Written by George Sezer Sunday, 16 January 2011 03:06

GunnerTalk Blog

By George Sezer

I am not sure if it was the changes that AW made or that the players were up for a Premiership game more than the cups, but this was much better from the team.

Out of sorts Arshavin was replaced by Nasri, Clichy reclaimed his left back spot, we had a proper defensive player in Song playing  in place of the ’not defensive midfield player’ Denilson and Van Persie, our World class forward was back in for Bendtler.

Judging by the names involved in the changes mentioned above it probably was the reason behind our revamped performance against West Ham. The harsh reality is Bendtler, who is turning 23 today and Denilson who will be 23 in next month are just not good enough and they are not so young anymore. The feedback I am getting from Gunnertalkers on our Gunner shout section point towards the same direction but I do have a case for Denilson for not fulfilling his potential; he is being played out of position. He is NOT a defensive midfielder by any stretch of the imagination; he is playing there because Le Boss does not want to spend on a cover for our only DM player Song. I wish I could say the same for our Danish forward but he unfortunately is all talk...enough said.

I do not want to take the polish out of what was a very good away win so I will stop with the negative vibes; mentioning Walcott’s name will do that very nicely. I really rate the young man for grabbing the opportunity to cement his place in the first 11 with sublime performances. Walcott was involved with all 3 goals we scored against West Ham; putting a low cross in for Van Persie to score our first goal with the aid of a clever dummy by Nasri in the 13^th minute, than scoring one himself when he reacted like a lightning to a cross by Van Persie 5 minutes before the break and earning a penalty for Van Persie to kill the game off in the 76^th minute when he was just too quick for their debutant Bridge. Poor Bridge, last thing he needed was facing Walcott in this form after so many months without a first team action. The English international could have helped himself to another goal when Fabregas found him with a ‘Fabregas special’ pass, chested the ball down brilliantly but his finish let him down on this occasion.

Van Persie was very unlucky not to score his first hat-trick for Arsenal when his low drive hit the bottom of the post. He seems to be getting back to his best which can be a very crucial factor for us in the run in. He also is building up a great understanding with Walcott and with Fabregas and Nasri combining well in the midfield areas, these 4 players are fast becoming our main strength going forward.

The rest of the team looked quite solid apart from a couple of unlikely lapses from Djourou given the performances he has been putting in recently. Koscielny had another solid game; he seems to be coming into terms with Premiership football, Szczesny enhanced his reputation with another good outing; made a great blocking challenge when Cole was through after a Djourou mistake. That is what good goalkeepers do; bail their team mates out time to time!

A good performance, great result, exactly what we needed to put our campaign back on the track.