achievement when you had 4th position in $$$.
Comparing this league seson to the last one:
4 pts less
+3 goals scored
-5 goals conceded
this and last year games with goal difference:
-6 0 1
-5 0 0
-4 0 0
-3 0 2
-2 2 1
-1 5 2
0 9 7
+1 10 6
+2 4 13
+3 7 5
+4 0 0
+5 1 0
In short: no more crunching defeats. At last a spanking made. From statistical point of view last season was a fluke, that the goals had such a weird distribution.
Certainly appreciated Walter- both yours and Tonys hard work and everyone who published articles this season, and all the great people who post on UA, thank you!!Its tough work to keep a blog going.I hope that you get a way to do the report(the fastest uploaded game reports in the West!) next weekend Walter– the phone situ from year sound like a nightmare!
Thanks again everyone! Onto the Cup final we march!
COYG!!!
Theo now has three of the last four hat-tricks on the board inside the ground. I pass it on my way in through gate J. The previous one was well over two years ago. About time we had another entry on that board. Just need him to sign a new contract now.
One more game to go.
COYG
Well done the team, some very fine play over the duration of season and certainly a breathtaking first half today.
Also – nice to put Pulis away by a fine score – esp after his hugging of the Odious One last week!
Lets hope we can keep our concentration for one more match & then enjoy a good summer – with much to look forward to next season.
Who should we sign in the summer – one player only for me – “Mr Video Technology” – should save us a lot of points!!!
I see Gerrard has played his last game for Liverpool – flippers in the bin? 🙂
Congratulations Gunners!
At one point, I started day dreaming. I think if scores had of stayed the same except for us scoring another 3 goals, I think we could have caught Chelsea for goals scored and goal difference. And then WBA scored and ruined the math.
How did the Ox look today? Ready for a longer shift in the FA Cup?
One player? For me, the Terminator. Let’s get rid of 😈 Mike Riley.
Not to indulge in meaningless transfer gossip, but a lot of chatter that a Chilean mate of Alexis will be joining us after the Copa America. Which of course means Vidal is off to Utd!
bjt-the rumours are that Brendans don e his last too and Klopps coming…cheers Gord for all the stats and facts this season.
Well done guys , ending with a bang ! Lets hope we do the same at Wembley next weel and , then the party can start in ernest !
WOO HOO , HOO !
Up the Gunners !
Interesting Kenneth. Strange goings,on at Liverpool, I am not his biggest fan, but think blaming everything on Rogers may not be addressing the real causes……such as who really was behind some of their transfers. Mind you Rogers did not help himself when he said categorically they would not do a Tottenham with the Suarez money. The things people say!
Would Klopp go there without CL? Could be a job at Real as well, unless they really do go for Benitez
Glad I could help Kenneth. You don’t think fat Sam to Liverpool? 🙂
—
Wenger’s interview is up. No new injuries.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150524/wenger-on-victory-walcott-and-wilshere
‘You may think that the grass is greener on the other side, but if you take time to water your own grass , it will be just as green !’
To all AKBs worldwide , thank you for taking care of OUR grass – may it remain green forever !
As for you , yes, you ! Keep on pissing on the grass , and keep on wondering why it turns yellow !
With this 3rd position and a win in the FA cup will give a boost to the guys to challenge for the title next season… Wish the guys goodluck in the Final…COYG
Never sacrifice happiness for the sake of achievement.
The real key to life is to happily achieve.
Robin Sharma
With another sarcastic remark (I guess this is what happens to me after living through 3 days of garage sales), what we really need today is for Stewart Robson to chirp up on TalkShite about Wilshere needing to leave Arsenal.
—
From Wenger’s interview.
>> on Wilshere wanting to stay at Arsenal…
> He wants to stay at the club? I hope so! He has been educated here and he’s Arsenal through and through. He and Kieran Gibbs are. He arrived at nine years of age and Gibbs at 12. You want them to be the future of the team and the core of the team.
I wonder who this mental giant of a journalist was, that asked him if Wilshere was staying?
Congratulations Arsenal! Good result to finish the season in style. Hoping for the icing on the cake on Saturday. And can’t wait for next season to start, hopefully by putting maureen in his place in the community shield.
