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Good reading I also thought that Djourou was outstanding. Its a shame we couldn't keep a clean sheet but 3:1 against Chelsea is just unbelievable
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Written by DrakeGoona on Tuesday, 28 December 2010 10:47
Just what the doctor ordered.
It seemed the margins between a team “maturing into genuine title contenders” or “being in crisis” were threadbare prior to last night’s kick off, from an Arsenal perspective. Wenger’s team selection threw out one surprise in a starting berth for Theo Walcott, pitting him against a defender he has had minimal success against in previous encounters. Robin van Persie got his first premier league start since returning from injury as Chamakh was rested and on the bench.
Chelsea started the brighter of the two sides, maintaining more possession in the opening 15 minutes, as we tried to find our feet in the match. A half chance for Drogba was their only opportunity of note but he pulled his shot too far left and past Fabianski’s post. This is when we started to click into gear, up the tempo, and began to test Chelsea’s mettle.
Looking controlled in possession playing in and around the Chelsea box, and with attempted penetrating runs from midfield by Theo, we were looking threatening without ever really testing Cech in the Chelsea goal. We had to wait until around the 40 minute mark for Samir Nasri, with limited options, to take a shot from the edge of the area - with no backlift he floated the ball perfectly and forced Cech into a fingertip save to ensure it didn’t creep in over his head. 5 minutes later we had the ball in the back of the net. Alex Song taking the attacking impetus into his own hands, as he has so many times this season, fed Wilshere and made a good run for the return pass which was helped on its way (by Fabregas) and Song struck it low and across the keeper to make it 1-0 just before the half-time whistle. A great time to score, and no less than we deserved.
The pundits at half-time spoke of how the opening of the second half would tell a lot about the character of both teams and their ambitions for the remainder of the championship. I hope they’re right because we couldn’t have dreamed of a better opening. Without shifting down a gear we came out pressing high and putting Chelsea under pressure when in possession. The extra effort soon came to our benefit as Michael Essien rushed his aimless clearance and an alert Theo made ball watching Ashley Cole look schoolboy-ish as he ghosted in behind, drew Cech towards him before cutting the ball across to the onrushing Fabregas, who had an empty net to tuck the ball into, 2-0.
As if it couldn’t get any better, it was soon 3-0. Theo again took advantage of some slack play by Malouda, nicking the ball off him and playing it in to Fabregas before taking off on a well held run for fabregas to play a delightfully chipped through ball (just high enough to creep over Terry’s attempted slide tackle) and Theo was through. He looks a man playing with high confidence as he took an early shot low and hard across the keeper. 3-0 and the party was well and truly in full swing. The Emirates atmosphere sounded better than I ever remember and truly played its part in keeping the confidence high after Chelsea pulled a goal back through a set-piece headed in from point blank range by Ivanovic.
The game ended 3-1 after a good number of chances could have made the score-line even better; Nasri getting on the end of a poor back-pass is one that comes to mind. There are a number of players that stood out yesterday, in defense Djourou kept our “tormentor” Drogba completely quiet with his physical presence, aerial challenges and altogether clever reading of the game. Sagna was, as per usual, solid, and Clichy had his moments of madness but brought the ball forward better than either of the opposition full-backs.
Alex Song had his most disciplined game in weeks, defending deep when we needed him, making some critical interceptions and clearances when needed. Jackie boy played with ability and commitment above and beyond what any 19 year old should legally be allowed to do! He made his aging England compatriot, Lampard, look average. Theo stepped up from the beginning of the game, which can’t often be said of the young man who most would agree normally makes his impact from the subs bench against tired legs. His finish was sublime and his link up play with Fabregas equally invaluable. But the player who I am actually most happy to discuss is Robin van Persie. I think its easy to forget just how good he can be when he is fit because, lets face it, he rarely is. He may not have the aerial presence of Chamakh that has served us so well already this season in that lone-striking role but his touch and all round ability on the ball gave us something that I think we have been lacking since the Henry and Bergkamp days. He linked up play, kept the ball well and, whilst not creating too many goalscoring opportunities for himself, was happy to commit himself to the greater cause; holding off Terry and Ivanovic in the run in to Cesc’s goal to give an example.
What a difference three points makes. An otherwise normal day had me suitably cheery, and I hope it was the same for all of you! Not to put a dampener on things, but this will all be for nothing if the focus doesn’t now shift to Wigan on Wednesday. We need to keep this momentum and it’ll put us in a good position going into our next big test which is Citeh next week (after two potential banana skins).
As it is, we reclaim second spot in the table, have answered Arsene’s call to perform at home in the fixtures against our closest title rivals and most importantly I feel, grabbed the proverbial “monkey off our backs” and hoofed it out of the floodlit Emirates stadium, in style.
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28-Dec-2010 11:54 | | goonerbegood - still drunk from last nightIt seems someone out there read my notes ,on how to be champions.
