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Jack Wilshere made his comeback to Premier league football after seventeen months, and still appeared to be the sharpest player on the field, until he was subbed. Arsenal played their regular style of football: dominating possession and spilling chances inside the box, much to the frustration of the fans at Emirates, who are on the verge of getting accustomed to this complex unclear philosophy of football that Wenger has been advocating. Well, with the absence of a Premier League experienced striker, Arsenal look to be wasteful each time they move the ball forward. Mark Hughes’ plan was obvious and too one dimensional to say the least. Their plan to exploit Andre Santos’ poor positioning and defensive skills, heavily relied on how well Wright Phillips and Bosingwa combined on that right flank, and Andre Santos, although was exposed yet again on many occasions, did manage to see the threat of Wright Phillips off. Podolski and Cazorla had to combine along the left flank, and Santos sat deep for most part of the game. Arsenal could afford to do this because QPR fielded a 2-man midfield, and Wilshere, who was in scintillating form, was very comfortably handling Granero and Diakite.
The first real opportunity in the first half came from a typical Sagna’s cross in, which was headed by Ramsey on to the cross bar. Jack burst past the midfield and a few minutes later, after a tidy one-two with Cazorla, took a shot on the target, which Julio Cesar almost spilt to Cazorla. Meanwhile, at the other end, Zamora was tightly marked, and there wasn’t much threat to Mannone’s goal, which was guarded masterfully by the Per-Ver pair. QPR got into the match after 20 odd minutes, and got into dangerous positions, but poor crosses from Wright Phillips didn’t really help their cause.
The second half saw the Gunners start with a much more positive intent. Much of the attack came from the right for Arsenal, which puzzled me a bit, more so because of the way Cazorla and Wilshere split the CDM pair of Diakete and Granero in the first half. Wilshere was subbed off with Theo, and Ramsey drifted towards the centre. Podolski was subbed off with Gervinho, who later on, after failing to impress due to injury, was subbed with Arshavin who eventually played a major part in creating the winner for Arsenal. The other guy who played an important part in that winner indirectly, was Mbia. His reckless/stupid challenge/stud-poke on Vermaelen earned him a straight red, at a vital point of the game, and a 10-man QPR always looked vulnerable against the determined bombardment of Arsenal attacks. The little Russian played his typical left-footed chipped in cross, which found Giroud’s head perfectly. Cesar put in a stunning performance in the second half, almost earning a well-deserved clean sheet with a few outstanding reflex saves. After Arteta buried the loose ball to put Arsenal ahead, the Gunners never looked comfortable to see the game off. Jamie Mackie had a fantastic chance to level the scores but he only managed to bring out a decent save from Mannone.
PIE’s CALL: All said and done, Arsenal get three points from the game and an impeccable performance from Jack Wilshere would surely lift the Gunners from their recent slump. For me, the red card was the turning point in the match. Till that moment of madness, QPR defended pretty well, and would have proved to be a difficult ‘wall’ to crack.
Man Of The Match : Mikel Arteta
Flop Of The Match : Wright-Phillips.
