Arsenal 1 Toure
Middlesborough 1 Aliadiere
Jeremie Aliadiere came back to the Emirates with a reminder that he could do the business in the Premier League by putting his new employer ahead after twenty five minutes. However, his mute celebration certainly showed he still remember what the club has done for him in the past.
It was another two points dropped which meant we have lost the lead of the Premier League to manure. This time around there was no cabbage patch to blame but referee Mark Halsey certainly bore the brunt of my disappointment.
His decision to disallow Manu Adebayor's goal in the opening minutes certainly did not sit well with me, especially when he explained later that the pass was intended for an Arsenal player in an offside position when it hit George Boateng and fell to the Togolese striker.
However, replays showed that none other Arsenal player was in an offside position apart from Adebayor, the pass was not intended for him thus the deflection should not render him off-side at all.
If Arsenal was to be denied by an offside decision, Middlesborough benefited from the benefit of the doubt showed by the other linesman and Aliadiere made the most from a cross by Turkish player Tuncay.
The home side worked hard for the equaliser and forced Mark Schwarzer in the Boro's goal to work hard throughout the match. Robin Van Persie's first start clearly showed how much we have been missing him but on this occassion he could not conjure that piece of magic that is usually associated with his game.
Cesc Fabregas came close with a header but one thing for certain was the lack of spark in the creativity department since the last few weeks. Thus, to say that Middlesborough deserved this point could be justified for the defensive performance though Arsenal should be a more deserved winner for the amount of chances they created.
When Kolo Toure's header eventually found its way over the goal-line, once again it was the sigh of relief rather than a sight of joy that I gave out.
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