Well now, isn’t that more like it, eh? The Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde football side turned up once again and we saw what a difference it makes for Arsenal if we are at home compared to away. With the home fans roaring the team on we got our first game of the season that felt like a bit of a battering by the end. And I liked it. I liked it very much indeed.

Admittedly we didn’t start off that well for the first 15 minutes have to say, but the same side that was picked against Everton and seemed completely inhibited, came alive after that shaky start and the relatively early goal certainly helped. And it was quite a goal too. If you were to ask Mikel Arteta to describe the perfect execution of the way he wants to play football then that Lacazette goal was it. Draw out the opponent, bring them on to you, then break their press with strong diagonal passes that enable the team to slice through their opponent. When it happened in real time I thought maybe Caballero was caught on his heels a bit, but it was a very good finish from Lacazette and we should not take that away from him.

And from 20 minutes onwards it was Arsenal who took control. We have lamented how we seem to go up and sit back with this current team of ours, but whilst that has been a valid criticism for most of this season, yesterday it was certainly not. We continued to take risks. We continued to probe and search for that second goal and that we got it so soon after the first, meant that the fans and the players could settle in to a sense of relief t hat this was a day for Arsenal to take our chances.

But what would have been most pleasing to Mikel is that we didn’t just game management this football match in the second half. Arsenal could have just controlled possession and act with caution to confirm a victory. But in his press conference he challenged his team to take more risks and I think we did that. We still needed Ramsdale to make a fair few smart saves, which he did in both halves, but we also did more going forward and by the end we were well deserved of our victory. Gabriel’s very good header might have been saved had Caballero not gone wandering for the corner we scored from, but let’s not take anything away from the airtime that kid can get from his leaps and he’s becoming a useful asset for us in opponents’ penalty boxes. That’s one yesterday and a similar one against Leicester too.

We even fashioned more chances after that. Martinelli hit the post, Saka hit the post, there was a disallowed goal for offside and whilst that was the correct decision it was more pleasing to see us get in to the position to at least give ourselves the chance to ask the question about the goal.

So we have ourselves three points and we can go in to the West Ham game with a little more confidence than we went in to yesterday’s one. The swagger was there yesterday from The Arsenal and if we’re going to beat a very good West Ham team who will probably pick up three points against Burnley this afternoon, then we’re going to need to have more of what we saw yesterday, rather than the passivity of last Monday.

That game is on Monday and we have little time to bask in the glow of the game yesterday. Maybe that is a good thing though; these players are entering a crucial part of the season where the games come thick and fast and so we need to ensure the players still have that willing feeling fresh in their bones. This might help with only a few days to spare before we take on what will be a much more difficult challenge.

In terms of individual performances, Lacazette did well, but I thought Odegaard was a stand out performer. That’s three goals in his last three games and Arteta referenced how he’s a match winner when he gets in to the box more. It was an unusual goal in that he nodded it in with his head, but it came through perseverance and that it was a bit scrappy was also pleasing because we need to do more than just try to score that perfectly executed training ground goal. We need variety and we got that with all of our goals yesterday. That’s now four goals for Odegaard and six goals from ESR and we’re starting to get the benefit of goals coming from other places than our centre forwards. That’s also pleasing to note.

I also thought Ramsdale was superb yesterday. He made some very tidy saves. I don’t think off the top of my head that there were any that had you gasping at how he’d claw something from nowhere, but all of his saves were still smart ones that he did his job on and on a day like yesterday with the rain belting down and the ball skidding off the surface, a calm and assured hand in goal is what you need.

Gabriel too is growing in to the imperious leader at the back. He was strong, marshalled his attacker well and I thought never really looked troubled after that first 15 minutes. His goal is obviously the bit that gets the headlines, but his partnership with White looked to be back on track after a few shaky performances. Again, we needed that, but they probably needed that too, especially ahead of the visit of the hammers.

I think that’s me done for today. I’m off to do a bit of shopping and then some family Christmas dinner with the in-laws later this afternoon. You have a good one and I’ll catch you all tomorrow.