And boy was Mesut Ozil in need of hooking against Bayern Munich as he suffered a total shocker at The Emirates.
Ozil’s best pass of the night was to the Bayern keeper for that dreadful penalty.
The rest of his evening was spent allowing a succession of visiting right backs/midfielders/wingers bomb past him into space.
Arjen Robben may look like a grandfather.
But he’s one of the quickest players on the planet and has probably never enjoyed such a free reign in his career.
Arsenal were down to ten men for most of the game. But it must have felt like nine for all the use Ozil was after his spot kick blunder.
Why Wenger kept him on the pitch only he knows.
It was obvious Ozil was mentally shot after the penalty miss and he is not the type of player to rely on in a ten versus eleven battle.
The Gunners were going well for the first half hour. But the sending off changed the game and the Germans are too good to give a man advantage to.
It was a worrying gaze into the crystal ball for this summer’s World Cup watching Arsenal and Man City – this country’s two best passing sides – suffering such a lack of possession.
Arsenal are now out to 12s and City to 20s to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League.
It would take a braver man than me to risk a penny on that so let’s concentrate on the matter in hand – finding a winner after a few blank weeks.
We’ll drop to the middle reaches of the Premier League for a bit of value where Newcastle host Aston Villa.
Alan Pardew’s team are in a horrible run of form this month having lost three out of three while conceding ten and scoring none.
The club seems to be in one of its frequent crisis modes and the visitors can take advantage.
Villa are not exactly in sparkling form themselves.
But they have done most of their best work away from home this year so the 5/2 on offer from Paddy Power seems a decent price.
Good luck.
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Running Total for all bets this season to a £10 stake: £+0.00
