Steven Gerrard - into the world of management

So, here we go then, our first Champions League game for 3 years ...

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That was pretty routine.

I decided to play a very strong side side to try and lay a marker with the other sides in the group. It should have worked!

We were pretty dominant, failing to give Salzburg even a single shot on target all game.

Alexis Sanchez with an early brace, the second coming just after the half hour mark.

My faith in Gabriel Barbosa paid off as well as he struck the 3rd in the second half.

In the other game in the group, Bayern Munich beat AC Milan 2-0 in fairly comfortable performance.
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Now, back to the Premier League with a home game against Southampton ...

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Another good win in a game where we were fairly comfortable.

First half was pretty tight and a little nervy, for some reason.

We started the second half brilliantly though, Jack Wilshere with a very good strike less than 5 minutes after half time put us 1-0 up.

Gabriel Barbosa,who I stuck with in the starting 11 after a good performance last time out, then doubled the lead.

We then allowed Southampton back into it after Edin Dzeko ghosted past the defence, that made it 2-1 and a nervy finish with 5 minutes or so left.​
 
Our attentions now turned to the league cup in the 3rd round, our opponents ... Liverpool ...​

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Very, very happy with that!

Liverpool are a brilliant cup side so to get a 3-1 win here was very pleasing. We again played a very strong side as this is a game we wanted to win, this isn't a normal cup tie, this is Liverpool.

Gabriel Barbosa continued his good form with an early opener inside 20 minutes. The sides went in at half time with us leading 1-0.

Liverpool then came out the stronger side and levelled through Raheem Sterling just after the hour mark.

Barbosa then struck again just minutes later. This was his 4th goal in the last 3 starts, I'm certinaly justified starting him in front of Paulo Dybala.

Alexis Sanchez then rounded off the scoring on the 89th minute with a brilliant counter attacking goal.​


We also found out who our opponents would be in the 4th round ...​

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The 4th round will see is up against Championship side, Leeds United.

This should be more straight forward than the Liverpool game as Leeds currently sit 15th in the Championship.

This is a competition that Arsenal won last season so I'm keen to do well in it again.​
 
The final game of the month see's us up against West Brom at the Hawthorns.​

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Another good win which makes it 6 wins from 6 games in September.

West Brom were very ambitious going 2 up front against us and it backfired.

I'm really pleased that Barbosa struck his first hattrick meaning he's now scored 7 goals in 4 starts. His first came on 18 minutes as he beat Robert Huth with ease and finished well beyond the keeper.

West Brom then levelled just before the half hour mark through James Morrison before Barbosa netted again just before half time approached with another good strike.

Alexis Sanchez then made it 3 5 minutes after half time with a good finish from a tight angle.

Barbosa wasn't finished there though with his 3rd goal coming with 5 minutes or so to go.

After the impressive 6 wins from 6 league games in September, we won a couple of awards ...

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First of all Gabriel Barbosa won the player of the month award with 4 goals in 3 games and an average rating of 7.73. I'm really pleased for the lad as he didn't come here as first choice but I can't drop him now after these performances.

The other award was the manager of the month ...

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Steven Gerrard winning manager of the month for September in the Premier League.

It looks as though there was very little to choose from between me and my arch rival, Jose Mourinho. Both have 100% records this month with 4 wins from 4 games.

Shout out to Gary Bowyer who also finished the month with a 100% record but only for 3 games opposed to our 4.
After 6 games, the table looks like this ...

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The table's pretty tight with us just 3 points in front of Man City. It turns out that win over City in the first game of the season made all the difference.

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The first game of October saw us come up against Bayern Munich away from home in the Champions League.


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We were just totally outclassed and outplayed here.

The first half wasn't too bad, Bayern were still the better side but we had chances on the break. And Gabriel Barbosa scored from one of those breaks. Mesut Ozil took the ball from his own half and fed through Barbosa who finished calmly.

