A host of names proved their worth in that gut-wrenching Besiktas win, blood, sweat, tears and all. Jack Wilshere produced his finest performance in Arsenal shirt for some time, maybe stretching back years. Honourable mentions go to Santi and Koscielny. However, you can’t celebrate that Arsenal win without hailing Arsenal’s new superstar. I’m talking about Alexis, of course. What a performance. What a player. He lit up the emirates and he worked himself into the ground right up until the final whistle where he rightfully collapsed in an exhausted heap. He was tigerish, both in spirit and in execution. He produced the deadly touch to put Arsenal into the Champions League proper for the 17th consecutive year. 17 years! Yeh, yeh, ‘Arsenal will lose in the last 16’ ,well, take a little look at the great Manchester United, with all their resources, and their pride, and their super intelligent, alternative-being manager, and then cast your sheepish eyes back to Wenger and the incredible feats he produces year in year out. That’s losing focus of this post, which belongs to the super Chilean, but 17 years is worth shouting about.
Besiktas was the clearest indicator to arsenal fans yet of the diamond waiting to shine. And he’s just getting started. It was the first time we really saw—post Community Shield—Arsenal starting to click, especially with the new boys, and namely Alexis. He scored the crucial goal, even if it was a dodgy 45 minutes across the board. Then, from there, everything seemed to flourish, at least, flourish enough to give the impression that Arsenal are growing into their A game. Wilshere played with spark, as did Santi, as did the Ox, and Alexis thrived off this. He was enjoying himself in that lone role, snapping at heels, losing the ball, only to win it back moments later. He’s Suarez esque in technique and tenacity. In short, he’s a superstar. Even when he was leaking fuel with his lungs burning he had the head and magic touch to wriggle out of two closing players, and nutmeg the third and final danger, and still he had the ball, and still he had time to pick his pass. Alexis Sanchez is a footballer. He’s old school. He gets the ball and doesn’t want to let go, he wants to dribble, and create, and excite. And, most impressively, he plays with heart. As every footballer should. For that ninety mintues he chews up the ground with everything he’s got.
He’ll continue to amaze in the coming weeks, and it’d be perfectly fine to expect another excellent display away to Leicester. True, it’ll be another tough away game, but Leicester are not Everton. Leicester will come and fight Arsenal, they have nothing to lose, whereas Arsenal have a lot more, but that’s where Alexis comes in. He’ll start up top again, he’ll be a nightmare. He’ll be our out ball, and stop the oppostition from boxing us in. And with Ozil back in the mix, you can expect to see more runs in behind the defence. Alexis can be the perfect striker for us, If we have indeed choosen to go down that path. I’d be surprised if Leicester could match the intensity of Everton’s pressing game, which so often troubles Arsenal.
Alexis will fare better here than he did against the toffees. He, and the whole team, will be brimming with confidence. He has that big performance under his belt now. Alexis is already a hero. If Arsenal are to win on Sunday, he’ll play a definitive role, because he has to. He is our shiney new star. He’s the one that Wenger has entrusted to lead the line. ‘I bought Alexis to be a striker’. Pressure? He’ll handle it. He’ll thrive off it.