It was a fine collective effort from the boys last night and they made me proud.
This is how it should be and it feels good today.
Defence.did really well,won't fault anyone for the goal,cos we were playing a very good team.
clichy didn't make many runs,nasri did well that was the reason.
When we lost the ball our players were chasing the ball ,it made perfect sense and as a result we got 2 fine goals within 2 mins .
W e need to build on this,and not become over confident or should i say carried away.The premier league is still a strong league,so we must stay focused for the wigan game.
OUR PLAYERS NEED TO KEEP IT UP
TO BECOME CHAMPIONS WE NEED TO BE RUTHLESS BUT YET INTELLIGENT.
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28-Dec-2010 12:14 | | MeanLean
Great write up DrakeGoona,
I am putting the result down to your good luck, oh and our exceptionally talented squad.
Fantastic team performance, great hard work and defensively we looked very strong as we did at Old Trafford. The difference was that we played our football and as Theo said.. made them look average at times.
It is time to go forward and not look back. A win at Wigan is now a must, nothing less. We have enough players to rotate the team so lets do it and produce the same intensity.
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28-Dec-2010 12:56 | | BalaOne Monkey gone and lets hope the next monkey to go is "No Trophy in Five years".
The ref made some poor decisions but I think his booking of Cashley was very important as he didn't mark Theo tightly after that and also limited his attacking play.Were r the ratings ML
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28-Dec-2010 13:14 | | Vuja DeI'm well Mean Lean, but a changed schedule means I have significantly less time to contribute to the blog, but I still read it as and when I can.
Keep up the good work, and lets hope Arsenal now go on and build on the victory over Chelsea.
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28-Dec-2010 13:16 | | MeanLeanAgreed, we must now build on this and continue to work against everyone how we did last night.
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28-Dec-2010 14:18 | | dkgooner - Believing againWell that was a real tonic. Especially because from this part of Denmark, there wasn't too much pre-match confidence emanating. I thought it would be down to the two defences, with theirs being the more solid. I was wrong - Djourou got a well-deserved start IMHO and was given the enormous responsibility of sitting on Drogba, a responsibility he took and executed with aplomb. I've given Koscielny some stick in recent weeks but I have to put my hands together and applaud a really solid display, closer to the ones at the start of the season when he had TV at his side. Midfield was fantastic all through, at least until Cesc went off when I thought Rosicky was having problems getting up to the pace of the game. Agree with the report about RvP too - he's such a skilful, intelligent player. Probably needs another game or two to hit top form. What was evident from the beginning was the hunger in the team - they really, really wanted this one and no-one was going to stop them. Walcott especially was a revelation, with his movement off the ball and his willingness to chase and close down. Maybe he'll make it after all :-)
But as others have said, we need to maintain this form against Wigan, otherwise we risk slipping further back. Birmingham will guaranteed play as if they are the away team and park the bus, then there is Man City - we need to put them in their place.
But just to repeat myself, that was real tonic.
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28-Dec-2010 16:46 | | Frank vicker - MrArsenal did very well and i hope we can transform this to our next games.
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29-Dec-2010 10:14 | | sapmanperhaps now a few people will stop asking silly questions like "why is song going forward all the time"
because he is a beast and he CAN DO IT.
his eyes miss nothing on the pitch, determination? 100% ..focus 100% fighting spirit 100%
i hope he avoids injuries till the end of season..we need him..he wants to win..i see in him the desire to shut people;s mouths for disrespecting his club his manager and his teammates..thats the kind of mentality all our players must have ..like song's
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29-Dec-2010 10:19 | | sapmanand theo was brilliant...together with jack..if jack can play like that as an 18 year old in imprtant derbies ...fkn hell..he is special..lets keep hsi head to the ground and he dont follow the typical english celebrity-slash-footballer path
arsenal can easily base its future team on these two english youngsters (plus gibbs) so that people stop accusing wenger for his preference on foreigners..if the english players are good enough to execute what wenger asks of them ( and not like bentley and pennant) then england will enjoy two great footballers for their national team too putting an end to the endless criticism thrown against our unique manager
the way i see it..wenger is the best thing that has ever happened to this club and to see a few weeks ago so called arsenal fans asking for him to step down is not only insulting but should be punished by law as criminal stupidity
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30-Dec-2010 08:51 | | huzeifa ayub - wigan vs arsenalwhat the hell was wenga thinking that creep 8 changes asshole he should be sacked
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30-Dec-2010 08:58 | | huzeifa ayub - wigan vs arsenalwen wigan put pressure on arsenal wenga shud hav put nasri and walcott til we got scod den he put dem if wigan scord in 90 min is dat da tim he wud hav put them use ur brain dnt be exited bicos we bit chelsea 8 changes u were in ful confidence but wot nathin u bot a useless strika chamakh useless wot can he do bulshit u kept nasri and wilshere on bench bicoz of u arsenal drew no bicoz squilacis own gol bicoz of WENGER
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