For at least a couple of days we're top of the league! A nice run of form after that quite shite afternoon at Aston Villa.
I'd say a solid 3-1 win at the Stadium of Light, but there were moments where I wasn't so convinced. We got the 3 points though, so I'm convinced.
As good and solid as Ozil's debut was all the talk is and should be about Aaron Ramsey. His volley from the top of the box was as sexy as it comes. It was a pleasant surprise from the Welshman, and his performances continue to impress. I'm really glad for him too, of all the players on the field that 'deserve' to get themselves a couple of Man Of The Match's, a few goals and some straight up outstanding performances, Ramsey is top of that list for me.
When he was 'Shawcrossed' a few years back it took him a while to rediscover his form/potential and doubts were casted over whether he would ever come close to the player we were beginning to see when he was 17. I think it's now safe to say he's back to where he was and is rapidly fulfilling his potential.
New boy Ozil took 11 minutes of his Arsenal career to impress. Gibbs played a nice pass over the top, Mesut took one touch to bring it down and one more to cut it across perfectly to Giroud who's got 4 goals in 4 Premiership games now. Not too shabby.
Ramsey's second goal was thanks to a beautiful little passing triangle, something off the training ground, with Giroud giving the assist this time to Ramsey who calmly slotted it in past the Sunderland 'keeper.
As far as the team as a whole, Arsenal are back to getting me excited. Yes they intentionally fuck with you and allow teams like Sunderland get 18 shots off, and Walcott has a laugh when he missed 4 clear goal scoring opportunities but all in all it's some good football we've been watching recently. It's a bit like when your 15 and on your first week of school your Maths teacher, wearing 'that' blouse, leans over and shows you the the magic. You think to yourself, "This year won't be that bad, I'm quite looking forward to it."
Same goes for this season. Yes, we're light and are inevitably going to struggle with injuries (probably sooner rather than later evidently), but you can't help but get excited about what we're seeing.
With Ozil showing incredible promise there also comes some negatives from the last few days. Cazorla looks to be out for a couple of weeks with an ankle injury, Mertesacker missed the Sunderland game, but will hopefully be back against Marseille on Wednesday as he was suffering with the same sickness Ozil had on Friday, and now we have to worry about Olivier Giroud. Or do we? He's come out on Twitter and said he's OK, but I'd feel more comfortable if the boss came out and gave us a warm glass of milk, slowly stroked my forehead and in a soft, soothing voice told me Giroud as fine and everything was going to be ok. Is that asking too much?
The team are off to Marseille on Wednesday to play their first Champions League group game. A tough group with Napoli and Dortmund in there too. But let's look at it from the angle that these are going to be 6 entertaining games against three top clubs, as opposed to playing teams we've never hear of from Uzbekistan.
One last shout out to the Gooners who took the trip to Sunderland. Such amazing, dedicated and loyal away fans we have supporting this club. Our players are lucky to have such great support away from The Emirates.
Allez Arsenal! Nous gagner le match ce mercredi! (I think)
