It’s probably no great surprise that Arsenal’s turn-around in fortunes – and a return to their sparkling best form - coincided with the return from injury of a number of key players.
None more so than the brilliant midfielder whose performances last season earned him the title of PFA Young Player of the year.
The return of
Emmanuel Adebayor is a big factor too and suddenly the smiles are back on the faces of the
Arsenal fans as Wembley and Rome beckon.
Arsenal have been on fire of late after a disappointing start to the season and have chalked up an unbeaten run of 18 Premier League matches.
With an Chanmpions League semi final place to go with their FA Cup semi final showdown against Chelsea at the weekend, you can understand the Gunners being upbeat.
Theo Walcott, who scored a delightful goal to set the ball rolling against Villareal this week, explained: “There is a lot of confidence in the dressing room, everyone is buzzing.
“We feel every team are scared of us as soon as we step on the pitch. It's great to play when things are going like that. We are playing brilliant football and scoring goals from all sorts of positions which helps the team.”
Looking ahead to the Wembley clash with Chelsea, Walcott added: "We will be looking to utilise their weak spots. If we play like we did against Villarreal, then I'm sure we'll get some goals."
Whilst
Chelsea wouldn’t necessarily go along with the view that opponents are scared of Arsenal at the moment,
Michael Ballack does acknowledge the threat the Gunners pose with Fabregas pulling the strings.
The German is looking forward to his midfield duel with the Spaniard
Fabregas, who has been in fine form since returning from a knee injury.
"Sometimes being injured helps you to recover and prepare for the upcoming weeks - that's what you can see now from Cesc," he said. "He is back and straight away he is playing well, just like
Michael Essien has been for us. We know Cesc is a good player and in this situation we have to be aware."
It will be interesting to see how much, physically and mentally, Tuesday’s amazing 4-4 Champions League draw with
Liverpool has taken out of the Chelsea players.
"We have to recover quickly because Liverpool was a very tough game,” Ballack continues. "We thought it would be a little bit easier than it was but in football anything is possible and we had to accept it.
"Games like the Liverpool one help to build confidence even more. But we have to come down a little bit now. We had a little time to celebrate beating Liverpool, but from Wednesday we had to focus on Arsenal.”
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