By Daily Sports on September 20, 2017

Many times last season and after Arsenal’s devastating 0-4 loss away at Liverpool in Week 3 of the English premier league, you'd be forgiven to think that the club’s star player Alexis Sanchez was being held as a prisoner at Arsenal. That’s if you are new to football and just happened into a football viewing center in Nigeria after Arsenal lost a game.

The sight of a distraught Sanchez, squatting on the pitch, grimacing after a loss by the Gunners, would evince a “let them let him go” by fans of the club and others who feel that the super-charged energetic display and overall talent shown by the Chilean attacker cannot be matched by his teammates and that, seeing he has refused to sign a contract renewal with his current contract winding down in a few months, the best option is to let him go to a club that ‘deserves his talents’.

The other star player at Arsenal, Mezut Ozil, is a different player when it comes to body language. A bundle of technical passing skills, Ozil has been hammered by many critics for his laid back style of movement during games and the label ‘lazy’ has been thrown at him many times.

Just like Sanchez, his contract is running down in a few months time and he too has refused to renew it. And though Ozil is seen as divisive in terms of assessing what he brings to Arsenal, there’s a general consensus that he and Sanchez are Arsenal’s best players, as reflected in their high pay package in comparison with the rest of the Gunners squad.

Arsenal on their part have underlined the importance of the duo by refusing to sell them in the just past transfer window, instead opting to take the risk of losing them for free next year.

When Arsenal faced Chelsea last weekend and the teams list were announced, many feared for Arsenal as there were no Sanchez and Ozil in the starting eleven against the premier league defending champions.

It was an interesting opportunity for the rest of the Arsenal team though to show that they can survive without the much-talked about duo and they took the chance fantastically as Arsenal were generally the better side in the 0-0 draw away to Chelsea at the latter’s Stamford Bridge home.

Former Arsenal star Martin Keown analysed the performance of the Gunners in the match and I would like quote him here to summarise my own thoughts:

“There has been so much fear at Arsenal of losing Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. This excellent performance at Chelsea without them made you wonder what all the fuss was about.

“Without these two, Arsenal were much better defensively. They were disciplined, worked together and pressed as a unit to close down Chelsea.

“This was the first time that Chelsea have failed to score at Stamford Bridge under Antonio Conte. When Chelsea were in possession, Arsenal put them under such pressure they made Gary Cahill look like he could not pass.

“How many times do you see Sanchez flying forward to press and no one coming to join him? Arsene Wenger has not been brave enough to leave out Ozil but how much does he offer the team?

“With midfielders working around him, get Aaron Ramsey was able to get on the ball more. He ran the show in midfield and it was his best display for years.

“For this Arsenal team, it was a chance to step up and prove that they did not need Sanchez and Ozil to perform.

“I am not saying that these two should be frozen out. Sanchez did well when he came on and both men still have a part to play.

“But from now on, every player must adopt this level of organisation in tricky away games. This showed the strength of their XI is better than any individual.”

Source Daily Sports

Posted September 20, 2017

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