Arsenal vs. Monaco: Wenger’s Present vs. Wenger’s Past.
The Sun finally seems to shine brightly at the Emirates as Arsene Wenger’s men outclassed and outplayed Benfica with a humiliating 5-1 scoreline. The Portuguese champions stood nowhere near the FA Cup winners as they were rattled in every department. The Man of the moment,Yaya Sanogo scored four times along with the young striker Joel Campbell adding one and a perfect start for the new comer Alexis Sanchez who was applauded by sixty thousand odd fans as he walked into the pitch. With much positives to derive from the game,the Gunners look set and in a perfect shape as they take on Monaco tomorrow.
The absence of the German World Cup winning trio Per Mertasacker, Lukas Podolski and Mesut Özil made absolutely no issues for the Gunners and they look firm favourites to win the Emirates Cup. Valencia and AS Monaco had locked horns before Arsenal took on Benfica. The match was held at 1-1 until half time, but in the sixty ninth minute, Aly Cissokho pushed in for substitute Paco Alcacer to earn the lead for his side. Injured Colombian captain Radamel Falcao was brought in for about 15 minutes before the conclusion of the game. AS Monaco substitute Lucas Ocampos, equalised and thus ended the game as 2-2.
With Benfica almost out, AS Monaco and Valencia too stand in lesser chance of winning the silverware than Arsenal. Arsene would have been highly impressed with the attitude of his boys and he will look forward to try and build as such momentum around the team going into the Community Shield against Manchester City on 10th August.
As far as the Gunners performance is concerned, Bellerin and Chambers were the most impressive. The likes of Ramsey, Rosicky, Flamini and Arteta played well and the introduction of Sanchez almost blew away the roof of the Emirates.
With all that confidence,they will go into their second and last match of the Emirates Cup against the French side. With such high quality performance and brilliant attitude,Emirates’ trophy cabinet won’t be dusty anymore.
Here’s the probable starting XI for Arsenal against AS Monaco: Szczesny, Bellerin, Chambers, Koscielny, Gibbs, Wilshere, Campbell, Ramsey, Rosicky, Sanchez/ Chamberlain, Sanogo. Arsene Wenger will see a lot of familiar old faces at the Emirates during the match. Memories of his stay at the French side are bound to come to his mind. We are sure to witness another eye catchy game in the form of this one. Emirates Cup tournament ends tomorrow. May the best one grab that silverware,though it looks very much Arsenal’s. But there is something called “miracle” too.