I’d start today’s article by wishing all the Muslim Gooners ‘Eid Mubarak’! You guys fasted faithfully and it’s time to celebrate the new Moon with friends and family alike. Do try to stay safe please.
Speaking of family, the Gunners have been on the spotlight again, in the wake of their Chuba Akpom-inspired victory over Singapore Select XI. After a couple of training sessions in the humid Far East weather, Shad Forsyth and co. decided that the players were going to have recovery sessions in their hotel pool. As you’d expect from a club with a ‘family-like’ philosophy, the brothers decided to play a game of head tennis…
https://twitter.com/WengerIsBetter/status/621688337338867712
As you’d expect from the maestro, Cazorla was bossing things from the middle as he distributed the ball to his teammates and you could see the celebrations after the rounds were completed.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain took cue from Cazorla and decided to orchestrate the next round of head tennis..
The Arsenal squad playing head tennis. Not bad lads, not bad. pic.twitter.com/xF9JaqbuRl
— Coral (@Coral) July 16, 2015
Well, it didn’t pan out so well with Hector Bellerin spoiling the move. Maybe it’s because he’s bracing himself for a new long-term deal with the club (via Daily Mail). The player himself has been elated about his breakthrough campaign, describing it as a ‘crazy year’,
‘Last year was crazy for me. It was a beautiful year. I’ve played 30 games with the first team and I don’t consider myself one of the main players. But to be a regular in the first has been a great achievement. I am really happy and proud.
‘Competition between players is always good. If you don’t have competition you relax and never improve. The fact we have three or four players who can play at right-back makes it better. It’s down to the boss.’
He also took out time to discuss about his Barcelona roots,
“It was hard to leave family and friends and my country but I look back happy that I did it. For me it was a big step. I knew if I was doing well the boss would give me a chance. I took my chance to come and I’m happy things have gone well. Hopefully they will get better.’
‘If I’d wanted to play there, I would have stayed there in the first place,’ said Bellerin. ‘The fact that I came to Arsenal means that I want to play here.”
Bellerin’s story last season was a beautiful fairytale that saw a young lad latch onto the opportunity provided to him by Matt Debuchy’s injury and Calum Chambers loss of form and confidence to stake a very good claim for a first-team berth. Bellerin’s chances were further enhanced with his breathtaking performances as well as the two goals he scored against Aston Villa and Liverpool.
With Carl Jenkinson still out on loan, the battle between Debuchy and Bellerin will be very interesting this season. In the Gunners first preseason encounter against Singapore, both players provided assists with Debuchy getting fouled in the box and Bellerin showing some neat footwork before crossing the ball for Akpom’s hat-trick.
Such competition can only be beneficial to Arsenal.
Sayonara.
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