The fact that the 7-5 scoreline wasn’t the most mental aspect of Reading v Arsenal in 2012 speaks volumes about Francis Coquelin and Olivier Giroud.
For it is the seventh anniversary of peak Arsenal.
Nope, not going 4-0 down to Reading after just 35 minutes. Not having a spine of Emiliano Martinez, Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Frimpong and Marouane Chamakh.
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The star of this show wasn’t even Theo Walcott, who scored a hat-trick during the match.
This anniversary is dedicated to Giroud and Coquelin.
Having both been on the pitch as Arsenal came back from four goals down in the League Cup clash Giroud and Coquelin had every right to celebrate.
But chucking their shirts into the crowd probably wasn’t the smartest move.
Unlike in the Champions League, away goals carry no extra weight in the League Cup.
This fact obviously went unnoticed by Giroud and Coquelin, who were only too happy to get rid of their shirts.
What followed was an awkward and tense attempt to get their shirts back in order for the duo to be able to play extra-time.
You could forgive Giroud for his naivety, given it was his first season in English football, but Coquelin had been at Arsenal for four years.
So what did they do when they got their shirts back? They grinned and high-fived each other, as if what they’d just done was a stroke of genius.
Peak Arsenal. Imagine if Arsenal Fan TV had been around then.
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