Then on the stroke of half time, the game completely changed. Jack Wilshere saw red for late challenge on Thomas Muller, I thought the red was a little harsh but it was still a silly challenge from him.

From this point Bayern took compete control.

Mario Gotze equlised just 10 minutes after the sending off and only one result was going to happen at that.

Lewandowski then hit a brace in the last 10 minutes which put the game beyond doubt.

I'd be interested to see what we could do against Bayern 11 vs 11, i guess we'll have to wait for the home leg to see.​
 
The first league game of the month saw us visit Vicarage Road to play Watford ...​

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A really really disappointing result. Our first slip up of the season as well.

We got off to a brilliant start thanks to Victor Wanyama who struck an absolute bullet from outside the box. I've been so impressed with Wanyama, he's becoming like Patrick Viera in that sort of role.

After that goal though we didn't continue with same intensity and allowed Watford to dictate parts of the game.

They then equalised 10 minutes after half time with a very good strike which gave Buffon no chance.

We then just couldn't find an eqaliser.

We were poor today, plain and simple.​
 
Just before the next game, which saw us in another away trip to Leicester, we had some bad injury news ...​

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Gabriel Barbosa was ruled out for 3 weeks with a twisted ankle which was sustained against Watford.

This is a massive blow as Barbosa had been playing so well that he's almost irreplaceable, Paulo Dybala will try his best to do so though.​

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That's better. I was keen to get back to winning ways after a disappointing draw against Watford.

Laurent Koscielny got us off to a brilliant start by scoring within the first minute, this his first goal of the season.

Paulo Dybala then did a decent job of replacing Barbosa by doubling our lead just minutes later.

Leicester then got one back just after half time but they never really threatened getting back into the game.

Morgan Schneiderlin then made it 3 with his first of the season too.

Mesut Ozil rounded off the scoring to make it 4 in the last few minutes.​
 
Now back on to the Champions League and one of the most important games of the season. An away trip to face AC Milan. It looks as though Bayern will go on to win the group so it should be between us to as to who will finish second.​

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A pleasing performance although we can certainly play better.

Victor Wanyama opened the scoring with just his second goal of the season. The game was then very even throughout.

Milan equalised though in added on time. Johannes Geis bagged the equaliser very late on.​
 
After the draw with AC Milan, we faced an impressive Hull side who were 6th in the league.​

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A very good win in a game where we should have won.

Dybala again started up front and repaid that faith with an impressive brace. His first came inside 10 minutes.

Alexis Sanchez then went on to double our lead just before the half hour mark. Mesut Ozil then got himself on the scoresheet to make it 3 and dashed any hopes that Hull may have had.

Paulo Dybala then rounded off his brace with a great finish following good work from Mesut Ozil.​
 
That win over Hull was the final league game of the month, we now just had one more game to go, a league cup 4th round tie against Championship side, Leeds.


We went with a slightly weakened side here with Welbeck, Walcott, Schneiderlin, Carvalho, Murillo and Criscito all starting after being bit part players all season.​

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It turned out to be a very routine victory.

Danny Welbeck celebrated a rare start by opening the scoring inside the first minute.

Alexis Sanchez the doubled the lead just after 10 minutes as Leeds started to shrink. The scoring was rounded off by Laurent Koscielny which put the game completely out of reach inside 20 minutes.

In truth, I'm a little disappointed we didn't go on to score more after having such a commanding lead early on.​
 
That victory over Leeds brought with it the end of October. Just after the Leeds win, we got to see who next opponents would be in the next round ...​

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Pretty much the toughest draw we could have had.

Man City and Tottenham seem to be the biggest threat in this years tournament and we draw one of them here.​

The end of October also saw us keep top position in another unbeaten month ...​

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We finish the month top of the league but Man City are just a point behind.

