For the Premier League’s current top two of Chelsea and Arsenal, this forthcoming weekend will see the London duo come up against two sides looking to secure their status in the top flight in QPR and Burnley, and according to our resident tipster in the Football Transfer Tavern, there will be no shocks on the cards.
That said, our resident Gooners are hoping that a somewhat resurgent QPR will continue to give it their all in a game that in rivalry terms, means a hell of a lot more to R’s fans than Blues supporters in the West London derby at Loftus Road on Sunday afternoon.
With the Premier League’s top two currently split by seven points, Arsenal are able to reduce this gap to just four points again courtesy of facing the Clarets in the Saturday teatime kick off at Turf Moor. The Gunners will then of course go on to play the Blues themselves at the Emirates Stadium on April 26th.
Elsewhere, an intriguing Manchester derby will be taking place on the same weekend and our resident Gooners are hoping that a draw plays out between City and United.
We still have our fair share of Arsenal fans who are dreaming of a first league title since 2003/04 and telling those who believe Mourinho won’t mess up to indeed shut up, the conversations are getting interesting by the bar this evening.
If Arsenal do want to realise their dreams this term, they can’t afford any more dropped points and all of this has got us wondering whether it is indeed these five players who are Arsene Wenger’s most important.
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Click on these loyal Gooners below to reveal the five candidates for Arsenal’s ‘most important’ players right now.
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Olivier Giroud
How many personalities from Arsenal have the ability to split an opinion? You have Arsene Wenger and then the likes of Jack Wilshere and then there is Olivier Giroud.
The French international striker has scored 10 goals in his last 10 appearances and although some Gunners fans often claim he isn’t capable of firing the North Londoners to a successful total triumph, who can argue with the vein of form he is in at the moment?
There is a train of thought from some regulars in the Transfer Tavern that suggests if Giroud didn’t stand at 6 ft 4 in, didn’t care so much about his hair and appearance, and well, wasn’t French, he may well achieve some of the praise reserved for the likes of Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero.
Then again, those that strongly believe he isn’t in the same class as those aforementioned stars claim he always has a Monaco-type performance within him.
That said, Giroud brings assured hold-up play that few others are capable of in the top flight and having now registered 41 goals in 90 Premier League appearances, we think that if he departed Emirates Stadium tomorrow, the Gunners would miss him.
Francis Coquelin
Just imagine for one second that Francis Coquelin wasn’t recalled from his loan spell at Charlton Athletic in December and instead arrived at the Emirates Stadium as part of a multi-million pound deal alongside Gabriel Paulista.
Praised tenfold since his renaissance in the Gunners first team, Arsenal fans were growing ever so tired of the lack of mobility and naivety of Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini in the defensive midfield role prior to Coquelin’s return and in credit to the young Frenchman, he has grasped his second chance admirably.
Metaphorically, perhaps he would’ve been praised even more for his adaptation to the Premier League had he been a big-money foreign import.
However, considering prior to his start away at West Ham United in March that his last Gunners start was back in that shock home FA Cup defeat to Blackburn Rovers in February 2013, his re-adaptation following an ordinary loan spell at Freiburg has been equally impressive.
Right now, Coquelin surely has to be one of the first names down on Arsene Wenger’s team-sheet.
Santi Cazorla
Out of all of the Arsenal squad, it is the smiling little Spaniard that is firmly a fan favourite at Emirates Stadium.
Receiving cries of ‘Oh, Santi Cazorla’ all season long, it is the former Villarreal man’s central midfield pirouettes and craft that single him out as one of the most talented attack-minded stars in the Premier League.
That said, in Jack Wilshere and Mikel Arteta’s absence through injury, Cazorla has grown used to more of an unfamiliar deeper role this term, performed almost perfectly in that ever so un-Arsenal like 2-0 triumph away at Manchester City in January.
Making the cut over the increasingly impressive Mesut Ozil given his success in adapting to a secondary role, Cazorla has often been the man for the big occasion for the Gunners who owe so much to his outstanding free-kick that ultimately brought a quickly spiralling-out-of-control FA Cup Final against Hull City back into the Gunners grasp last May.
Laurent Koscielny
Colloquially referred to by some Arsenal supporters as ‘Bosscielny’, this glowing tribute has been reserved for the French international given his uncompromising playing style.
Infamous fixtures in which Koscielny uncharacteristically faltered this term include Tottenham away and Monaco at home but it’s fair to surmise that every Arsenal fan is sleeping more comfortably when the former Lorient man is fit and lending his recovery pace and steel to defensive partner Per Mertesacker.
With the jury still firmly out on whether Arsenal can deliver the title with the German ‘who turns like the QE2’ in their starting eleven, there is a school of thought in the tavern that Mertesacker’s best performances are reserved for when he is partnering Koscielny. In other words he bails him out!
Thus, Koscielny firmly merits his place in this countdown and represents one of Arsene Wenger’s most shrewd signings at a slim reported £8.45 million.
Alexis Sanchez
You were waiting for him in this countdown weren’t you? Who could possibly leave out Arsenal’s number 17, Alexis Sanchez, who has dispelled the myth that big money foreign imports need to take time to adapt to the Premier League in their debut season *cough Erik Lamela*.
Going into the remaining weeks of the season with 14 Premier League strikes under his belt, Sanchez will probably miss out on landing the PFA Player of the Year Award with Chelsea’s Eden Hazard firmly the favourite but cast your mind back to the earlier weeks in the season and it was the Chilean who was single-handedly carrying the Gunners.
Before his strike against Liverpool in the Gunners’ 4-1 triumph at the weekend, Sanchez was struggling to get back on the goal trail but no real Arsenal fan could admit they were scared by this run of form with the ex-Barcelona man’s tireless tracking back and sheer enthusiasm always ensuring Arsene Wenger’s men have been on the front foot.
It is a credit to Arsenal’s current hot vein of form that Sanchez hasn’t been scoring as much as he did earlier in the season, with contributions from the likes of Olivier Giroud and elsewhere proving more than enough to go seven Premier League games undefeated since the *whisper it quietly* Harry Kane show on February 7th.