Gord
To be fair I think it’s an inevitable question following a big exclusive he gave to Oliver Holt in the Mail On Sunday, where we had the following:
‘Following rumours that he will be offloaded by Arsene Wenger, and sold to Man City in the Summer it was asked, do you expect to be at Arsenal next season?’
‘Yeah’, he says. ‘I would be hurt if they sold me’ ‘I want Arsenal to want me. So if they didn’t want me, it would hurt………’
So I think it stems from that article, which in turn stems from the typical rumours we expect for our players this time of year.
Anyway it all seems a load of old codswallop.
On a more important note, THEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
My favourite is back with a bang. To be fair he had been showing real signs in the cameos he’s had these last couple of weeks, so it’s great, and not unexpected, to see him back amongst the goals.
Looking forward to seeing the highlights tonight.
With very little actual football for the media to create news about for the next 75 day, the only real news about our great club will be found on the club’s website. If it on the website it is true.
If its in the media then it has been invented designed – written – claimed in order to get us to read the rubbish.
Congratulations to the team and all the back room staff at Arsenal.
One more game to go. Can’t wait.
COYG
People often talk about Match of the day. WaleOnline had the final tally for 2014/15, but not in any format I could directly use (so no URL).
How Often Did a Team Show Last?
Swansea 10
Sunderland 9
CPalace 9
AVilla 8
Stoke 6
Burnley 5
Everton 4
Hull 4
Leicester 4
Liverpool 4
Soton 4
New 2
WBA 2
WHam 2
ManU 1
QPR 1
Ars 0
Chelsea 0
ManC 0
Spurs 0
How Often Did a Team Show First?
Chelsea 12
ManC 7
Leicester 5
ManU 5
New 5
Ars 4
Burnley 4
QPR 4
Spurs 4
WBA 4
Hull 4
Everton 3
Sund 3
WHam 3
AVilla 2
Liverpool 2
Soton 2
Swansea 2
CPalace 1
Stoke 1
Mandy, I also agree with you re Rodgers and the problems at Liverpool. To me Klopps a maverick so I’m not sure RM and he fit? But my guess is as good as anyone’s, and I could well be wrong.Certainly the Liverpool team didn’t do Rodgers any favours to keep his job today, must be embarrassing to be a L’Pool fan tonight or anyone involved with the club.
Jambug, echo your thoughts on Theo. Really, really pleased for him.Jack on fire today too!
Greetings Untolders!
Nice to finish the league on a high. Now let’s finish the season with a bang on Saturday.
Come on you awesome Gunners!
Serious magic: Jack and Theo and Mozart stays!
Maybe he’ll become a coach for us at some stage, both on and/or off the field.
Joy in this world!
Congratulations untolders, what a season.
The doubters have their tails between there legs,let’s keep their heads ringing, ding ding do and take the Fa cup if 4th is a trophy what about the real trophy, cheers.
Congrats to the whole team. Ending the season on high…oh Theo oh dear, how much we missed your pace, runs behind defenders and goals.
Let’s add the icing on our cake with another FA cup trophy next week, take a breath and beat Chelsea just as we beat City in CS last season.
Unpredictability of Arsenal team selection is what I am looking forward to next season. What a good headache for Arsene to have.
COYG
An excellent finish to a testing season, bot mentally and physically. Great to see the team clicking, and the aaa back in the seweres where they belong. COYG, one more match, let’s finish this!
Interesting , no Szcz in goal, will he miss the cup final?
Congratulations Jack Wilshere, MOTD goal of the season, he has won it two years running, upsetting Alan Shearer in the process!
@Mandy wasn’t that a great sight Jack wins & The Shearer wants another sheep.
Certainly enjoyed that one! Danny Murphy seemed a bit miffed as well to enhance the occasion. Great strike from Jack, much better goal than the hit and hope goal popular with Shearer. The boys have scored some amazing goals this season, good to see MOTD fans have better judgement than the pundits
Some fake news –
http://fakemalaysianews.com/2015/05/25/overweight-usj11-rat-claims-camera-adds-20-pounds/#sthash.zDGY16qD.dpbs
Wonderful game lads. Theo’s back, just hope they agree terms soon so we can all sleep peacefully.
Now for the FA cup. Aston Villa will be doing all they can to get one over on Arsenal, expect close closing downs and them trying to upset our riddim to stop us playing. As long as we are not TOO over confident and slip up, it should be ours.
