Arsenal Players Look Like They Enjoy Playing Without Star Duo, The Times Reporter Says

By The Editor
on 19th September 2017

Rory Smith thinks the players looked comfortable without Ozil & Alexis…

The Times journalist Rory Smith believes the Arsenal players seemed more comfortable playing without Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil at Stamford Bridge as we performed an accomplished display.

Travelling to Chelsea looking to avoid yet another defeat in west London, our boys looked up for the challenge and definitely restored the faith in the team among the fans.

Our performance at Liverpool was an utter disgrace, and we’re still yet to score a goal away from home this season.

However, the players proved that we can compete against the best and we should’ve left Stamford Bridge with all three points given the chances we created.

“It looked to me a little bit like some of the players maybe enjoyed not having Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez in the team,” the journalist said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Not because they don’t like them, or they’re bad people, or they don’t share the same interests.

“But because I think they feel, in different ways with both of them, under pressure when they’re in the team. I think Sanchez is not always helpful in terms of chastising his team-mates.”

“I think Xhaka was really good yesterday and he seemed to thrive from the fact that neither Sanchez or Ozil were there.”

While our performance was encouraging against Antonio Conte’s men, drawing permanent conclusions from temporary situations isn’t the smartest idea.

Alexis and Ozil will waltz back into the Arsenal team, and it’s hard to say what the outcome would’ve been had they started. We may have looked more defensively assured without them, but we were certainly toothless in attack in their absence.

Check out Rory Smith’s take on Arsenal’s display at Chelsea in the video above.