Match review: Arsenal vs Watford: 4-0, too little too late
After months of frustrating draws, losses and elimination from two tournaments, Arsenal secured an impressive 4-0 victory over Watford. The performance was a reflection of Arsenal that was in the beginning of the season, confident and determined.
However, it might be a little too late for them to reignite their old energy and return to winning ways. As these three points still leave them eight points from the top. With seven games remaining, the chances of both Spurs and current leaders Leicester choking are very narrow.
Youngster Alex Iwobi who has managed to replace Walcott in the first-team line up, assisted the first goal and scored the second. Alexis Sanchez opened the scoreline in the 4th minute of the match. Iwobi scored in the 38th. Gunners scored two more goals in the second half, with Hector Bellerin and Theo Walcottt both on the scoresheet.
Even though Arsenal gave one of their best performances of 2016, the only question that majority fans are wondering is where this team was in January and February.
From being first in the league with a point difference, Gunners slipped to equal points and eventually fell to third place with a huge gap of 11 points between themselves and Leicester.
Home defeats to Chelsea and Swansea and a draw against Southampton at the Emirates Stadium has most probably cost Arsenal their first title in 12 years.
Speaking in the post-match interview, Wenger commented on their chances of winning the league. ‘We don’t know exactly what is needed,’ he said.  ‘We want to focus on the way we play and keep the quality very high. Then we’ll see where we are. We will fight until the end to have a chance. The only way we can achieve that is by playing games with our team quality. That is based on our movement, on our technical ability to play at the highest level and at the highest pace.’
Alex Iwobi’s stellar performance got him the man of the match for the game, and Wenger lauded his quality and called him fearless. ‘It’s one of his qualities’, he added. ‘He’s also very mobile and is a midfielder with creativity, but is also a finisher. The quality of his receptions is very good because he gets into good spaces.’
Arsenal travel to the Boleyn Ground next week to face West Ham United, and then host Crystal Palace at home. They are yet to host Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium which will be the second last game of the season. However, for now the 4-0 victory is commendable but it still leaves the title far from Arsenal’s grasp.