Premier League - Match #32

Bolton Wanderers 2 Taylor 2
Arsenal 3 Gallas, Van Persie (pen), Samuels (OG)

I was thinking why all the luck in the world has deserted us since the last couple of months when the second goal by Matthew Taylor went in after a deflection off William Gallas took it beyond Manu Almunia's despairing dive.

The Reebok does not hold much happy memories for me and when we trooped off the pitch two goals down at the interval, headlines like "Arsenal crumbled at Bolton", "It's a Two Horse race now" kept playing in my head.

Even when the second half began I felt there was no way that we could salvage the match, especially with just ten men. Abou Diaby continued to depress me lately and somewhere deep in my heart I wished we had retained the services of Lassana Diarra who would be tough yet skillful enough to play on either flanks.

Almunia pulled a brilliant save from Gary Cahill's header though the referee should have awarded a free-kick after the defender gained his advantage after climbing off an Arsenal player.

Then Arsene Wenger took a big risk by taking off Phillipe Senderos to be replaced by Theo Walcott. Arsenal has had problems playing with four at the back against Bolton before, now they are playing with just three and none of them is tall enough to counter the high balls into the box.

Manu Adebayor came on for Nicklas Bendtner who was a bit unlucky with his shots during the match. The changes seemed to rejunevate the visitors and they came streaming forward in a 3-4-2 formation.

From a corner, Ivan Campo misjudged a corner by Cesc Fabregas and Gallas lost his marker at the far past to divert the ball into the net. Arsenal continued to pressure Bolton and a beautiful flick by Adebayor opened up the space for Matthieu Flamini to shot but the goalkeeper went down wll to stop it.

Alex Hleb reached the loose ball first leaving Cahill with no option but to bring the Belarussian down in the box. A penalty was awarded and Robin Van Persie converted to level the score.

I dared not dream of all three points but the fightback was tremendous. Van Persie showed that he is nearly there in terms of sharpness with a number of chances that came close to give joy to Arsenal fans throughout the world.

Then, Fabregas cleverly ran into space to connect with a Hleb's cutback. His effort hit Andy O'Brien and Jlloyd Samuel before softly hitting the back of the net.

Joy for Fabregas, and joy for mad redo1 who were celebrating just as hard at home.

Perhaps, the luck is returning and hopefully this time they will stay for good.

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Premier League - Match #31

Chelski 2 Dogba2
Arsenal 1 Sagna


It is really heartbreaking to lose in the manner Arsenal did at Stamford Bridge just now. Two route-one balls and two goals much to the delights of those who prefer crap football as long as it won them trophies.

Though, I used to accept these crap football when Arsenal were winning matches 1-0 and won the league and cups under George Graham. However, since the arrival of Arsene Wenger I have been spoilt by the finer aspects of the way football should be played.

One thing about Wenger is his reluctance to employ the route one football if he can help it and it clearly showed again just now. Knowing the opponents have been vulnerable when dealing in high balls and set-pieces, especially after the 4-4 draw at the Lane, he still refused to employ them despite having Manu Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner at his disposal.

Instead, he started with the Togolese and Robin Van Persie in front and Alex Hleb and Manu Eboue on the flanks. If he had started with the tall guys in front, Van Persie and Hleb could benefit from the second ball that might come their way, as much as Dogba benefited from the lay off from Lardpard and Nic Anelka in scoring those two goals.

The usual answer would be that it would be against his principle to win ugly, though I wish he would accept it as part of football. Variety is the key to winning nowadays and perhaps if Wenger was willing to go against his principle a few times this season, we would have been so far ahead instead of dropping to third place behind the Bâtards and the engrais.

There will be advocates for the kind of football the Bâtards dans le bleu play. And when Arsenal broke in a swift counter attack from a corner, Joe Cole stayed down on the pitch clutching his knees. With the crowd whistling, Eboue kicked the ball out just near the centre line.

The soonest the physio touched him, Cole got up and walked gingerly as if nothing happened to him. Would not he deserved to be named a Bâtard? From the throw in to restart the match, instead of kicking it to Manu Almunia, the Bâtard John Terry kicked the ball to the touchline, just a few metres from the corner flag, deep inside Arsenal's half, immediately putting the Gunners under pressure.

I dare anybody to call those two incidents sportsmanship. A behaviour of Bâtards is more likely.

