1. Mesut Ozil
The German playmaker has reported attracted attention in the past couple of weeks from two of football’s biggest clubs: Manchester United and Inter Milan.
It is no secret to the footballing faithful that Ozil tends to take his eye off the ball, often literally, when he isn’t 100% committed and focussed on the game at hand.
His contract situation, running in parallel with Alexis Sanchez, certainly doesn’t help with Arsenal’s predicament of trying to turn the club from challenging for European places in the table, to title contenders.
Mesut Ozil needs to simply concentrate on his football, where when he is on top form, he is unplayable. An assist king, with a perfect weight of pass and sublime first-touch.
With Swansea City’s confidence even further on the floor after their midweek cup defeat to Manchester United, Ozil can capitalise on this, and provide another Man of the Match display, just like he did in Sunday’s 5-2 drubbing of Everton.
2. Wenger to trust youth?
In spite of all of the senior squad’s performances as of late, and Arsenal fans’ understandable levels of frustration, a great deal of praise must be awarded to the academy players currently in the transition between youth level and first-team.
First came Nigerian international Alex Iwobi who was given opportunities in the first-team in the 2015/16 season and shone.
Next came Reiss Nelson at the start of this season. With Arsenal finishing in a disappointing 5ht place, and playing Europa League football for this campaign, Wenger has placed faith in Nelson to play a role in all of Arsenal’s European games, and he’s put in great individual displays against the likes of FC Koln, and Red Star Belgrade.
Most recently came 18-year-old Eddie Nketiah, with two goals in the space of 30 minutes against Norwich City in the League Cup to give Arsenal a space in the last eight, and save them from an otherwise humiliating defeat.
With certain figures in the senior side, namely Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin, underperforming in recent weeks, maybe it is time Wenger bites the bullet and starts to include his youth players in the Premier League, rather than limit them to the cups?
3. Swansea's poor form
It is safe to say that Swansea City have been flirting with Premier League relegation for a couple of seasons now. In a way, it almost replicates what Sunderland and Crystal Palace have done in the past.
This season, the danger looks almost definitely real, as Paul Clement is struggling to pick up the points needed for Premier League survival.
Last season, memorable victories against Everton and Liverpool were the difference for the Swans. This season, they have only managed to pick up wins against fellow relegation favourites Crystal Palace and newly-promoted Huddersfield Town.
If they are to stand any chance of providing an upset away at Arsenal, then they need to turn their form around, and start playing football with passion and conviction.
4. Small 'Cojones'
Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin has come out in the last couple of days sharing his belief that the media are unfairly criticising Arsenal, and their supposed lack of ‘cojones’.
Watford striker Troy Deeney accused Arsenal of ‘losing their bottle’ when Watford equalised in the meetup between the two London teams two weeks ago. This was brutal honesty, which even the Arsenal fans have known about for a number of years now.
When comparing this Arsenal side now to the title-winning sides of years gone by, there is a distinct lack of leadership; someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck, and to drag their team to a victory.
The Gunners need to rectify this issue and find a leader with an almost bulldog-style spirit from within their ranks. Maybe if out-of-favour Jack Wilshere could improve on his poor injury record, and channel his passion and anger into the spirit of a captain?
Who knows? Maybe in the weekend game against Swansea, a leader will emerge from the Arsenal pack.
5. Fans vs Owners
Recent news has emerged that the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust urged shareholders to vote against the re-appointment of controversial board members Sir Chips Keswick and Josh Kroenke, son of controversial owner Stan.
This action is the epitome of the ‘rift’ descending between the Arsenal fans and the owners at the top of the club.
This will almost always have a negative effect on the pitch, as the team are stuck between the two.
Fan dissatisfaction has often resulted in the team giving away leads, losing their concentration and giving quite poor performances at home. Defeats to Watford and Liverpool (the latter a pathetic show) show that Arsenal need the fans’ ultimate backing in order to become a force once again.
Expect the majority of the fans to stick behind the team this weekend, and there shouldn’t be any reason why the Gunners can’t pick up three points.
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