Arsenal Fight Hard To Win 2-1 At Blackburn And Stay Second

I would say I'm running a little late today but I think at this stage that it's about usual for me to get things going at this hour on a Sunday. Arsenal faced a very tricky away trip to Blackburn yesterday and it was seen as a test as to how strong we were both physically and mentally. We emerged as 2-1 winners and in my opinion we showed a solidity that was lacking at times last season. I'm not saying it was a perfect performance or that players didn't make mistakes but we never dropped our heads and we kept playing our football for the most part.

In my preview yesterday I predicted the starting line up with the exception of Walcott as I thought Chamakh would get the nod for his ability in the air. However the boss decided that Walcott should start after his hat trick against Blackpool and he was proved absolutely right as he scored the first and got the assist on the second although he knew nothing about it.

In the early exchanges both teams had lucky enough escapes and it looked like it would be a fairly open game. Arsenal tried to pass their way through Blackburn and of course our opponents tried to launch an aerial bombardment on us. By the end of the game the Blackburn midfielders must have had sore necks from watching the ball sail over them. The overly physical approach that I had predicted didn't really materialise although there was a little bit of an altercation between Diouf and Almunia at one point.

The breakthrough came in the 20th minute when a good swift passing move led to RVP playing a ball in behind the defence for Walcott to run on to. He approached the goal from a very tight angle and buried the ball across Robinson into the far corner. He hit the shot with precision and pace and he literally burst the net which led to a hold up before the start of the second half as the groundsmen had to repair it. For a few minutes after that Blackburn were on the back foot as Arsenal looked to increase their advantage but nothing came of it.

Only seven minutes later the game changed when Blackburn managed to draw level. Samba intercepted a through ball for Walcott and brought it out from the back. He played a lovely ball to Diouf on the left and with Sagna missing in action Diouf was too strong for Koscielny who made a foolish attempt to challenge him. He ran into the box and he had a player holding back for the pull back who Vermaelen had to cover and then the other Diouf ran across Clichy to stab the square ball he passed home. Clichy was obviously unaware that he was there but he should have been aware of it and Vermaelen and Almunia could do no more in my opinion.

At half time the consensus in the supporters club was that we scored a good goal and gave away a bad one although Blackburn scored from playing football and probably deserved to be level at that stage.The worrying point for all of us was RVP going off with an ankle injury although it was the opposite one to the one which caused him to miss most of last season. The challenge which led to it seemed fairly innocuous and it would seem that his ankles are as brittle as ever. From what I heard yesterday he will be out for 10 days which means he won't play for his country in their upcoming games but he might be available for our next game which is at home to Bolton on Saturday September 11th.

The second Arsenal goal came six minutes into the second half and it was t the end of another flowing move. When Sagna got a bit of space on the right he ran right at the Blackburn defence and his pull back for Cesc was perfect but the goalbound shot was blocked by Walcott's arse. The rebound fell to Arshavin who finished it very well under pressure and our lead was restored. 

Blackburn did their best to get back into the game after that but it was Arsenal who looked the most likely to score to me. Cesc hadn't had his best game in an Arsenal shirt but that was to be expected as it was his first game back. He was caught in possession a few times and left one or two passes short as well although the length of the grass may have been a factor in that. He did show what an eye for a pass he has though as his pass to set up Chamakh was fantastic although the shot was deflected and when he left the pitch Arsenal lot control of the midfield towards the end.

Towards the end Dunn had a very good chance for Blackburn but he shot straight at Almunia who had a good game and I can't remember him putting a foot wrong at any stage. He even took a bad blow to the head when keeping a goal bound header out as he hit his head on the post. There were reports of him throwing his shirt and captain's armband to the Arsenal fans after the final whistle as he had got the armband when Cesc went off. If those reports are true it would seem that he thinks his days at the club are numbered but if we buy a new keeper I would keep him as second choice and dispose of Fabianski.

In virtually the last minute Arsenal had a three on one break and although slow to initially get going Chamakh played it inside to Walcott who set up Wilshere at the far post. All he had to do was put his foot through the ball to make it three but he took a touch and slipped as he went to shoot and the keeper saved his fluffed effort. It made the injury time aerial assault a little nerve wrecking but Arsenal held out to win and maintain second place in the league. 

I'll have a look at all the other weekend results and how that affects the standings in the league and of course the fantasy football standings too. My fantasy team made a bit of a comeback yesterday and even though there are four more games to go today I'm confident I'm moving in the right direction after using my wild card to completely change my squad with one or two exceptions.

The main other talking point today is that Stoke RFC have sent a formal letter of complaint to Arsenal over Arsene Wenger's criticism of their style of rugby football and in particular Shawcross. They have also sent copies of the letter to Premier league and the FA. Their manager spoke about it in between scrums at the Stoke game and said he was desperately disappointed with the comments. He said that England had fought two World Wars to be a free country and people are entitled to their opinions whether you agree with them or not. 

You would expect him to defend his player but he's the same manager who said Shawcross isn't the type of player to do that when he almost cut Ramsey's leg in two last season. Our boss was merely pointing out that he is that type of player as he has done similar things in the past and his challenge on the Spuds keeper last week saw Gomes sitting out yesterday's game for them.

Here's the highlights from yesterday's game.

See You Tomorrow.