If I'm honest, I can't believe Man City are keeping pace. We've won 8 out of 9 and drew the other yet we're only a point clear! Just goes to show how tough this league is.​


Our good month didn't go unnoticed with the awards ...​

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Although Mesut Ozil didn't win the player of the month award, he was still mentioned by picking up second place.​
 
Just before the next game, a London derby at home to West Ham, we had some pleasing injury news ...​

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Santi Cazorla resumes full training after being on the sidelines for around 4 months.

This really could be like a new signing after missing the whole season so far. He goes straight into the matchday squad and starts on the bench.

Let's see how we get on in this London derby ...​

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A very, very good win!

Mesut Ozil is really coming to the fore now after a difficult pre-season when his head was turned. He turned on the style today with a brilliant hattrick which tore West Ham apart.

Mesut opened the scoring after 8 minutes before Gabriel Barbosa (back in the side after injury) doubled the lead just after 20 minutes.

It then became the Mesut Ozil show as he scored two more goals of real class, either side of a consolation from Craig Dawson.

I'm really happy we stood our ground and kept Ozil as his performances all season have been brilliant.​
 
We then head back to the Champions League for the home tie against Ac Milan. With is both battling it out for 2nd position, this is a game we really can't afford to lose.

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Again, sheer brilliance from Mesut Ozil who this time steels a brace which makes it 5 goals in the last 2 games.

His first goal was pure class, beating 3 players and firing in low beyond the keeper from a wide right position. His second showed more technical skills as he controls a Jack Wilshere cross dead and finishes cooly.

William Carvalho then netted the third, after staying up for a corner the substitute scored from a yard out after the keeper misjudged the second cross which came in.​
 
Another tough game coming up, an away trip to face Man Utd ...​

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A good win in a really tight game which could have gone either way.

In truth, a draw would have probably been the fairest result. But with Gabriel Barbosa up front you've already got a chance of stealing a result.

This was a memorable win as it brings with it a hugely impressive record ...​

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Arsenal have now gone 30 game unbeaten in the Premier League.

I can't take all the plaudits here as 19 of these unbeaten games were achieved before I got here, the other 11 have been recorded this season.

Obviously the record is 49 and is now well in sight, we may as well go for it!​
 
Now the big one (well for me anyway), Liverpool away at Anfield ...​

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A decent point against a very good Liverpool side who won the Champions League only last season.

If we're honest then Liverpool edged us here and possibly deserved the win but we defended well and once again Mesut Ozil popped up with a very important goal to level up the scores.​
 
Before we started the next game, an away trip to Red Bull Salzburg, our group table looked like this ...​

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We enter the second to last game in second place, only 2 points behind Bayern and a huge 5 points in front of AC Milan. With Ac Milan playing Bayern in the same game week, we have a great chance to clinch progression to the next round with a win.​

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That's the win we needed to qualify!!

With Salzburg being the whipping boys of the group I decided to rest a few of the more important players. This turned out to be naive.

Welbeck, Walcott, Schneiderlin, Kranevitter, Murillo and Mertesacker all started.

We were pretty poor in the first half and Salzburg took a shock lead just before half time through Jonas Due. I then tore into the lads at half time in hope of sparking them into life.

We didn't get going until after the hour mark when Alexis Sanchez, Gabriel Barbosa and Paulo Dybala came on as second half subs. They totally changed the game!

Barbosa then scored just 5 minutes after coming on the equalise. With Bayern beating Ac Milan it meant that a draw was still good enough to claim second place.

Theo Walcott then ran through the defense and was brought down inside the penalty area, Santi Cazorla then tucked away the penalty nicely.

Gabriel Barbosa then took over and ripped apart Salzburg. He scored his second of the game to make it 3-1 before he finished off his hattrick and in turn made it 4-1 to us.

After the game, we guaranteed qualification with the table looking like this ...​

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ARSENAL QUALIFY​

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We now had just one more game left of the month, the all important North London Derby to be played at the Emirates.​
 
So then, the big one! The north london derby at home to Tottenham. This is how the sides lined up ...​

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We obviously put the big guns back in after the Champions League as I was desperate for a win here.

