Sexy Football

The man who first coined the term 'sexy football' unfortunately didn't do justice to the term. Ruud Gullit, then manager of Newcastle United, saw his team splutter and struggle in the Premiership arena and was more akin to playing 'disaster football'. The Arsenal team of 2012-13, though, does represent this term with deserved aplomb. Anyone who thinks Arsenal are a team in crisis must be living on Planet Mars. Arsene Wenger's team are good, real good, and they're playing some sensational football at the minute.

With a team packed with silky-smooth, technical players, they now seem gelled as a unit and know all their individual roles well enough to perform in harmony. The result is a captivating brand of 'pass-and-move' football, where players inter-link with one another perfectly and with devastating precision, where players overlap and support one another to break their opponents into submission.

At the Stadium of Light against Sunderland in their latest league outing, in front of a massive crowd of 46, 402, Arsenal aagain showed their mettle against a determined Black Cats side. The writing was on the wall for Sunderland, and in the 35th minute, Arsenal made the important breakthrough. Star midfielder Jack Wilshere penetrated deep into the home defence, before relaying a pass to Theo Walcott in a threatening position. However, in a moment symbolic of Walcott's new-found maturity, the England striker relayed a blessedly unselfish pass into the path of the impending Santiago Cazorla, who rifled in a neat left-foot finish. Cazorla is one of the best players in the Permiership this season, another perfect fit to Wenger's intricate team chemistry.

And though left with 10-men after right-back Carl Jenkinson's second-half sending-off, Arsenal showed enough steel to repel the home forays; a steel that augurs well for their fortunes for the remainder of the season. They are now up to fifth, and closing in on a Champions League place. The Walcott contract saga has finally been settled, and it seems to have settled down the team. They even got their new left-back, Nacho Monreal, who forsook a Champions League-chasing Malaga side for the North London lights of Arsenal.

In this game, Bacary Sagna was brilliant in the centre of defence, even though it's not his most comfortable position and he was moved there only due to Laurent Koscielny's warm-up injury. Mikel Arteta was imperious in the base of the midfield, using his reading and passing skills optimally and always supporting his midfield compatriots further up top. Ramsey was tireless in midfield, and Wilshere looks capable of becoming the leader that Arsenal have so badly needed. Up front, French international Olivier Giroud now looks settled in the Premiership, a technical forward with size and mobility. And they even have German star Lukas Podolski ready in reserve. 'The Professor' is back in action. And his students seem ready to pass the test.