There were plenty of disappointments for Arsenal in their defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. Mesut Özil faded after his early goal, Aaron #Ramsey was anonymous, Danny Welbeck had a couple of flashes, Santi Cazorla was unable to exert his usual influence and Olivier Giroud once again failed to step it up in a big game. Giroud is a good player and he sometimes scores good goals. Yet he tends to do it against the lesser teams and Arsenal have rarely been able to rely on him against tougher opponents. Arsenal needed someone to relieve the pressure for them, yet #Giroud was dominated by Jan Vertonghen and Eric Dier and the ball just kept coming back at them. The Frenchman, whose assist for #Özil’s goal looked unintentional.
Now is the time for James Milner to be given a chance in his preferred central midfield position. Automatic selection continues to elude the 29-year-old, who started Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Hull City on the bench before entering on 66 minutes and grabbing the added-time equaliser. Milner was bought in the summer of 2010 on the strength of his performances for #AstonVilla in the middle of the park but has since become an auxiliary wide player. Whenever he is asked, central midfield is offered as his best position. Fernando, the £12m signing from #Porto in the close season, has proved a clumsy operator – he was replaced at half-time against Hull – and Fernandinho continues to suffer a #WorldCup hangover from Brazil’s 7-1 humiliation by #Germany.