Arsenal’s new left looking a lot like the old

Ever since Arsene Wenger came to North London back in 1996, his teams have always featured a strong left sided combination. His two championship teams had the combinations of Winterburn-Overmars and Cole-Pires-Henry as the anchors of a stout defensive flank and the main thrust of attack play. However, after the era of the Invincibles, the left sided combinations like Clichy-Rosicky and Clichy-Arshavin have fallen short of standards set by their predecessors.
Although it is still early days this year, what we are starting to see now is the potential of a new left sided combination that will potentially rival the best from yesteryears. Judging by the performances so far, the Gibbs-Podolski combo is another masterstroke in Arsene Wenger’s new grand scheme. Of course, this is condition of the very fragile Gibbs staying healthy throughout the s...