I have a strange feeling though we will have to battle against the ref too.
Walcott’s finishing, movement, and positioning were all superb today, but I feel we’re getting a little carried away here. WBA were complete garbage. They were well and truly in dead rubber mode. We, on the other hand, wanted to prove that we could finish a chance after being unable to score for three games.
Remember also that the main complaint about Walcott when he returned from injury is that he often went completely missing in games, and didn’t do the closing down and tracking back that is now the focus and expectation of our forward line. Today’s game was all Arsenal. What will Walcott do when we’re playing better or more committed opposition?
All that to say, he’s a quality player, Wenger is keen, and I imagine he’ll stay, but I don’t think today’s display makes any difference about the club’s intentions, as Wenger rightly says.
Mandy
Re Jack winning Goal of the season:
“Great strike from Jack, much better goal than the hit and hope goal popular with Shearer.”
I know. He had a face like a slapped arse. Hilarious.
Personally I’m not sure Jacks was the best. I think I may of gone for Defoes, but Jacks was certainly a special goal.
The one thing I do know is that I’ve never been that impressed by goals from the half way line.
Not technically that difficult and as you say, definitely a heavy dollop of the ‘hit and hope’ about them.
Not sure it is the best goal of the season either Jambug, can think of a couple Sanchez contenders that didn’t even get a mention. Some wonderfull goals were selected as contenders, as you say, Defoe, would add Mata and Zamora, but any selection of an Arsenal players that pisses off the pundits is good for me. The team have done rather well in public voting things this year, with several fans players of the month coming our way, in stark contrast to players names…..for example on Garth Crooks players of the week and such the like.
Either Arsenal fans have a massive online voting presence, the public have very different opinions to pundits, or maybe a combination of both, but long may it continue!
Wiltshire has scored 6 goals for Arsenal.
One third of those were goals of the season.
The boy’s a bit special….
Wilshere is very special, that’s why the cloggers and their ref allies are out to disrupt his career at every opportunity, then they have the media blame the way Jack plays for his injuries, despite clear evidence many are trying to break his ankle. Like the latest injury, the media blamed Jack, not Paddy McNair, and the ref just pretended it didn’t happen.
Mandy Dodd
“….would add Mata and Zamora, but any selection of an Arsenal players that pisses off the pundits is good for me.”
Precisely. 😆 By the way, Matas was Mrs Jambugs personal favourite as well.
Talking of his injuries, it was funny to see this in Oliver Holts article in the Mail on Sunday, and I quote directly:
“Wilshere is confident his injury problems are behind him. He sustained a stress fracture of the ankle when his body was still growing but subsequent issues have been caused by BAD TACKLES FROM DANIEL AGGER AND McNAIR.”
Funny how he mentions it now. I didn’t notice him sticking his head above the parapet with this back when his colleagues where all queuing up to blame Wilshere himself!
Mjc
Is that so?
As you say, the boy is certainly a bit special.
Isn’t democracy a bitch? If only some doofus political pundits would come on TV after Cameron was re-elected as PM (despite winning only about a third of the vote) and complain about why he would personally have preferred a different winner. Now that would have been something!
Wilshere won last year with what I think will be a goal of the decade contender yet all the talk was about Kasami’s great but not peculiar goal. I have the gif of that team goal as my screen saver and I am yet to be bored from watching it whereas we see goals like Kasami’s from time to time. The Wilshere team goal got over 50% of total votes (take that Tories!) showing how much the public appreciated it. But the pundits just whined and whined.
It is how democracy works. The people prefer Wilshere’s volley for 2014/15 goal of the season, the pundits should deal with it. If only the public could vote on some of their other utterances and verdicts.
Bootoomee
They ended up claiming it was at least partly due to some kind of Twitter campaign.
I don’t do Twitter so I wouldn’t know what they’re talking about, but it was nice to see them squirming in there seats.
Jambug,
They are just a bunch self important doofuses. If 2 pundits on the panel could not even agree on the best goal, how dare they whine about some Twitter campaign? Yet, these are the same people who tell managers to suck it up when they are victims of referees incompetence or bias.
Still no sign of Jayram…?
Michealram is here though, Pete.
Not saying much though are we Micheal?
See, life isn’t all bad.