If you hadn’t taken your seat and instead chosen to persist with the congested, mind-numbing queues that is the Emirates’ catering facility in the stadium concourse then no doubt you would have missed the large bulk of the game on Sunday afternoon.
The match kicked off at 4.00pm but in truth the game was taken out of Manchester United’s hands by 4.07pm in a short seven minute blitz from Arsenal. As first Alexis Sanchez found the deft touch to Mesut Ozil’s cross and a minute later Theo Walcott teed up Ozil himself to slot home for 2-0. The icing on the cake for The Gunners relentless start came when Sanchez picked up the ball on the left before dancing past Matteo Darmian, for what seemed like the umpteenth time before firing into the top corner in the style only he can.
However, what may have pleased Arsene Wenger and in particular Assistant Steve Bould the most was the clean sheet. In this modern era of teams now having a squad full of players from different countries, who have different lifestyles and different morals it is refreshing to see a team so close-knit. This level of togetherness and commitment to the cause was evident if you had taken your attention away from the celebrating Ozil after he notched Arsenal’s second and gazed over to centre back Gabriel, who fell to his knees in sheer delight as he embodied this collective determination.
As for the Brazilian’s game itself, he has progressively grown into a more important member of the team as each game goes by. In the absence of Laurent Koscielny he was the man who had to read the danger behind Per Mertesacker, especially if the lively Anthony Martial was to be dancing around looking for space.
However, despite one moment when Martial shrugged off Mertesacker before being foiled by Petr Cech, Gabriel was alert to any hint of a United fight back. Despite getting himself embroiled in Diego Costa’s dark arts a few weeks ago the 24 year old has slotted in angelically and showed his mature side in this victory.
It will be interesting to see who drops out for Koscielny when he returns but if the Brazilian keeps his head and builds upon this impressive start to his Arsenal career then we could be witnessing the beginnings of a special player.
