Oktoberfest at The Emirates!

ARSENAL 4 Silvetsre, Gallas, Adebayor, van Persie

SP*DS 4 Bentley, Bent, Jenas, Lennon

Two goals lead with just a minute to go against your local rivals, the sensible thing to do? Shut the shop and pull down the shutters.

But what did Arsenal do? Continue operating normally and look to increase the profit which eventually was wiped out at the end of the four minutes added time.

It was so disappointing thinking we are capable of making that kind of defensive errors which let opponents back into the match. It shows that this season perhaps we are not really title contenders yet. But football is a funny old game so I would not be giving up hope just yet.

I have always believe there is something special about David Bentley and this morning he showed that I am not wrong by scoring the goal which topped the ones he scored for us against his current boss Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth back in 2004 in the FA Cup.

We responded well after going behind and it was good to see Mikel Silvestre scoring his first Arsenal goal, an effort that many Arsenal fans have not seen with enough frequency lately, scoring from corners. It was truly a wonderful header and he nearly repeated the feat a while later.

Then just after break we went ahead with another header from a set piece. This time skipper William Gallas connecting well with a Robin van Persie free-kick. The Gunners went two goals ahead when the Dutchman precise pass released Samir Nasri who beat Gomez with a delicate chip. It was already on its way into the net but Manu Adebayor touched it to make sure.

But Sp*ds cut out the lead when Manuel Almunia failed to get up quick enough to prevent Darren Bent from getting the rebound past him. The Spaniard had earlier failed to hold Tom Huddlestone’s fierce drive from outside the box.

But van Persie restored the lead as Arsenal capitalised on an error by Allan Hutton. Adebayor latched on to a weak pass from the Scottish full-back and found the Dutchman at the far post. Unlike earlier chances when he tried to shift the ball to his stronger left foot, this time van Persie took it with his right and Gomez had no chance.

It should be game over but somehow Gael Clichy’s error presented the ball to Jermaine Jenas who scored with a wonderful curler which gave Almunia no chance at all.

One thing about Glichy is that he is a good defender with a powerful engine that enables him to run down the flanks all day. Unfortunately, he is also prone to this kind of lapse of concentration where he failed to do the simple thing which led to critical situation.

One situation that immediately came to my mind was the match at St Andrews last season when Eduardo suffered the horrific injury. It was almost identical, Arsenal were leading 2-1 and Glichy lost the ball near to the goal. He made a wonderful tackle to win the ball back but the referee deemed it was an offence and awarded Birmingham a penalty which they scored.

Arsenal never recover from that.

If only the young Frenchman did the simple thing and just hoof the ball out.

This morning match also was not a good one for Almunia. He conceded four goals at the Emirates for the first time. A slight deflection took Luca Modric’s shot away from him, which hit the post and rebounded for Aaron Lennon to equalise in the last minute of the added time.

How I wish we just play ugly once in a while and just bring the ball to the corner and wait for the referee to blow for time. Thierry Henry and Robert Pires used to do it, why can’t we do it again?

Hope this will be another lesson well learned.

...

Lucky Breaks at Upton

WEST HAM UNITED 0
ARSENAL 2 Faubert OG, Adebayor

The trip to Upton Park is never easy and last night it was the same story. In front of their own crowd, West Ham gave everything their got and were nearly rewarded but to their credit Arsenal displayed their resilience to ensure they would leave with all the three points.

Nicklas Bendtner started the match together with Robin Van Persie upfront but the lanky Dane showed he lacked the match practice that is needed to perform at this level. But his talent eventualy came good later when his pass found substitute Manu Adebayor who beat Robert Green in the fourth minute of added time.

Before that, Green was having a very good game by denying the Arsenal frontline time and time again. It was not unique for the goalkeeper though, who seems to save his best against Arsenal. However he could do nothing when his own defender did the favour for the visitors by deflecting Adebayor’s shot which was going wide into his own net.

Throughout the match, I kept thinking that Arsenal would eventually come through but at the same time there was this sense of vulnerability that things could go wrong and we would suffer our third defeat of the season which would seriously reduced our hope of being a serious title challenger.

But in the end I was very thankful for the points which kept us within touching of Liverpool who played very well to end Chelski’s four and half year unbeaten run which began after we became the last team to win there back in 2004.

Now another London derby awaits, and this time it will be more interesting as the Sp*ds come avisiting the Emirates on Thursday morning Malaysian time.

…

Five On the Road!

FENERBAHCE 2 Silvestre OG 19 Guiza 78

ARSENAL 5 Adebayor 10 Walcott 11 Diaby 22 Song 49 Ramsey 90+4

A trip to Turkey is never easyArsenal took the field against Fenerbahce with an untested back-four with Alex Song and Mikel Silvestre partnering one another for the first time and Gael Clichy and Manu Eboue on the flanks.