Barbosa, Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Wilshere, Wanyama, Ramos and Koscielny all back in the side after being rested against Salzburg.

Tottenham also went with a strong side with the danger men being Harry Kane, old Arsenal forward Joel Campbell, Chadli and we also have to keep an eye on the full backs who seem to attack at will in this Spurs side.

So, lets see how the game panned out ...​

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A great win! Gabriel Barbosa picked up where he left off by netting another brace, that makes it 5 goals in the last game and a half.

Santi Cazorla then netted again to carry on his good form after returning from injury.​

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Arsenal emphatically swept aside local rivals, Tottenham in today's early kick off with a 3-0 victory.

This win now means Arsenal are unbeaten for 32 games stretching back over a year.

The game started evenly with both sides having the opportunity open the scoring early on. Arsenal had the best chance in the first half however, Barbosa broke through after a brilliant ball from Mesut Ozil set him up one on one with Lloris who tipped wide.

If the first half was even then the second half was about has one sided as you will ever see.

Arsenal took the lead just 4 minutes after half time through star striker, Gabriel Barbosa. Barbosa capitalised from some poor goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris who saved the initial effort from Barbosa put he parried it straight into his path.

Arsenal's dominance continued until they doubled the lead, this time through Santi Cazorla. Cazorla producing the goods brilliantly from a freekick right outside the penalty area which hit the post and then the back of the net, leaving Lloris with no chance.

Barbosa the wrapped up his brace on the hour mark with a very good finish from 12 yards out.

Tottenham had no reply to Arsenals dominance.

Arsenal remain just one point clear of nearest rivals Man City after this victory and 5 clear of 3rd placed Tottenham.

[video=youtube;mdeoGDOA8FY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdeoGDOA8FY[/video]

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That brilliant win against Tottenham brings an end of November.​

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So after 12 games we stay top but only 1 point clear of Man City who stay 2nd. We're also pulling away from Tottenham after that win who stay 3rd, they're now 5 points behind us.

Still really pleased to remain unbeaten so far which now runs to 32 games including part of last season.​

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I'm really pleased for Mesut to win this award. There was obviously a lot of transfer talk about him at the start of the season so I did wonder how he'd perform but I really can't complain.​

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I'm equally pleased with Barbosa for him to win the young player of the month award. Barbosa has been brilliant since taking the number 9 shirt of Dybala and he deserves this.​
 
The first game of December came in another London derby, a home tie against Chelsea.​

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We started brilliantly here against 5th placed Chelsea but couldn't keep hold of our lead.

Santi Cazorla produced a brilliant strike just after the half hour mark which put us 1-0 up. He was 30 yards out and facing his own goal and marked by Chalobah, he managed to roll the challenge of Chalobah and strike the ball from 25 yards out which gave Thibaut Courtois no chance.

The sides then went in at half time with us still 1-0 up and playing well.

We then doubled our lead, again through Cazorla who converted a penalty after Callum Chambers was brought down in the area.

We were buzzing at 2-0 up and in total control. This was before Seydou Doumbia managed to get in front of Koscielny and fired past Buffon at the near post.

This then made us very nervy and it showed. Diego Costa had a speculative effort from distance which was parried by Buffon but straight into the path of Doumbia who acted quicker than all the defenders.​
 
Our next league game was a very winnable one, Aston Villa away from home.


I went with a slightly weakened side as we host Bayern Munich in the next game, which although it's a dead rubber I still really want to beat them to put down a marker.​


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We actually started really poorly here, although we dictated the game and dominated possession we just weren't creating anything.

The score remained goalless right up until the 87th minute. The game looked to be heading for a draw but substitute Danny Welbeck struck with a fine finish to make it 1-0.

We then hit Villa on the break in added on time through Paulo Dybala after Villa gambled with too many men upfield.

We are now 5 clear of Man City at the top of the league, although City do have 2 games in hand.​
 
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