Arsenal Win: Failure To Convert And Failure To Predict

The failure to predict is mine—fortunately. Burnley, despite "hints" to the contrary, played very fairly, with great heart and commitment, but without being overly aggressive. As a consequence perhaps they could have snatched a draw, however undeserved based on chances.

The failure to convert was largely with Arsenal, but again, Burnley could have been 2-1 up after a great cross and a free header. Arsenal failed to deal with the header, but Burnley failed to strike it cleanly.

Fortunately, with great relief, neither failure cost Arsenal.

The build up

The build up to the game was fraught, largely because of the incident last Saturday at Stoke. Accusations from the "macho" side of the game were firing in, saying that Arsenal were cowards, not fit to play the "English" game, etc. Without wanting to give too much air space to those arguments, I can say they have been addressed many times, and the accusers from within the neanderthal element in football largely discredited.

Arguments, sometimes heated, sometimes overly abusive, continued throughout the week, with neither side giving ground.

In the light of Brian Laws' and Leon Cort's comments during the build up, Arsenal could be forgiven for despairing in English football. Wenger's comments in the Friday press conference about enjoying and welcoming commitment went largely ignored by the press.

The game

However, Arsenal are a London side, albeit one with a distinctly continental flavour to their team and their play. The club showed defiance and commitment in the face of some appalling behaviour and abuse.

Several changes were forced on the team; Silvestre coming in for Gallas and Campbell, both injured, and Denilson coming in for Song, suspended.

Eboue replaced Sagna, rested after a poor performance midweek with France, and with a slightly different formation, Walcott earned a starting place.

The team lined up:
Almunia
Eboue, Vermaelen, Silvestre, Clichy
Denilson
Nasri, Fabregas, Rosicky, Walcott
Bendtner

A 4-1-4-1 formation unusual for Arsenal, but clearly one intended to feed Bendtner with balls in the box. A tactic which worked in one sense only.

Summary

In the first half, Arsenal came out firing while Burnley appeared to be playing a cautious game. By the time Fabregas converted a sweet chip through from Nasri on 34 minutes, one could have been forgiven for thinking that Burnley were finished already. Arsenal, particularly in the form of Bendtner, had been very wasteful of some good chances.

Diaby came on to replace an injured Fabregas five minutes later, to the dismay of the Arsenal fans. Whilst Arsenal are clearly not a one-man team, it is true that Fabregas dominates and directs the creative attacking play of Arsenal. The crowd became a little nervous from that point on.

At half time almost all observers of the game could not believe Burnley weren't three or four-nil down.

However, fortunes in football change upon the most unusual and innocuous of events, and it was a poor clearance that led to the Burnley equaliser. The ball knocked back in to the barely onside Nugent was finished well, giving Almunia no chance as he dived attempting the save.

At one all on 50 minutes, the Arsenal fans could be forgiven for thinking it would be one of those days. The kind of game where much is created during large spells of dominating play, yet no chances are converted. Bendtner in particular was almost despairing himself at the relatively straightforward chances he had wasted.

Walcott had made some nice runs forward in the first half, but his finishing touch had been relatively anonymous. In the second half however, his play became more positive, and running forward on 60 minutes, perhaps assuming Bendtner would waste another cross, Walcott cut inside and fired in a shot past the outstretched hand of Jensen, to make it 2-1 to Arsenal.

Confidence resurged at that point, and Arshavin coming on for Rosicky almost immediately began to make an impact, keeping the Burnley defense busy.

Unfortunately Bendtner missed more chances, and even Eduardo, having replaced him on 73 minutes couldn't make the most of the, by then, less-frequent opportunities. As time went on, Arsenal sat back and Burnley came into the game more. They pushed forward, causing Arsenal troubles defensively, and forcing at least two good saves out of Almunia.

The crowd remained nervous and restless, fearing another Burnley equaliser, until in added time at the end of the match, a very direct run from Arshavin was fired home from close range, giving the scoreline a more respectable look for Arsenal.

Incidents

There was only one incident of note in the match, that of a Burnley player sliding in with studs raised at a running Walcott. Walcott jumped and the player hit the ball squarely and cleanly. Walcott reacted extremely angrily, pushing the Burnley player vigorously. At the time the challenge looked a bit reckless, but the replay showed the player caught the ball cleanly. Walcott, one presumes, certainly after events last week, may have felt that had he not jumped over the tackle, he could have been caught. At the end it was a bit of nothing though and the referee dealt with it well.

Highlights

There were several large banners of support for Ramsey, and on a number of occasions the crowd chanted the refrain "there's only one Aaron Ramsey."

Bendtner admitted afterwards that he had been wasteful, but maintained he had to keep trying to get his form back. The singing of "super, super Nik" as he left the field sounded somewhat sarcastic, but Bendtner may have taken it as simple support.

Silvestre, who I've supported in his recent games where he's played with verve and heart, unfortunately had an awful game. The few Arsenal fans who still feel he is worth persevering with must surely be doubting that now.

League

With a goal difference of two in the match, and Man Utd winning against Wolves (despite being second best in their match for long spells), Arsenal remain third in the league. This time behind Chelsea, (playing an FA Cup game this weekend), with Man Utd in first position.

Winning

Arsenal clearly enjoyed the win, not only to keep the pressure on in the title race, but also to put behind them somewhat the events of the previous Saturday. It is likely however, that Porto will arrive on Tuesday evening for their second-leg Champions League match to face a weaker Arsenal side without Fabregas. Time will tell whether Fabregas will recover in time.