The player who really drew attention, however, was Theo Walcott. The winger had a fantastic game, creating 5 chances including the assist for Van Persie. His crossing ability is often lamented, but with 2/8 successful and those 2 leading to both goals, he had a decent game in that respect. A passing accuracy of 79% is fantastic for a winger, but completing 18/22 final third passes for an 82% accuracy is even more impressive, considering how strong Gutierrez usually is in assisting the left-back for Newcastle, Santon on Monday night. He also only managed to be dispossessed on 2 occasions, but lost possession 24 times, the highest amount of any Arsenal player.
Chamberlain started on the left-wing and had a rather quiet game by his already exciting standards. Inconsistency is part and parcel of a young player though and fans will have to be patient with the 18-year-old and give him more of a chance than was offered to Walcott. He only had 26 touches of the ball, managed only 2 shots, both off target and completed only 6 passes in the final third all adding up to a disappointing performance.
Vermaelen appears to have returned fully to his gung-ho self after some questionable performances and put in an almost man-of-the-match display. I must admit, I was terrified at the thought of Ba against our defence, but Vermaelen was more than equal to the threat.
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His attacking threat is a potent weapon to the side. Combine his strength in the air and a thunderbolt for a shot with no side seeming to have a game-plan to deal with a centre-back who is willing to get forward as often as Vermaelen and Arsenal have an extra tool to break down stubborn defences.
If this game had have taken place last season you could almost certainly guarantee Arsenal would have lost or at the very least struggled. Wenger appears more willing to adapt tactically to each game as it comes and it served well against a Newcastle side who took the usual tactic sides take at the Emirates of sitting deep and countering, but were unable to pull it off due to Arsenal’s tireless pressing and the Gunners will be glad of the break before their upcoming trip to Goodison Park.
All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes a author privileges!) See Demo’s and videos about the Stats Centre & read about new additions to the stats centre.