It would not be so hard to take if we lost to goals like the equaliser scored by Michael Essien during last season's encounter.

Well, I am not throwing away the towels as yet being the positive person that I am though it will not take a genius to figure out that the odds against us finishing top in May will be very, very long now.

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Premier League - Match #30

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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Premier League - Match #29

Wigan 0
Arsenal 0

It did not take long for Arsenal to realise that their season did not end in San Siro. Where on the pitch in Milan, Arsenal were able to put up their best display of pressing and passing game, the same thing could not be applied on Wigan's JJB Stadium pitch.

But the matter of a cabbage patch for a pitch would not have arisen if Manu Adebayor had converted the chance that came his way in the opening seconds of the match.

Cesc Fabregas found him with a superb ball and he should have done what he did a couple of seasons ago when he was in similar position towards the end of the match and the Togolese international just flicked the ball over the rushing goalkeeper.

This time around he chose to try and stroke it past Chris Kirkland who made a wonderful save.

Wigan never really threaten but Arsenal could NOT adapt to the condition and seemed a few gears slower than usual. In the end, a goalless draw seemed the most appropriate result even though Arsenal came closest through Fabregas whose goal-bound header was pushed away by Kirkland.

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European Champions' League

First Knock-out Round, Leg 2

AC Milan 0
Arsenal 2 Fabregas, Adebayor

Arsenal won 2-0 on aggregate

It was such a magnificent performance by Arsenal at the San Siro where the home side, AC Milan had never lost to an English side prior to this match.

The odds were against the Gunners from the beginning and the first twenty minutes certainly indicated it would be a long long night for the men from North London. Milan plan was to look for an early goal with Pippo Inzaghi partnering Pato up-front with World Player of the Year, Kaka playing in the hole.

Manuel Almunia certainly had to be alert but then, the Gunners began to assert control and prevented Milan from creating any clear cut chance.

They went close a number of times during the first half with the closest chance fell to Cesc Fabregas whose effort left Zelko Kalac in the Milan goal stranded but much to the Spaniard's disappointment it hit the bar and went out.

The match was Arsenal to win and a single goal scored by the visitor meant that Milan had to double it. Then five minutes from time Fabregas was given a bit of space and he let fly from 30 metres.

It seemed a bit unreal as I watched the ball travelled ever so slowly past Kalac and only after it hit the back of the net only I believed it had gone in. It was such a joy especially when it was away at the holders' home stadium.

Milan now had to score twice and from the way events unfolded during the match it was very unlikely. Just to add the icing on the cake substitute Theo Walcott's pace brought him past a defender and his low cross was diverted by Manu Adebayor into the net for his first Champions League in Arsenal colours.

It was indeed a magnificent night in Milan for Arsenal.

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Premier League - Match #28

Arsenal 1 Bendtner
Aston Villa 1 Senderos OG

Arsenal again failed to get the maximum points in the Premier League after a battling performance by a resilient Aston Villa side came within seconds of becoming the first team to beat Arsenal at the Emirates this season.

However, Nicklas Bendtner came to the home side's rescue with the equalising goal with what turned out to be the last kick of the match. Arsene Wenger's side was not at their best with Aston Villa winning more of the ball and created the better chances.

However, they would not have breached Manuel Almunia's goal if not for a deflection off defender Phillipe Senderos as he tried to block a Gabriel Agbonlahor's low pass from reaching its target.

It was a case of misfortune which seemed to begin haunting Arsenal since the last few weeks.

Almunia had to work hard. He prevented Arsenal from going further behind when he palmed a Shaun Maloney's pile-driver onto the post and later fielded a goal bound shot from Marlon Harewood as the visitors continued to employ their fast strikers to end the match for the home side.

Abou Diaby seemed a bit rusty and it was not really surprising to see him coming off on the hour mark. Bendtner came on in his place with Theo Walcott pushing out wide on the right and Alex Hleb changed to the opposite flank.

However, Arsenal still could not find their way around the Villa defence which was re-enforced by their whole line-up until the last minute of the match. Gael Clichy floated the ball from the left, and for the first time Manu Adebayor was able to get a clean header.

The ball fell to the big Danish youngster who made no mistake from a metre out to ensure Arsenal remain on top of the league, at least for now.

It was just about what they deserved.

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