Clean Sheets Galore!

It took three matches for mad redo1 to start writing about The Gunners this season. But it was worth the wait, after two win-less starts against Sunderland and Stoke City but with two clean sheets, the trip to Liverpool was always going to be a big test.

With Brendan Rodgers undergoing his baptism of fire in his first season in charge of the red half of Merseyside, his counterpart Arsene Wenger is facing another challenge to keep the trust of the majority of Gooners worldwide especially with the loss of a certain Dutchman to a major rival earlier and the subsequent inactivity as the transfer window drew to a close.

But at the final whistle blown by Howard Webb, it was the Frenchman who looked like a manager who had won more than just a game of football.

His two signings, Lukas Poldoski and Santi Cazorla had just opened their goal accounts with The Gunners and the third, Olivier Giroud who despite missing another glorious chance for the third consecutive match, looked lively throughout.

But the biggest talk from the match was a certain Abou Diaby who struggled against Sunderland and Stoke but gave an almost perfect display in the middle of the park as he outshone the home side recent acquisition, Nurin Sahin.

Many Gooners would feel he should not be in the first XI at Anfield but Wenger's decision to stick with the former Auxerre player paid dividends as he put himself almost on every blade of the Anfield turf.

With the combination of Poldoski and Cazorla looks like beginning to click with each complementing one another. It was the Spaniard who slided the ball to Poldoski for the opening goal while the German returned the favour to put Cazorla in the clear for him to unleash his fierce left foot shot which Pepe Reina turned into his own goal.

Three clean sheets in the first three opening matches which is a new Premier League record is most welcomed as we look to the future with an almost new attacking unit and at the same time a stronger back-line, a testimony of Steve Bould's influence who looked good beside Arsene in the dug-out.

With the Premier League taking a break due to internationals, it is hoped that all Arsenal players involved will come back unscathed from their national teams commitments.

Ironically the next league fixture coming from the break is against Southampton, who fell victim to a certain Dutchman's clinical finish as they lost 3-2 to Manchester United.

If you ever had been dumped by a girl, and despite your best effort from time to time again you saw her with her new boyfriend, enjoying her life then it was a similar feeling seeing the no.20 scoring a hat-trick for his new team.

There was nothing much you can do, except hoping history will repeat itself for the Dutchman after turning out for the Dutch national side a few seasons ago.

I think many Gooners would say 'Ameen' to that.


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