In what has been a topsy-turvy season for Arsenal and their fans, a new twist in the tale emerged last night. An absorbing encounter against London rivals Chelsea saw the Gunners snatch what looked to be an impossible victory to take the team within seven points of their opponents.
One thing is for sure, when Arsenal are playing these days, the form book goes out the window. Consecutive losses to Aston Villa at home and Manchester City away, coupled with off the field problems made it look like there would be only one winner before last night's game. Arsenal though, bucked the trend yet again.
The most astonishing aspect of the victory was how steady the defense looked, barring the first 15-20 minutes. Johann Djourou was particularly impressive, and was incredibly unfortunate to score the own goal which gave the Blues a well deserved lead.
That Arsenal scored all three goals in the game was an indicator of how much of a threat Chelsea were going forward for the 90 minutes.
The Arsenal performance in the first half was mediocre at best. The team looked like a bunch of also-rans, with Denilson being hustled off the ball far too easily and Alex Song looking like he was chasing shadows.
Manuel Almunia showed that he has the odd mistake in him too, when he rashly threw the ball from a corner out to Jose Bosingwa, who played the ball into what experts call "POMO," or Position of Maximum Opportunity. This caused havoc in the Arsenal defense, and Djourou turned the ball into the back of the net.
The second half began in the same fashion. Chelsea seemed to be in cruise control, and Frank Lampard blasted a shot wide after it looked as if he was clean through on goal. It looked as though it was going to be a long 30 minutes for Arsenal.
All that changed in a matter of seconds. In an uncharacteristic move, Arsenal used a long ball forward to Adebayor which led to a considerable amount of head tennis. What ensued was quite hilarious if you were an Arsenal fan, and a moment of sheer madness if you were on Chelsea's side.
Denilson played a through ball to Robin van Persie, who was yards offside, and the Dutchman finished quite superbly on his weaker foot to draw Arsenal level against the run of play.
Chelsea looked shell shocked, and so did most of Stamford Bridge. Arsenal took full advantage of Chelsea's poor defending minutes later when Adebayor won the first ball again from Cesc Fabregas' freekick and van Persie steered the ball past Cech to give Arsenal a 2-1 lead.
This, to many Gooners, would've seemed like deja vu. Didier Drogba, in the build up to Chelsea's first goal in the corresponding fixture last season, was clearly offside along with Nicolas Anelka when Chelsea were trailing to Arsenal. He ended up scoring the winner as well in a game which effectively ended Arsenal's Premier League hopes.
Here is the video of the highlights of that game, clearly showing Drogba and Anelka in an offside position—just in case Chelsea fans are in denial mode.
6 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Jayant Moudgil 7 months ago
Absolutely agree. This victory won't mean anything if Arsenal continues to show their inconsistent form that has thrown their season in disarray. I am sure bookmakers are having a hard time to predict what Arsenal is going to do in a particular game. They are absolutely stunning one day and utter crap the other. No team which harbors the ambitions to be champions can afford to do that. You need to be consistent day in day & day out to be the league winners. BPL for no reason is said to be the toughest league in the world!
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Simon Williams 7 months ago
Nice article Shyam.
I saw nothing in Arsenal's performance which suggests they are going to challenge for the title. I actually had money on them to win this match because of Chelsea's stuttering home form, and the fact that Arsenal will always raise themselves for the big matches.
That said, Arsenal had a huge slice of luck with their first goal, as until that point their performance had been very average, and even after that they didn't play particularly well overall, but they were pretty solid and kept Chelsea at bay at a canter.
Chelsea on the other hand seemed to have no answer to going behind. The resillience of old just isn't there at the moment, maybe due to injury to the likes of Carvalho and Essien, or maybe the dressing room is not quite so happy as it once was. They now must win virtually every home game they have left, and even though they have played all the big guns, that will not be easy.
A good win for Arsenal, and it might inspire them in the short term to a decent run, but I doubt its long-term significance and would still be surprised to see them finish higher than 4th.
The only question left is whether Liverpool can capitalise on this result, which gives them a chance to open a 3 point lead. I am not making any predictions, but I wouldn't be surprised if West Ham upset the applecart tonight.
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Maire Ofeire 7 months ago
"Alex Song looking like he was chasing shadows" - He'll never catch them, he's so slow :-(
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Benjamin Rogers 7 months ago
Great win for the Gunners. As long as the boys stay focused and take one game at a time, then the league is still there for us. Any more defeats and league title dreams are over however. Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool still have games were they will drop points.
We need to keep getting good results until Rosicky, Eduardo and Walcott come back, and when they do its an extra three men to the team, and maybe just maybe that will give Arsenal the push needed to take the title.
It aint over till its over!!!
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Yoosof Farah 7 months ago
good article shyam, i completely agree with you. arsenal really do need consistency if they are to succeed this season.
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obert chikwature 7 months ago
we beat manchester and chelsea, but we lose to hull, stoke and villa! wat is going on? i think adebayor was right in saying they prejudge lesser opposition.........until they learn to treat each game as a serious one, we will never leave this vicious circle.
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