Reading 1 Shorey
Arsenal 3 Flamini, Adebayor, Hleb
Arsenal regained the lead for the Barclays Premier League from Manure after registering a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Reading at the Madejski Stadium. It was a difficult match for most of the first half as the home side showed their intent of not letting last season scoreline being repeated.
A superb all around performance saw Arsenal winning 4-0 in style, prompting the Royals to park their bus in front of the goal for this meeting. They managed to hold Arsenal off, until two minutes before the interval when a a flowing move saw Manu Adebayor releasing Alex Hleb on the right side of the penalty area.
The Belarusian player cut back the ball across the goal and Matthieu Flamini who had made a wonderful run into the area was on hand to divert the ball into the back of the net.
Then six minutes after the start of the second half, the visitors went two goals ahead. This time Adebayor found Tomas Rosicky on the left and the Czech player's cutback found Cesc Fabregas who set-up Adebayor, who ended his goal drought with a wonderful placed effort, giving the unsighted Marcus Hahnemann no chance at all.
It was Arsenal 1,000th Premier League goal and the first for the Togolese international since his hat-trick against Derby County earlier this season.
It should have been 3-0 a few minutes later when Adebayor beat Hahnemann and slotted the ball home. Much to his dismay and mine, his effort was ruled out for offside, which replays suggested was an erroneous call by the referee assistant.
But the scoreline did change with thirteen minutes to go. Hleb who scored during the rout last year, found the net again with a superb individual effort. His close control beat two Reading players before tricking Hahnemann with a deft flick before powering the ball home despite the best effort of a covering defender on the line.
Like last year, the match produced a fourth goal, but this time around it was to the delight of the home fans when a lucky bounce gave England defender, Nicky Shorey the chance to put his name on the scoresheet after having hit the post from a free-kick a few minutes earlier.
It ended 3-1 to the Arsenal and that was enough to put them back at the top of the league again.
...
Tuesday 13 November 2007
Thursday 8 November 2007
European Champions' League - Matchday #4
Slavia Prague 0
Arsenal 0
In the driving rain in Prague, Arsenal achieved the objective they target for the evening, and that was to ensure qualification to the knock-out round of Europe's premier club football competition.
Against an opponent they thrashed 7-0 a fortnight ago, the Gunners had to work hard as the home side displayed their determination to avoid a similar score-line would not recur in front of their own fans.
With a line-up bearing more resemblance to the Carling Cup side, Arsenal did not get to play their usual crisp passing game due to the continuous pressure by Slavia players who did not let them settle whenever they have possession of the ball.
Instead, it was Slavia who posed more threats to Manuel Almunia's goal with the only attempt on target for Arsenal was a weak header by Manu Adebayor with five minutes of the match to go.
The pairing of Niklas Bendtner and Eduardo did not get much opportunity to breach the home defence which counted on numbers to starve the pair from any space to test Michal Vorel, who was making his Champions' League debut for Slavia.
Alex Song was paired with William Gallas at the centre of defence while Brazilians Denilson and Gilberto Silva were entrusted with the responsibility of being the midfield dynamo. Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott began the game on the flanks, supported by Gael Glichy and Lassana Diarra respectively.
Diarra really impressed me with his display so far and I believe that he is pushing hard for a place in the starting eleven, whether down the right flanks or in the middle of the field. However, the same could not be said about Song, who had a mixed outing.
Almunia continued to impress people and hopefully the blip against Manure would be just that, just a blip on an otherwise good outing so far for the Spaniard.
In the end, congratulations all around to Arsene Wenger who had ensure progress to the next round. Thus he would be able to do more rotation in the remaining Champions League group matches against Steaua Bucharest and Sevilla.
Well done!
...
Arsenal 0
In the driving rain in Prague, Arsenal achieved the objective they target for the evening, and that was to ensure qualification to the knock-out round of Europe's premier club football competition.
Against an opponent they thrashed 7-0 a fortnight ago, the Gunners had to work hard as the home side displayed their determination to avoid a similar score-line would not recur in front of their own fans.
With a line-up bearing more resemblance to the Carling Cup side, Arsenal did not get to play their usual crisp passing game due to the continuous pressure by Slavia players who did not let them settle whenever they have possession of the ball.
