With Arsenal fans having had a keen eye on the Leicester City versus Stoke and West Ham United versus Manchester City games today, Gooners in the Football Transfer Tavern know that they must take care of their own business against Chelsea tomorrow.
The Blues defeated the Gunners 2-0 earlier in the season in a game whereby tensions ran high after Diego Costa contributed to Gabriel Paulista’s sending off.
Revenge will be on the mind of Arsenal fans tomorrow afternoon although when you look at the stats, Arsene Wenger’s team haven’t even registered a single goal against the Blues in the last five head-to-heads between the London rivals.
While Jose Mourinho had a lot to do with that of course, Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea side are still unbeaten under his second coming and Arsenal will have to take the game to the Blues in a way that is far more convincing than previous efforts.
For all it was great remaining undefeated after two difficult away games at Liverpool and Stoke, four points were still dropped and at this stage of the season, there is minimal room for error in such a tight title race.
But before the Gunners’ big game tomorrow, we’re lightening the mood while taking a look at who punters by the bar believe to be Arsenal’s FIVE most improved players so far this 2015/16 campaign.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five most improved Arsenal players so far this season.
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Joel Campbell
Perhaps it’s a bit much to call Joel Campbell this season’s Francis Coquelin giving the Frenchman was absolutely incredible on his comeback to the team last season but the Costa Rican is going about rebuilding his status in the best way having been tremendous in Alexis Sanchez’s absence.
Unpredictable is probably the best word to describe Campbell’s status in this current Arsenal team but it seems that opposition defences don’t know how to cope with his energetic style at the moment having got up and down the pitch well in recent outings.
Having improved his assisting abilities in recent games too, Campbell’s all-round game is improving due to being in the team on a week-to-week basis and it’s great for Arsenal fans to see considering they’ve been willing him to take his chance for a long while now.
Nacho Monreal
Signing a new long-term deal with the club this week, Nacho Monreal’s performances seem to keep stepping up a notch having truly rid himself of his previous status.
Often lamented as a liability at the back who didn’t really offer anything going forward either, Monreal is now one of the first names down on the team-sheet and the reason that Kieran Gibbs’ overall development is rather stunted at the moment with the England international unable to lay his claim as Luke Shaw’s ideal replacement at Euro 2016.
This is all credit to Monreal who has proved one of the most consistent members of this Arsenal squad in recent times.
Mesut Ozil
The 2015/16 campaign will always be remembered by Arsenal fans as the season whereby Mesut Ozil came to the party and how!
We’re now seeing the very best of the German international on a week-to-week basis in the Premier League with Ozil’s assisting abilities there for all English football fans to see.
Looking every inch worth his £42.5 million transfer fee now, Ozil’s eye-of-the-needle passing and the weight of his assists is what separates him from the rest and Gunners fans will be hoping he remains in the team from now until May after missing the Stoke game last Sunday.
Mathieu Flamini
He’s not every Arsenal fans’ cup of tea but you can’t deny that Mathieu Flamini is something of a Gunners cult hero having gave his all for the North London club in two separate spells.
While we know that the Gunners can upgrade on the Frenchman, he’s still gone about every game with maximum effort and to be honest, since Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin’s injuries, Flamini has actually done rather well in the middle of the park.
The best thing you can say about Flamini of late is that you haven’t noticed he’s been there and that’s a good thing because it means he’s been disciplined in the centre of the park instead of making rash tackles and picking up yellow cards like he has in the past.
Improving his game and staying on the field to contribute in a positive way lately, Flamini definteiyl deserves a mention.
And after all, who could forget the way he single-handedly eliminated Tottenham from the Capital One Cup in the third round earlier this season!
If that didn’t endear him, we don’t know what will!
Alex Iwobi
While he may be only just starting his Arsenal career, we think Alex Iwobi deserves a mention in this ‘most improved’ gallery considering 2015/16 has been the season in which he has made the step up into Arsenal’s first team.
While he’s been included many times due to injuries to first team squad members, any young Arsenal academy product deserves credit for making appearances in Arsene Wenger’s first team due to the fact that so many have failed to do it before.
You only have to look at the likes of Benik Afobe who didn’t ever really make a breakthrough at Emirates Stadium and with Iwobi having impressed on his few cameos to date, we think he’ll only get better and just look where he is now compared to the same stage last season in the Under-21 ranks.
A clear improvement in our book!
