Arsenal have had an incredible record away from home in the Premier League this season and manager Arsene Wenger says the reason is playing with more ‘freedom’.
Having dropped only two points away from home in their last six games, the Gunners remain one of the contenders for the Premier League title midway through the season. Ironically, though, they’ve dropped more points at home in recent weeks – with draws against Tottenham and Middlesbrough – but rounded off another impressive away victory with a 5-1 thrashing of West Ham in the Olympic Park.
“I felt that maybe we play with freedom away from home,” the manager told Arsenal’s official site.
“We face a bit less defensive, less compact defensive blocks than at home.
“At home, recently, maybe we lost a bit of patience sometimes when it didn’t come off early in the game.
“Today, away from home, we played maybe with a little bit less pressure to make the difference quickly and are a bit more patient.
“This team has mental quality and focus. I cannot fault their attitude, they have been very strong on that front.
“Hopefully now we can maintain the quality of our performances week in, week out because December is a very important month in England and it’s important for us to maintain that level.”
Arsenal currently sit in second in the Premier League table after fourteen games behind London rivals Chelsea while Liverpool failed to keep the pressure on Antonio Conte’s men having lost 4-3 away to Bournemouth – a contender for the match of the season.
Arsenal’s demolition of West Ham highlighted an aspect of their game a lot of people aren’t giving credit for. They can be direct when needed and they can play with flair when they need to.
Against the Hammers, flair worked in the opening minutes but Slaven Bilic’s men turned the screws and made it a lot harder of the Gunners to play through the lines.
And just while they might have looked like a side ready to implode, up stepped Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who all scored – with the Chilean grabbing another hat-trick.
Alexis is now tied with Chelsea’s Diego Costa as the top scorer in the Premier League while Mesut Ozil continues to surprise everyone by scoring more than he’s assisting making him another threat in this Arsenal side.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had another good game providing the assist for one of Sanchez’s goals and scoring a beautiful curler himself.
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