Instead, it was Slavia who posed more threats to Manuel Almunia's goal with the only attempt on target for Arsenal was a weak header by Manu Adebayor with five minutes of the match to go.
The pairing of Niklas Bendtner and Eduardo did not get much opportunity to breach the home defence which counted on numbers to starve the pair from any space to test Michal Vorel, who was making his Champions' League debut for Slavia.
Alex Song was paired with William Gallas at the centre of defence while Brazilians Denilson and Gilberto Silva were entrusted with the responsibility of being the midfield dynamo. Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott began the game on the flanks, supported by Gael Glichy and Lassana Diarra respectively.
Diarra really impressed me with his display so far and I believe that he is pushing hard for a place in the starting eleven, whether down the right flanks or in the middle of the field. However, the same could not be said about Song, who had a mixed outing.
Almunia continued to impress people and hopefully the blip against Manure would be just that, just a blip on an otherwise good outing so far for the Spaniard.
In the end, congratulations all around to Arsene Wenger who had ensure progress to the next round. Thus he would be able to do more rotation in the remaining Champions League group matches against Steaua Bucharest and Sevilla.
Well done!
...
Sunday 4 November 2007
Premier League - Match #11
Arsenal 2 Fabregas, Gallas
Man United 2 Gallas OG, Ronaldo
It was a pulsating match. At 2-1 down and entering the stoppage time the headline of 'Arsenal Unbeaten Run Ends' has been flashing on my minds quite a number of time. However, the gut feeling was saying 'it is not over yet, we will get something in a moment'.
And when the melee in front of the goal was stopped by referee Howard Webb whistle with his hand pointing to the Arsenal goal, my first thought 'that was it, we blew our chance' until I heard the commentators said "he has given it!".
I raised my hands with joy the same way I did when Cesc Fabregas equalised at Anfield last week. The young Spaniard had another influential match in which he scored his eleventh goal in twelve matches so far.
The first half was a midfield battle where both sides shared possession almost equally. But it was the home side that created the most clear cut chance when captain William Gallas's header from a Fabregas free-kick was saved by goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar's legs.
Manu Adebayor headed wide from a Gael Clichy cross while at the other end Wayne Rooney was equally wasteful. However, the England striker played an influential role in nudging United in front just before the half-time whistle.
I thought Alex Hleb was fouled when he went down challenging Wes Brown. But Web did not see it that way and the Cristiano Ronaldo benefited from the decision. With the extra space he managed to deliver a low cross which Rooney and Gallas attacked.
Rooney's effort was heading across the goalmouth until it hit Gallas' hand and the deflection caught Manuel Almunia wrong-footed. Thus the Devils had the upper hand going into the break.
In true Arsenal fashion, the home side came storming back after the second half whistle was blown by Webb. Three minutes later, they were handsomely rewarded.
Despite having not score any goal since his hat-trick against Derby, Adebayor played a pivotal role in forcing Van Der Sar to come out as they went for Manu Eboue's ball into the United's box. The goalkeeper's clearance was snatched by Bacary Sagna who cut it back to Fabregas.
Despite the pressure, Fabregas remained composed before slotting the ball home from two metres out. A lesson learned after the error at Anfield last Sunday.
At 1-1, the match came alive. Both Hleb and Tomas Rosicky had attempts on goal but failed to find the target. With the clock ticking away both managers began to make changes through substitutions.
Alex Ferguson made the first one, replacing Wes Brown with John O'Shea. Four minutes later, Theo Walcott came on for Eboue, a substitution which I felt played a crucial role in United going a head again.
Further substitutions saw Michael Carrick and Louis Saha coming on for Anderson and Carlos Tevez for the visitors. Arsene Wenger decided to bring on Eduardo Da Silva and Gilberto for Rosicky and Hleb.
With seven minutes to go, Walcott failed to track Patrice Evra's run and the French defender drew Gallas and Almunia out. I felt the goalkeeper should have stayed within his goal as a defender was already going for the same ball.
