[ 2014-01-19 ]

Santi Cazorla

Cazorla keeps Arsenal at the top
Arsenal’s Barclays Premier League title charge
remained on track after Santi Cazorla scored twice
to seal a 2-0 home victory over Fulham.

After a goalless opening period in which Arsenal
did not create many chances, the Spaniard broke
the deadlock shortly before the hour mark,
combining well with Olivier Giroud and Jack
Wilshere.

And his tally was doubled five minutes later when
he buried a left-footed 20-yard effort into the
bottom right-hand corner of the away sides net.

The result maintains Fulham's run of having never
won at Arsenal, who remain one point clear of
Manchester City at the summit of the Barclays
Premier League.

Arsene Wenger stuck with the starting XI that won
2-1 at Aston Villa on Monday, while Rene
Meulensteen made three changes to his team which
beat Norwich City 3-0 in the FA Cup on Tuesday,
handing a Barclays Premier League debut to
defender Dan Burn.

Mesut Ozil almost had the Gunners in front in the
fourth minute as they made a bright start, but his
effort was blocked in the six-yard box by Brede
Hangeland following a neat exchange of passes with
Wilshere in the penalty area.

The home side continued to dominate possession,
but were struggling to carve out any meaningful
goalscoring opportunities as the Cottagers' back
line held firm.

And they were almost punished for that lack of
potency in the 26th minute when former Arsenal
trainee Steve Sidwell, who scored in his last
three appearances for Fulham prior to the trip to
the Emirates, forced Wojciech Szczesny into a
crucial save from his powerful 20-yard
half-volley.

Maarten Stekelenburg had to be equally alert at
the other end seven minutes before the break when
a free-kick ricocheted into the path of Bacary
Sagna, who saw a low drive well stopped.

Fulham came out fighting at the start of the
second period, as Burn had a header blocked by
Laurent Koscielny after Wenger's side failed to
clear their lines from a corner.

But the hosts weathered that early storm and Serge
Gnabry drew another save from Stekelenburg with a
curled effort from the edge of the penalty area,
before Arsenal squandered numerous opportunities
in a goalmouth scramble.

The South West London side's resolve was finally
broken in the 57th minute when Cazorla picked up
the ball on the left wing and offloaded it to
Giroud before ghosting into the penalty area and
sliding a Wilshere pass into the bottom right-hand
corner.

Cazorla doubled the advantage five minutes later,
firing a low 20-yard strike just out of the reach
of the outstretched left arm of Stekelenburg.

He then denied Arsenal a third 15 minutes from
time when he pushed a Lukas Podolski thunderbolt -
destined for the top-left corner - on to the
post.

Darren Bent found himself clean through on an open
goal in the closing stages, but the striker fired
wide of the target as Koscielny slid in to make a
last-ditch challenge, before the visitors failed
to capitalise on Szczesny's spillage from Pajtim
Kasami's stoppage-time free-kick.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "We were maybe not
quick enough in the first half. In the second half
our tempo was much better and we created chances.
Overall, it was a stable performance with maybe a
lack of pace in first half.

"The players were conscious we had to step up a
gear. It was just a question of time and Santi
Cazorla delivered two special goals. He was like
the team – good in the first half and excellent
in the second."

"The pressure is there but it is a positive one. I
believe it is important to keep focused on way we
want to play and our solidarity in the side which
is exceptional and that will get us the points.

"Man City is a good team as well so that makes the
race even more interesting. There are five or six
teams who will fight for the championship. From
our side we just need to be consistent."

Fulham head coach Rene Meulensteen: "We lost the
three points but there were lots of positives to
take from the performance from our point of view.

"We were pleased at half-time and I couldn’t
have asked for anything more from the players. We
knew it was going to be even harder in the second
half because they were going to step it up. The
quality of players they’ve got, if you switch
off for a second and don’t track the runner,
they can hurt you and that’s what they did for
the first goal.

“The only disappointing thing today was not
getting a goal. In the first half it would have
changed the complexion of the game, but at 2-1 in
the second, we could have put some pressure on
them. A lot of our performances have been very
good but we haven’t got out of it what we
deserved."

Source - Barclays Premiere League

... go Back