Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool: Theo Walcott Shines In Easy Win For Arsenal

Good afternoon, today's blog is running late as last night also ran very late and I went for a walk in the Dublin hills this morning to clear my head. The rumours that I got lost again are completely unfounded and I certainly never intended being home in time to watch Newcastle play Aston Villa.

Arsenal played their first home game of the new season yesterday against newly promoted Blackpool and ended up easily winning 6-0 and it could have been even more. Blacpool created very little in the way of a real threat and Arsenal took them to pieces without ever really having to try too hard. Blackpool's uphill struggle wasn't helped when they had a man sent off after half an hour and Arsenal scored the resultant penalty to go 2-0 up.

The team selected was exactly as I had predicted with the exception of Song playing the centre back role alongside Vermaelen instead of Djourou who I thought would play. I had thought Walcott would get to play instead of Eboue as we looked to exploit the wide open spaces of the Emirates and that proved to be absolutely spot on.

From the off Blackpool showed that they weren't going to sit back and defend in numbers as they tried to play their own game. That can be a very dangerous thing to do against Arsenal at times and in only the 12th minute they paid the price for the first time. Arsenal broke quickly and Arshavin played the ball to Walcott in acres of space on the right hand side of the penalty area. He calmly slotted the ball into the far corner and left the keeper with no chance at all. I wondered exactly where Blackpool's left back was at the time and quite a few times after the during the match.

A short while later Blackpool had their only real chance of the game when Taylor-Fletcher rose unchallenged to win a header and the far post and should have buried it but he somehow managed to head it wide. Some people would have you believe that Blackpool might have got something out of the game if that header had gone in but you have to expect an opponent to get a chance at some stage in a match and we were always going to score plenty of goals.

The second goal came just after the half hour when Arsenal broke again and Rosicky played a ball in behind the Blackpool defence for Chamakh to run onto. He beat the defender to it and the defender had already committed himself to the challenge which meant he took Chamakh down and the referee gave a penalty and a red card. The penalty was harsh as the offence seemed to take place just outside the box but by the rules of the game the player had to walk whether it was a genuine attempt to play the ball or not. Arshavin stepped up and placed the ball perfectly in the corner for 2-0.

After that it was just a matter of how many goals Arsenal would score and who would score them. The third goal came just before half time when Wilshere played a ball to Walcott's feet inside the box. He swiveled on a sixpence and hit the ball between the defenders legs into the net for 3-0. That's how it stood at half time and we had also missed quite a few gilt edged chances to score other goals throughout the half. As I talked to the other Gooners in the supporters club at half time we all agreed that we wanted Arsenal to keep up the pressure and score five or six at least.

The fourth goal came just after half time when Sagna skipped down the right side and cut the ball back to Diaby who swept it home with ease. At that stage it looked like Blackpool could be in for a real torrid afternoon if Arsenal decided to really go at them. The fifth goal came just before the hour mark when Diaby fed Walcott in the box and he ran across the defence before finishing in the corner with his left foot very well.

Arsenal rang the changes soon afterwards with Arshavin and Diaby going off and  Cesc and RVP coming on. The Blackpool players must have thought things would go from bad to worse but to be honest Arsenal played at a fairly slow pace after that and didn't get the last goal until seven minutes from time. Walcott went off soon after the other two and he got a great reception after his hat trick. 

The final goal came from Chamakh who rose highest to head home a corner from RVP and get the goal that his overall game deserved. He missed a couple of very good chances with his feet and the keeper also made a very good save from him in the first half but he showed how good in the air he can be when he scored his goal. 

After the game Ian Holloway was very nice in all he said about Arsenal and our manager and our manager was very happy with how things finished and how the players performed as well. He spoke about Chamakh, Walcott, Rosicky and a few others too and it's all available to see/hear on the club site. He's still confident that Arsenal will bring in one or two players before the transfer window closes and he said that things get crazy in the last few days.

I was very pleased with Rosicky for the second game in a row and of course Walcott took his hat trick very well too. I was delighted that Chamakh managed to score as his performance deserved a goal and Arshavin was better than he has been in quite a while. I thought Song looked impressive at centre back and the boss is going to have some interesting selections to make for next Saturday's trip to Blackburn. With Cesc and RVP both looking to come back into the team and Koscielny available after suspension who does he leave out. These are the type of problems we want to have and when Nasri is back too it's going to be even more difficult for him.

That's it for today but I'll be back tomorrow with a bit of a run down on the weekend's events.  

Here's a look at the highlights from yesterday's game.

See You Tomorrow.