As a result, the goal was left wide open for Ronaldo to tuck in the cut-back from Evra. Three minutes later, Evra nearly became the hero to Arsenal fans as he sliced a low cross from Eduardo just over his bar.
The Croatia striker, who scored twice against Sheffield United in midweek Carling Cup tie was presented with a similar opportunity but this time around his effort was off-target.
Then, with ninety seconds to go a continuous Arsenal pressure resulted in a scramble in front of the visitors' goalmouth. Gallas remained cool and composed when he received the ball at the far post.
His volley had already crossed the line when Van Der Sar palmed it away. Thanks to an eagle-eyed assistant referee who spotted the incident and indicated to Mr Webb who immediately blew and pointed to the centre circle, much to the delight of Gooners all over the world.
...
Man United 2 Gallas OG, Ronaldo
It was a pulsating match. At 2-1 down and entering the stoppage time the headline of 'Arsenal Unbeaten Run Ends' has been flashing on my minds quite a number of time. However, the gut feeling was saying 'it is not over yet, we will get something in a moment'.
And when the melee in front of the goal was stopped by referee Howard Webb whistle with his hand pointing to the Arsenal goal, my first thought 'that was it, we blew our chance' until I heard the commentators said "he has given it!".
I raised my hands with joy the same way I did when Cesc Fabregas equalised at Anfield last week. The young Spaniard had another influential match in which he scored his eleventh goal in twelve matches so far.
The first half was a midfield battle where both sides shared possession almost equally. But it was the home side that created the most clear cut chance when captain William Gallas's header from a Fabregas free-kick was saved by goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar's legs.
Manu Adebayor headed wide from a Gael Clichy cross while at the other end Wayne Rooney was equally wasteful. However, the England striker played an influential role in nudging United in front just before the half-time whistle.
I thought Alex Hleb was fouled when he went down challenging Wes Brown. But Web did not see it that way and the Cristiano Ronaldo benefited from the decision. With the extra space he managed to deliver a low cross which Rooney and Gallas attacked.
Rooney's effort was heading across the goalmouth until it hit Gallas' hand and the deflection caught Manuel Almunia wrong-footed. Thus the Devils had the upper hand going into the break.
In true Arsenal fashion, the home side came storming back after the second half whistle was blown by Webb. Three minutes later, they were handsomely rewarded.
Despite having not score any goal since his hat-trick against Derby, Adebayor played a pivotal role in forcing Van Der Sar to come out as they went for Manu Eboue's ball into the United's box. The goalkeeper's clearance was snatched by Bacary Sagna who cut it back to Fabregas.
Despite the pressure, Fabregas remained composed before slotting the ball home from two metres out. A lesson learned after the error at Anfield last Sunday.
At 1-1, the match came alive. Both Hleb and Tomas Rosicky had attempts on goal but failed to find the target. With the clock ticking away both managers began to make changes through substitutions.
Alex Ferguson made the first one, replacing Wes Brown with John O'Shea. Four minutes later, Theo Walcott came on for Eboue, a substitution which I felt played a crucial role in United going a head again.
Further substitutions saw Michael Carrick and Louis Saha coming on for Anderson and Carlos Tevez for the visitors. Arsene Wenger decided to bring on Eduardo Da Silva and Gilberto for Rosicky and Hleb.
With seven minutes to go, Walcott failed to track Patrice Evra's run and the French defender drew Gallas and Almunia out. I felt the goalkeeper should have stayed within his goal as a defender was already going for the same ball.
As a result, the goal was left wide open for Ronaldo to tuck in the cut-back from Evra. Three minutes later, Evra nearly became the hero to Arsenal fans as he sliced a low cross from Eduardo just over his bar.
The Croatia striker, who scored twice against Sheffield United in midweek Carling Cup tie was presented with a similar opportunity but this time around his effort was off-target.
Then, with ninety seconds to go a continuous Arsenal pressure resulted in a scramble in front of the visitors' goalmouth. Gallas remained cool and composed when he received the ball at the far post.
His volley had already crossed the line when Van Der Sar palmed it away. Thanks to an eagle-eyed assistant referee who spotted the incident and indicated to Mr Webb who immediately blew and pointed to the centre circle, much to the delight of Gooners all over the world.
...
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