Wenger's attack-minded midfield are yet to score this season

Published: 29 August, 2015
By RICHARD OSLEY

O.G. moved to the top of Arsenal’s goal scoring charts this afternoon (Saturday), but it’s not Olivier Giroud leading the way this season. Instead, the Gunners, for the second consecutive away match, claimed three points at Newcastle United with an own goal.

In the first four matches of the season, a side which had been celebrated for its attacking flair in pre-season has managed just three goals, one from Giroud and now two own goals. It’s a statistic which has got Arsenal fans clamouring for a hot-shot striker to be recruited before the transfer window closes on Tuesday, but one which manager Arsene Wenger greeted with a plea for patience.

He said a red card for Newcastle’s Aleksandar Mitrovic for a studs up challenge had changed the dynamics of the trip to St James’ Park and that a game which might have had more goals was reduced to a battle against the Magpies’ defence. The game was decided only when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s shot, spinning wide, was diverted into the far corner by Newcastle defender Fabricio Coloccini.

Oxlade-Chamberlain's shot was going wide

It was an unconvincing way to win a match with a numerical advantage for so long. But Wenger, who rarely finds fault with his players in public, said: “It was a strange game. You play away from home, 11 against 10, and you know that they will play 15 yards deeper, you play 10 against nine in the final third. The crowd is behind their team which puts pressure on the referee and then it’s very difficult. We didn’t find the space. They defended well.”

Wenger had imagined a match in which Theo Walcott could thrive running in behind Newcastle’s defence, but said that strategy had been lost with the red card and their opponents’ change of tactics.

Gabriel and Bellerin are simply happy to bag three points

He will nonetheless face questions about his lack of spending right up to the end of the transfer window. Arsenal have only one new face from the summer’s dealing, Petr Cech; no other club in the top flight has done such sparse business. There has been confusion among the club’s fans in recent windows as to why Wenger has become a last-minute operator. Andrei Arshavin, Mikel Arteta and Danny Welbeck are among the players who have arrived on deadline day over the years; late-in-the-day deals which go against the grain of careful planning.

The manager said as he left the North East today: “We are open and we are in the transfer market. If we find an exceptional player in any sector, we will do it. At the moment I don’t know if something will happen or not."

Arsene Wenger pic: Ronnie McDonald/Creative Commons/FlickR