Arsenal: 3 Gunners Who Helped Shape a Successful Month of October

Over the last 31 days, leaves have begun their annual shifting of color, adding an integral track to the autumnal album.

Fall—a mere infant at the start of October—is now fully upon us.

It is sometimes difficult to believe that Arsenal have only played six games during that span of days.  Much in the way that this season has at times felt like a lifetime, it feels as if months have passed where only one, in fact, did.

The first game came on Oct. 2—the north London derby away to Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

That match resulted in a maddening 2-1 defeat, with the superb Wojciech Szczesny—easily one of the Arsenal players of the season thus far—inexplicably spilling Kyle Walker's speculative long-range effort into his own net to send Spurs to victory.

Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey—two of the most embattled Gunners during the early portions of the season—both had critics railing against their performances on that day.

Despite scoring the Gunners' lone goal, Ramsey was criticized for his decision-making and for moments where his technique looked to have deserted him entirely.

Walcott, who was once considered one of the premier young talents in English football, was watching his place in the first-choice Arsenal XI become threatened by the steep trajectory of yet another English starlet, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose two goals in September (against Shrewsbury Town and Olympiacos, respectively) had seen his name thrown about as a possible inclusion in next summer's 23-member squad for the European championships.

Robin van Persie, despite having scored his 100th goal for the club against Bolton on Sept. 24, stood with three goals heading into the 10th month—a modest return, and good for most strikers, but with the Dutchman's blinding form in 2011, we almost expected each shot fired from that magnificent left boot to emit a blinding set of sparks as it rocketed magnificently for a corner of the net.

We objected at just how isolated van Persie often looked in attack, deprived of adequate service from, namely, Ramsey and Walcott.

Yet each of those three players (and there were plenty others within the side who answered the call during this month) came back from the international break with a furious vengeance.

It was as if that respite had not only refreshed them, but had filled them with a steely resolve to pull Arsenal out of its lamentable debut and firmly ensconce it back on the track to success. Five wins on the trot (extending to eight wins out of nine) would seem an adequate response.

Van Persie struck "first," in a manner of speaking. In fact, he actually struck twice.

It was the Dutchman's brace against Sunderland, coming in a wonderfully symmetrical way (at the opening and close of the encounter), that cannoned Arsenal back into life in their first match back from the international break.

He had sent Arsenal up 1-0 after only 29 seconds, only to see former Gunner Sebastian Larsson negate that advantage with a wonderful free-kick midway through the first half.

Never one to be upstaged in a realm of personal expertise—especially at home—van Persie sealed victory for Arsenal in the 82nd minute with a sublime free kick of his own.

He had saved his side from what would have been a disappointing draw at home and secured three points when his side desperately needed them.

Next was Ramsey's turn against Olympique de Marseille in the Champions League.

Playing in a Stade Velodrome that was currently undergoing construction in certain tribunes—the lack of fans in those areas casting a rather eerie effect as the camera panned from side to side tracking the play—Ramsey's stoppage-time winner sent Arsenal to a 1-0 victory and a first-place positioning in the group.

Walcott would get his chance soon enough, but it was van Persie who once more stole the show against Stoke City on Oct. 23 in a positively sublime turn as a substitute that hearkened memories of Cesc Fabregas coming on against Aston Villa on Dec. 27, 2009 at the Emirates.

The captain—a Dutchman this time—saved the ship, with van Persie's brilliant brace serving as a perfect reference point for his maturation as a complete attacking force. Two goals from close range, one with each foot.

The first XI were largely saved during the Carling Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers on Oct. 25 (Park and Arshavin were sensational that night in a 2-1 victory, but that's a story for another day—er... article), but it wasn't until Chelsea away at Stamford Bridge on Oct. 29—fittingly the final match of the month—that all three aforementioned men came together to provide a Holy Trinity of attacking intent and tireless industry in what was, by all accounts, one of the most thrilling encounters ever seen.

Where to begin? Maybe it was Theo Walcott creating the next YouTube sensation, falling to the ground in the midst of a thicket of Chelsea defenders, but refusing to give up on the play.

Shooting back up, recovering the nearby ball, and employing a devastating one-two feint that saw him fire to the edge of the penalty area where his searing drive blasted just inside a helpless Petr Cech's near post for Arsenal's third goal, and first lead, on the day.

They would never trail again.

Or perhaps it was Ramsey, whose name would not appear among the list of scorers (though he came dangerously close on at least two occasions), turning in one of the best performances in midfield for the club this season?

The Welshman was everywhere, exerting his influence upon the proceedings like a savvy veteran, belying his mere 20 years of age as he directed play.

But somehow it always had to be van Persie who would see his star shine brightest.

His hat-trick, only his second ever for the club during his seven-year career (he arrived from Feyenoord in 2004), was realized with a stoppage-time screamer that seemed to take Cech by surprise as it blew past him.

Arsenal's fifth goal of the day, which set the scoreline in its final resting place at 5-3.

All three men joined in on the raucous celebration that ensued. And how could you deny them that little bit of catharsis as they were finally able to shed the weight from their backs that had been building for what seemed an eternity?

We saw the best from each player during that match against Chelsea—a coming of age(s), so to speak.

You couldn't have picked a more fitting opponent, either—particularly after The Blues had knocked Arsenal around in recent meetings, perhaps most memorably in Nov. 2009, when every newspaper and website seemed to run the image of Didier Drogba sending then-Gunners left-back Armond Traore flying into the touchline billboards like a rag doll with a mere shrug of his shoulder.

Arsenal had been punched in the mouth on Saturday as well, going into halftime down 2-1.

But that triumvirate refused to acquiesce this time 'round, and they embarked upon a four-goal binge that had chills running down Gooner spines worldwide.

It was the response we had long hoped and prayed for—and perhaps even seen in seasons past, only for the next slip-up to undo it all.

A season's worth of thinly-veiled criticism gone up like a wisp of smoke—and all in 90 minutes of work. Perhaps we're prone to some fancies as Arsenal fans, but as we watched the Arsenal players salute their traveling supporters after the final whistle, we might have felt that this was a team that had, finally, turned the proverbial corner.

Of course, the performance was far from perfect, with Arsenal's defense again looking worryingly vulnerable against a tricky attacking midfielder—a continuing theme this season. Against Chelsea it was Juan Mata, the man Arsenal almost signed during the summer, scoring a goal and setting up another.

But the euphoria from victory assuaged those fears, if only for the time being. Maybe it was seeing Thomas Vermaelen back on the pitch during the final moments, his presence a port of call amongst the rip tide of would-be Chelsea attackers streaming forth, looking for goals.

But it was those three men who had proved most crucial in sealing Arsenal's deliverance that fateful day. It is a common refrain to hear that men never do change—and while that may hold true in real life, that precept should be forbidden from utterance on a football pitch.

Because in the span of a month (and in a more compressed version, 90 minutes), we saw three men take a good look at their standing and resolve to do something about it—both for themselves and for the betterment of their club.

Arsenal fans may never be able to fully reciprocate that outpouring of devotion and earnestness, but if those seemingly endless cheers on Saturday were any indication, they are trying their damndest anyway.