As an Arsenal fan, you go into every match believing victory is possible even in the light of strong evidence to the contrary, but for me the wretched run of recent results in big away games has severely tested that faith.
Despite this, I was feeling cautiously optimistic on Sunday which might have all been down to Arsenal’s improved recent form and the absence of Yaya Touré from the Manchester City line-up, although the five bottles of beer I consumed before kick-off were definitely a factor!
The stage was set for me to wake up my wife and son (we are seven hours ahead of the UK here in Thailand) with some industrial strength swearing so what was most surprising about the win over Manchester City was not the result itself, but the almost effortless manner in which it was obtained.
I wouldn’t go as far as to describe the game as relaxing but it was remarkably stress-free. For once I didn’t find myself scanning the table in front of me to assess whether any of the objects immediately at hand were sufficiently replaceable to be smashed in a fit of rage.
After ten minutes I glanced at the clock and thought to myself ‘so far so good’ and it stayed that way for the entire game. I think the worst thing that happened was Laurent Koscielny picking up an early booking and this unexpected turn of events left me struggling to come up with a single subject to write about.
I’ve become accustomed to coming away from a key Arsenal game with such a strong sense of frustration that narratives immediately present themselves but on this occasion my mind was a beautiful blank, filled with happy, but totally non-specific, football related thoughts.
Three days later and I’m still happy! Moments of euphoria have been too far and few between for Arsenal fans this season so we might as well make the most of them but the one question currently on my mind is this; ‘did Wenger somehow stumble on a winning away formula by accident?’
Take Francis Coquelin, who in the space of a month has established himself as by far the most effective defensive midfielder in the squad. Wenger definitely gets credit for signing him as a 17-year-old but would he ever have broken into the first team if it hadn’t been for what, even by Arsenal standards, was an epic injury crisis?
There is no way Wenger sat down at the start of the season and thought to himself ‘Coquelin’s going to be a key player for us once he has got a few games in the Championship under his belt.’ The French midfielder was never supposed to get in a matchday squad, let alone the starting eleven, yet there he was driving Arsenal towards by far their best result of the season.
Héctor Bellerín is another example because, while Wenger gets credit for spotting his potential and promoting him to the first team, the 19-year-old started the season as the third choice right-back and was only in the side because of Mathieu Debuchy’s injury and Calum Chambers indifferent performances in that position.
It is a slightly similar story with Santi Cazorla, who might have played more first-team football than the other two but it has mostly been out on the flank. Without those injuries, the Spaniard would never have established himself as Arsenal’s main creative force in the middle of the park, leaving record signing Mesut Özil to contemplate the prospect of an extended spell on the substitutes’ bench.
I should make it clear at this stage that as the man who assembles the squad and picks the side, Wenger should get full credit for any success. He certainly attracts his fair share of criticism and abuse when Arsenal lose – so far be it from me to prevent the boss from basking in the glory of a famous away win.
However, seeing Coquelin, Bellerín and Cazorla in particular excel at the Etihad Stadium did make me wonder whether the performance would even have been possible if injuries hadn’t left Wenger in a position where he was forced to tweak his team selection and tactics.
At the start of the season, Wenger probably didn’t envisage setting up a side as defensively as Arsenal were on Sunday because his instinct is always to attack relentlessly regardless of the opposition. Without the likes of Mikel Arteta and Mesut Özil, he had to try something slightly different and on Sunday it worked a treat.
Manchester City may not have been at their very best but that performance sets a blueprint which Wenger can now dig out any time his team has a tough away fixture which should hopefully mean that heavy defeats at the homes of our rivals can become a thing of the past.
It leaves the manager in the enviable position of being able to decide not just when but whether he wants to integrate Kieran Gibbs, Mesut Özil and Theo Walcott back into the side and, for once this season, Arsenal fans are entitled to feel a bit optimistic.
From a personal perspective I am just happy that I was able to pour myself a celebratory whisky once the final whistle sounded, instead of furtively trying to brush away bits of broken remote control I didn not want my wife to find.
