Arsenal Will Win The League For Aaron Ramsey!

Sunday, 28 February 10

Damn you Aaron Ramsey for having such quick feet and brittle bones. Damn you Arsenal for as usual making a mountain out of a mole hill. Damn the referee for sending off Shawcross for what was only a yellow card offence and ruining the game as a spectacle. Damn the Stoke fans for forgetting to sing "Same old Arsenal, always cheating" as 19 year old Aaron Ramsey was carried by stretcher directly to the ambulance with only his sock and shin guard holding his leg together. Surely everybody else must be fed up with the continuing whining from Arsenal fans about the tactics employed by opposing teams to try to stop Arsenal playing their beautiful football.

Sure we get the odd injury now and again but as I heard 1 idiot say "Ramsey will come back from this a better player" and if that's the case we were done a favour yesterday evening as Shawcross attempted to retrieve a ball he had over run and lunged into Ramsey's shin/ankle and cut it right in 2. Kenny Cunningham and Matt Holland both said on Irish television that it was only a yellow card offence and if that's the case can they please tell me why Song received a yellow card earlier in the game for easing an opponent off the ball.  We now have to do without him for 2 league games and Shawcross will get a 3 game ban for his heroics. Don't get me wrong I genuinely don't think Shawcross went into the challenge(?) with the intent of snapping his leg in 2 but to suggest that it was merely a yellow card offence is a complete and utter joke.

If any good is to come from this it could be that it reinforces the players and they redouble their efforts to go on and win the league for Ramsey. After the injury happened yesterday the game went dead for a while but we then started to play the football that we had being playing and the win seemed inevitable.  The comparisons are being made with the players reaction to Eduardo's injury in February 2008 and how we didn't manage to beat a 10 man Birmingham afterwards. I think that's a little unfair to the Arsenal team on that day as they fought back from a goal down to go 2-1 up and had a certain penalty denied before the referee then gave Birmingham a penalty that was not in the last minute. Yesterday we showed the fight and spirit that I had we would show and if we do that for the rest of the season the league title is a real possibility.

To the game itself and the manager started with more or less the team I had predicted with the inclusion of Eboue in the wide right role the only 1 that I didn't get exactly right although I did say it was a distinct possibility. Arsenal decided that their best policy was to gift Stoke an early goal before they actually started to play themselves and it came from a very predictable source. With the ball going out for a corner Song decided to put it out for a throw in instead much to the annoyance of me and the majority of Arsenal fans. When the javelin style throw came into our box Vermaelen, Song and Eboue all decided to drift off the man they were marking which resulted in Shawcross getting a free header and it falling to Pugh to head in from a yard out.  At least Arsenal didn't drop their heads and managed to get their possession football going halfway through the first half.

As we pressed Stoke more and more they dropped further back and after a clearance from their box we got a throw in on the right. It was thrown to a completely unmarked   Cesc who whipped in a great cross for Bendtner to rise above the defence and head back into the direction that it came from and into the top corner. We continued to dominate and Stoke were really struggling to cope as the teams went off at half time. The second half continued in much the same fashion and we had what I considered a certain penalty denied when Ramsey was pushed over while on the ball. Sadly for him that was more or less his last contribution before he suffered that horrific injury and the sight at the time was quite sickening.

The game then stagnated for a while as the players struggled to cope with the sight of yet another Arsenal player suffering a career threatening injury. The players were visibly upset at the time and Shawcross was too to be fair to him. He was in tears as he left the field after receiving his red card but he has the consolation of being in the England squad for their international friendly while Ramsey can look forward to what will probably be a year of recovery if he is lucky. Arsenal got their football going again as Cesc pressed them forward again and again and with normal time nearing it's end we knew there would be a lot of injury time to help us get the win we desperately needed. With the 90 minutes just up we got the chance we wanted as Pugh was adjudged to have handled a through ball from Bendtner and Cesc stepped up to take the penalty. Sorensen had already saved a penalty from Cesc in the reverse fixture but he managed to squeeze it into the corner and we had the goal we wanted. The players celebrated in front of the Arsenal fans and it was clear that they were telling the fans that it was for Ramsey. 

Shortly after that we should have had another penalty as Bendtner was pushed over in the box but again the referee chose to ignore our claims and waved play on. In virtually the last of the added 7 minutes Rosicky tried a shot from outside the box which the keeper pushed away and Cesc squared for Vermaelen to tap home and seal the victory. What our centre back was doing in their box in injury time as we had only a goal lead I don't know but I'll forgive him as he is in my fantasy team.

With Chelsea losing at home to Man City earlier in the day and getting a couple of red cards as well it was a giant step forward for us in terms of our challenge for the league title as we are now only 3 points behind them with 10 games to go. We play at home to Burnley next Saturday and if we can beat them by a healthy score we will be ahead of Chelsea although we will have played a game more. With all the defensive problems we have had this season we have now only conceded 5 goals more than Chelsea as they continue to implode defensively. Cech and Cole are injured and Terry is playing worse by the game. Hilario is not a good keeper and with the FA Cup and Champions league to contend with they will be playing more games than us from here on in. I think we can win this league and with only 3 wins in a row we are in a great position. If we get the 13 wins we wanted after our back to back losses against Chelsea and Manure we will win the league have no doubt about it.

What should have been a great day for Arsenal was sadly marred by Ramsey's injury but we need to use that as a tool to drive the players on and win the league. I don't care what happens in the Champions league although I would like to at least beat Porto and make it to the last 8 but the league title is such a  real possibility now that we have to concentrate all of our efforts on it. I'll talk more about the reaction to Ramsey's injury tomorrow but that's it for today.

Here's the highlights from yesterday's game.

LINK

See You Tomorrow.