Kirby Lee – USA TODAY Sports
Arsenal got off to an abysmal start in 2012. It was one of the worst starts they’ve seen since their prolonged run in the English Premier League, but as the saying goes, it’s not how you start it’s how you finish.
Arsenal lost zero of their final 10 premier league fixtures, winning eight of them, to pull into a Champions League spot yet again, against all odds.
The team continues to grow together.
Soccer is one sport where chemistry is unequivocally the most useful tool a team can have. Even with players like Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, there is still the requirement of getting the ball to them. One player can not do it all. Arsenal understands this and has shunned going out and getting a big name goal scorer, choosing instead to build the team around a group of players.
Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla are the trio of midfielders that will run Arsenal. That is an incredibly potent trio to be feeding the ball to Theo Walcott, Lucas Podolski, and Olivier Giroud. The attacking force of Arsenal leaves no questions. As long as Wilshere can continue growing into the player he was expected to be, there’s no reason why he can’t turn into one of the premier midfielders in the league.
Defensively, Arsenal is as stout as they’ve ever been. Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Kocielny, Per Mertesacker, Bacary Sagna and captain Thomas Vermaelen have had some problems, particularly last year, but they also had some fantastic moments. Given more time to meld together into one cohesive defensive unit will benefit them to no end.
After outcries to sack Arsene Wenger and continued complaints about how Arsenal need to sign a big name guy, they continued their trend of focusing on building talent rather than buying. Sure enough, the season turned around into the fantastic finish that launched Arsenal into a Champions League spot.
Look for that success to continue as Arsenal’s controlled style of play dominates the Premier League.
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