Arsenal have won their last 9 matches in all competitions. This winning run has come as a surprise to many given how they started the season with back to back losses. The first 3 wins were matches against generally weak opposition but Arsenal won by only 1 goal in each of those 3 matches. The 1st clean sheet did not come until the 5th win. The other 2 clean sheets were achieved in the 7th and 8th wins. The 9th win was a sublime show of strength from a team that has not been burdened with high expectations.

# Low Expectations

Considering what happened to Manchester United after the retirement of its longest serving manager, little was expected of Arsenal after the resignation of its longest serving manager. Both Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger had served for over 2 decades.

## UEFA Champions League > UEFA Europa League

The appointment of Unai Emery to replace Arsène Wenger was another reason for low expectations. Despite winning 3 consecutive UEFA Europa League competitions with Sevilla, Unai Emery is no Zinedine Zidane. As manager of Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane won 3 consecutive UEFA Champions League competitions. It did not help that a mere 8 days after Unai Emery was appointed, Zinedine Zidane became available after resigning from his post at Real Madrid.

# 2nd Half Goals

Arsenal's last non-win was a 3-2 away loss to Chelsea. Arsenal came from 2 goals down to finish the 1st half at 2-2. Chelsea won the match in the 2nd half and since then Arsenal have not failed to score a 2nd half goal in all competitions. Of the 29 goals Arsenal have scored this season, 20 of them have been 2nd half goals, 7 of the 20 being winning goals. In other words, 7 of the 9 wins have been won by 2nd half goals.

# Players

## Goalkeepers

The signing of Bernd Leno had seemed to spark some life back into the great but aging Petr Čech. With the recent injury to Petr Čech, Bernd Leno now has the opportunity to prove that he is a worthy heir.

Fun fact: Bernd Leno has the unfortunate record of having conceded more goals to a single player in a single game than the former unpopular Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia. Lionel Messi scored 4 past Manuel Almunia while at Arsenal and 5 past Bernd Leno while at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, both in single UEFA Champions League matches.

## Defenders

Héctor Bellerín and Shkodran Mustafi seem to be making less and less major blunders. The experienced Sokratis Papastathopoulos is somewhat dependable and can form a Greek connection with the youthful Konstantinos Mavropanos. Rob Holding is still on the right track to being a great defender. Sead Kolašinac is a worthy heir but Nacho Monreal is ageless! Stephan Lichtsteiner can lead and can also produce exquisite long passes from deep. Laurent Koscielny will have something to prove after missing out on a World Cup winning campaign with France due to injury.

## Midfielders

Lucas Torreira is Arsenal's most influential player so far this season despite only starting 4 matches. His 7 second half appearances, 2 of which were in the 2 losses suffered, have been noteworthy performances. the following tweet sums up his last performance:

Granit Xhaka's free kick goal probably kept him in the team as he loses possession way too much. Mattéo Guendouzi is more energy than experience. Henrikh Mkhitaryan can produce exquisite low crosses and has a telepathic understanding with the deadly Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Mesut Özil chips while Aaron Ramsey sweeps, both entertain more than win matches. Arsenal fans are disliking Alex Iwobi less and less. Emile Smith Rowe has earned himself another opportunity to earn even more opportunities.

## Forwards

With their performances, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with 6 goals, and Alexandre Lacazette, with 5 goals, are forcing Unai Emery to change from his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation to a hybrid 4-4-2. Danny Welbeck, with 4 goals, is proving to be a capable deputy.

# Season Objectives

Arsenal seems to be on course to achieve its objectives this season: to get back into the UEFA Champions League and to finish above Tottenham in the Premier League.