Once Arsenal scored the opening goal on Saturday, there was hardly any way you could see Swansea City getting back in the game.
Not only did it feel like that and seem like that, but recent history backs it up.
Arsenal have won each of their last 25 games when scoring first, and 37 of the past 38
— Josh James (@JoshJJames78) October 31, 2015
Pretty impressive, right? (For anyone wondering, the odd game is last season’s north London derby defeat to Spurs at White Hart Lane.)
The fact of the matter is, Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal side are now very good defensively and have been for a little while. The press don’t like to mention the positives of the Arsenal defence, but they are there and have only been reinforced by the addition of Petr Čech. Over the past few years, the Gunners have been able to defend in a low block and the team is now perfectly suited to counter-attacking football.
Hopefully that continues, but the players have to keep scoring the opening goal. Clearly we only drop points when we don’t score the opener, and there may be a few reasons. This Arsenal side isn’t the best at breaking down stubborn defences, and often lose their patience to chase the game and remain more open at the back.
Score the opener and we have a huge chance of winning.
With Bayern Munich coming up on Wednesday, can we score the first goal of the game again at the Allianz Arena?