A five man midfield comprising of Cesc Fabregas, Abou Diaby, Denilson, Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott was designed to keep it tight while providing the opening for Manu Adebayor who operated as a lone striker.

Manuel Almunia skippered the Arsenal side with William Gallas and Kolo Toure being side-lined with injuries.

Despite being left alone upfront Adebayor put Arsenal ahead after a wonderful through ball by Fabregas in the 10^th minute.

Then barely a minute later another through ball by the Spanish midfielder put Walcott through and the English youngster found the net with the smallest of margin to put the Gunners two goals ahead.

Arsenal fans were in dreamland.

Then the home side snatched one back from a typical Arsenal weakness, that is the free-kick. Guiza volleyed the long free-kick from the left and the loose ball was deflected by Silvestre into his own goal.

Then Arsenal restored their two goal lead when Diaby latched on to a pass from Fabregas and shrugged off three Fenerbahce defenders before shooting past Demirel from quite an acute angle.

Just after the half an hour mark Dani Guiza put the ball into the Arsenal net but his effort was correctly ruled out for offside. Arsenal did not look comfortable defending.

Song who was earlier booked for obstruction was given a lucky break by the referee when he committed a similar offence on Roberto Carlos. In the 40^th minute Guiza was put through again but his low shot just missed the target by mere inches.

In the 41^st minute Fabregas put Walcott clear again but Demirel managed to cut out his low ball from reaching Fabregas. At the other end Almunia had to pull off another important save on one to one situation to deny Fenerbahce from reducing the gap.

Two minutes into the second half a sight every Arsenal fans did not want to see when Nasri went down clutching his left leg. From the resultant free-kick, comedic defending gave the opportunity for Song to get his name on the scoresheet, his first in European competition.

Almunia steady handling prevented an Alex’s free-kick from going in after Diaby adjudged to commit a foul outside the the penalty box just under the hour mark.

Again the Spanish custodian in the 67^th minute came out on top on one on one situation though it needed a collective effort to prevent the ball from ending up in the back oof the net.

Diaby exited in the 73^rd minute to be replaced by Aaron Ramsey, who scored a spectacular goal against England in their U-21 European Championship play-off match last week.

Finally Guiza managed to put his name on the scoresheet in the 78^th minute when a defensive error by Song put him through and he lobbed Almunia with ease to give the home fans some hope of a comeback by their team.

Johan Djorou came on for Walcott with six minutes to go. Carlos Vela followed Djorou a couple of minutes later in place of Adebayor.

Ramsey in the last minute of additional time opened his European account with another cracker from just outside the box which hit the post before going in.

It was five on the road for the rampant Gunners!

...

A Good Start For the Notebook.

ARSENAL 3 Nasri, van Persie, Walcott

EVERTON 1 Osman

As the referee blew for the interval, the thought that the first match that I am goinng to talk about is a defeat crossed my mind. The direct football deployed during the first half certainly did not pose much problem for Everton at all.

Thinking a change of ritual would bring some good luck, I decided to hang out the laundry which earlier had been put into the machine.

Somehow, it worked.

I came back just in time to witness Cesc Fabregas’s corner which eventually ended up in the back of the visitors’ goal after a cool finish by Samir Nasri for the equaliser. We pressed forward and the enforced change that saw Theo Walcott coming on for the injured Kolo Toure saw a more menacing attacks on the Toffees goal.

Manu Adebayor who had been the target of my long distance abuse for not properly getting himself into the match during the first half finally did good in my book tonight. He managed to create the opening for Fabregas’s shot which was intially saved by Tim Howard.

But Robin van Persie was on hand to head home the rebound which put us into the lead for the first time during the match. After seeing the Dutchman failed to make much headway during the first forty five minutes, it was good to see him finally putting one over the line for his 6^th goal of the season.

Then a sight that all Arsenal fans did not want to see. Nasri hobbled off the pitch and my preference was to see Mexican forward, Carlos Vela for a like for like substitution. But I was no Arsene Wenger, who brought on Abou Diaby for the lanky player first match back from injury (again!)

It turned out to be another shrewd move by the Frenchman when Diaby found himself free on the right after Walcott found him with a short pass. It was a delayed ‘one-two’ and the young Englishman’s first time effort gave Howard no chance at all with a low effort which went through his legs.

The three points collected was really valuable as Chelsea had earlier thrashed Middlesbrough 5-0 at the Riverside. Liverpool posted another remarkable comeback against Wigan at Anfield, coming back from 2-1 down with ten minutes to go to win by the odd goal in five.

But most importantly was that the first Arsenal match review that I typed using my brand new HP Notebook was a character building comeback win.

So, another laundry on Wednesday?

…