Dear Unai Emery: 8/10/18

Dear Mr Unai Emery,

I respect your ability to select a team that you want to play. You don’t seem to select players due to their status but instead because of how well they played in previous games. I’ll get to the attacking selection in a moment but with all that being said, it was a surprise for me to see Mustafi starting again.

In my opinion, Mustafi has struggled with his role recently. He did not have the best game against Everton and he has found it hard to stay on his feet when defending. Mustafi is able to make defensive clearances in key moments. The problem is, though, he is not consistent and there have been many times where this inconsistency has left the team looking fragile at the back.

Thankfully, against Fulham, Mustafi made some important blocks in the first-half and played a part in keeping the team in the game. Hopefully, he can now start to pull off this kind of performance regularly - especially against the other teams in the top half of the table.

The attack force was the star of the show. I admire that you selected Welbeck and Iwobi to start. They deserve it considering their recent form. The team-up between Iwobi and Lacazette was phenomenal.

The goal from Lacazette during the 29th minute must have been your cup of tea since it started from Leno. A fine example of playing from the back. As the ball made its way down the left-hand side, the team showed the definition of teamwork. The combination between Lacazette, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan and Monreal lead to a fine strike from Lacazette. He is on form at the moment.

There’s been a lot of talk of us being a second-half team. This game was no different. We hit about third gear in the first-half but, at that point, the opposition was still in the game. Fulham’s goal in the 44th minute showed this. Fulham showed that they have attacking qualities and the Arsenal boys could not keep them from scoring before the half-time whistle.

Even when Arsenal went 1-2 up, at the beginning of the second-half, Fulham still could have made their way back into the game. Leading up to the 60th minute, Fulham kept the ball and waited for a goal scoring opportunity. This led to a cross to Kamara who was sitting in the box. Unfortunately for him, he could not direct the ball into the net.

After your clever substitutions, the team seemed to hit fifth gear and the West London Lot could not stop us. Aubameyang came on for Welbeck in the 62nd minute and Ramsey came on for Iwobi in the 67th minute.

Whatever happened in the 67th minute was gold. Both substitutions were directly involved in the third goal for Arsenal and what a goal it was. After this, Arsenal was in full control of the game and played with fluidity and confidence which resulted in a 1-5 win.

English Talent Well, I was supposed to use this section to comment on the English talent in the Premier League, that could possibly come to Arsenal in the next transfer window, but then Emile Smith-Rowe happened… again.

Smith-Rowe did not just show energy and skill in the Europa League game against Qarabağ; he showed intelligence. He moved swiftly with the ball, made great passes and found great pockets of space in the box. Needless to say, he also scored an absolute scorcher of a goal in the week. I look forward to seeing him getting more minutes in the Arsenal first-team this season.

From

L. Thomas

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