Arsenal were crowned Champions of the Emirates cup on Sunday afternoon for the first time since 2010, after a 1-0 win which can only be described as a boring encounter between the Gunners and German side Wolfsburg.
The North London side only needed a draw after their dazzling performance against Lyon on Saturday afternoon where they recorded a 6-0 victory in their Emirates Cup opener, but Theo made sure that they were extra safe after his neat finish inside the first five minutes of the second half, which sealed the less inspiring 1-0 win, and the competition for the Gunners. This made it two out of two pre-season competition winners’ medals for the boys in Red and White, after success over in Singapore in the Barclays Asia Trophy.
The Emirates Cup is a great weekend as a whole, and gives fans that don’t get to come to the Emirates Stadium or see their team play often, if at all, the chance to come and watch their idols and role models play for real, and not just on a television screen in their front room. It offers a memorable day out for many, especially children, or a family out together, and gives them all an experience they’ll never forget, whatever the age.
However, on a more serious note, the Emirates Cup has many other benefits of the footballing side of things. So what exactly can we learn from this weekend
New Faces
Firstly, the Emirates cup is a great way for the boss to experiment and rotate the squad around, particularly allowing younger and newer faces to burst on to the scene. One player that really seemed to catch the eye of many and did this particularly well, was 17 year old French winger Reine-Adelaide. Every time he got the ball he seemed to do something with it, whether it would be taking a player on, simply keeping the ball and possesion, or finding a key pass, which he did just after half time, as he assisted Theo Walcott for the only goal of the game after playing him and very tidy through ball.
Jeff Reine-Adelaide certainly made a bold statement, and a name for himself around the Emirates stadium. He though, wasn’t the only player to get the chance to play in the not so prestigious pre-season tournament. Isaac Hayden and Chuba Akpom also got short runs out against Wolfsburg and Lyon, whilst Alex Iwobi started the game against Lyon on Saturday afternoon, and scored his first goal for the Gunners.
Plenty of Attacking Options Available
On the other hand, another factor that became quite clear is that Arsenal may not be as short of attacking options as some may have first thought.
Over the course of the weekend, there were no less than 3 strikers on show for the Gunners, made up by Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Chuba Akpom, and that’s without the injured Danny Welbeck or rested Alexis Sanchez, who like Walcott, is known to be a winger, but has the skill and attributes to play as a striker also.
Arsenal however, have a very attacking, goal scoring midfield that do contribute many goals a season, but many see it as the time has come for Wenger to burn a huge whole in his pocket, and really splash out on a 25 plus goals a season superstar Striker, that the Gunners have arguably needed for a very long time.
Packed Midfield
Before the season starts, it’s one of the very rare times, especially in Arsenal’s case, where most of the squad players are match fit and healthy. Over the weekend it’s become evident that Arsenal have a large amount of options available in the middle of the park and out wide, and even players that can do both.
Throughout the weekend, over both games Arsenal had a large number of midfielders on show, and not all were available.
Wenger has the depth and variety to change it around a fair bit, an example from Sunday afternoon’s game, Jack Wilshere found himself starting the game out on the left hand side of midfield, instead of his usual position which is more central. Instead, Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil and Mikel Arteta occupied the middle of the park. Ozil and Cazorla have also found themselves out wide in previous seasons, but seemed to have settled down in their better and preferred positions, leaving Wenger the choice of rotation, which is the perfect occasion to try out in the Emirates Cup.
A number of wingers were included too, including Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who was on fine form, scoring on Saturday afternoon and putting in an eye catching second half performance against Wolfsburg on Sunday, as well as newbie’s Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Alex Iwobi.
The weekend of Emirates Cup football has shown that Arsenal have strength, depth and variety in midfield, as well as the ability to change and rotate between the choices of available players Arsene Wenger has to choose from.
One thing we can learn from this is that its’s highly unlikely Wenger will go out and buy another midfielder, such as Marco Reus who seems to have been linked with the club for a lifetime, and instead concentrate on bringing a World Class Striker to the club.
Walcott Can’t Stop Scoring!
Theo Walcott was on the scoresheet again for Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, as he started the game as a Striker against Wolfsburg after not featuring until the 72nd minute the previous afternoon against Lyon.
The England international has been tough competition to French colleague Olivier Giroud for the Striker spot at Arsenal ever since he recorded a hat-trick against West Brom on the final day of the 2014/25 Campaign, after a long time out due to injury, that has really sparked his goal scoring form.
Walcott was then picked ahead of Giroud for the FA Cup final against Aston Villa where his thunderbolt of a strike with his weak foot sent Arsenal soaring to a consecutive FA Cup final win, whilst the Gunners picked up another 3 goals meanwhile.
Theo also found the net in Arsenal’s second pre-season game in Asia against Everton, where he scored the first of three in the Barclays Asia Trophy final.
This fine form from Walcott that has continued into the Emirates Cup has definitely given Wenger another Striking option, and gives the fans something to look forward to for the upcoming Premier League campaign. Walcott himself has shown that maybe after all these years, has found his true position in front of goal.
Winning Mentality
It’s quite clear to anyone who’s been watching Arsenal this pre-season, especially over the weekend, Gooner or not, that Arsenal have worked up a huge appetite over summer for wins and goals, which is music to thousands of Arsenals fans’ ears.
Over the pre-season so far, Arsenal have played four games, twice out on the clubs pre-season tour of Singapore, where they beat Singapore Select XI in the opener 4-0, before beating Everton in the final 3-1 to secure their first piece of silverware of the pre-season.
Then the Gunners continued their fine form back on English soil beating Lyon 6-0 on Saturday afternoon, before taking on Nicklas Bendtner’s Wolfsburg 24 hours later on Sunday afternoon, and winning 1-0 in a scrappy affair.
So far Arsenal have won four out of four games, racking up a total of 14 goals. This is exactly the sort of mentality the team needs to keep up as they go into their final pre-season game next Sunday at Wembley in the Community Shield against Premier League champions Chelsea, and into the start of their Premier League campaign, as they’re known for their sloppy starts from past years.
Continue this way, and keep up the consistency, then a real title challenge could be on the cards for Arsenal this season.
