Arsenal 1 Liverpool 1: Win the League? Nah, thanks!

This has been a strange old season, with lower than recent lows. How many other title chasing, top teams would let a two goal lead slip at home and a four goal lead slip away? How many other top teams will go into a cup final as heavy favorites, only to mess things ups on epic proportions? How many other top teams will score in the 98^th minute of a League match only to not walk out with three vital League points at home? It’s almost seems as if we are not interested in winning the League at all. God knows how many chances we have been given to take top spot this season and yet we find ourselves six points behind leaders United.

For most part, this match too looked destined to be another nil-all at home, our third in a row, but Robin van Persie fired Arsenal into the lead in the 98^th minute of play from the spot. That should have been it, shop closed and three points in the bag. But what ensued was a moment of panic and a lack of leadership that resulted in an Eboue foul in the Arsenal box. Dirk Kuyt duly obliged and buried the resulting penalty to earn Liverpool a point. Two massive points lost.

But all is not lost as up next we travel to White Hart Lane where Spurs await, fresh from their Champions League exploits. Kickoff is at 6:30 this Thursday morning and a win is a must, not only for the three points, but two stop the rot of two straight losses to our North London neighbours.

Blackpool 1 Arsenal 3: In Lehman’s Terms

There is life in this title fight yet as goals from Abu Diaby, Emmanuel Eboue and Robin van Persie made sure that Arsenal successfully negotiated past a very tricky Blackpool outfit at Bloomfield Road.

Manuel Almunia’s unfortunate (not) injury picked up while warming up meant that firstly, 41 year old and a vital member of the ‘Invincibles’, Jens Lehman, would be making his return to competitive action for the first time in 11 odd months and that secondly, we did not have any back up between the sticks should anything untoward happen to the veteran custodian.

True to expectations, Blackpool shot out of the traps to force a couple of quick corners and looked more than capable of unlocking the visitor’s defence. How this team is fighting relegation is beyond me but their attack was relentless with Arsenal’s back line and the new (old) keeper under severe pressure.

No sooner had Arsenal weathered the storm at a sunny Bloomfield Road had the Gunner’s taken the lead. It was no surprise that a glorious Fabregas ball found van Persie who controlled with aplomb and teed in an onrushing Diaby to tap in on the 17^th minute.

Just three minutes later and Eboue powered down the right and exchanged passed with the ever impressive Jack Wilshere to thunder in Arsenal’s second.

Fabregas seemed in the mood and further chances were spurned by Arsenal but most fell to van Persie with Samir Nasri finding the upright with one such chance. With Blackpool still in high spirits, buoyed by a boisterous home support, two goals were never going to be enough and it took an almighty goal mouth scramble and some good defensive work from Sebastian Squillaci and Lehmann and a goal mouth clearance from Fabregas to make sure the Arsenal went into the break with a clean sheet and two goals to the good.

Blackpool started the second half much the same way they did the first and they did get their goal their approach play deserved in the 51^st minute when Gary Taylor-Fletcher pulled one back. Referee Lee Mason played advantage when Wilshere fouled a Blackpool player in the Blackpool half and then again waived play on as Lehman rushed out and brought down Blackpool striker DJ Campbell in the Arsenal box. Taylor-Fletcher remained focussed when everyone else seemed to look for the obvious penalty and scored past Lehman. In a touch of fortune for Arsenal, Mason only cautioned Wilshere for his indiscretion as Lehman survived his. One can only image how things might have turned out had Lehman seen red with no other goalkeeping subs on the bench to call upon.

Arsenal were lucky again as Laurent Koscielny seemed to have clipped the heels of Blackpool forward Jason Puncheon, also inside the Arsenal box, but play was waived on.

Blackpool could sense another goal coming their way but were out done by a quick Arsenal counter, started by Diaby in the Arsenal third. Diaby evaded a couple of Blackpool challenges and found Theo Walcott, a 60^th minute substitute, who raced clear and teed up van Persie to shoot across Blackpool keeper Richard Kinson to effectively kill off the match.

There was a late scare for Arsenal when Gael Clichy, who had put in a very impressive shift up until then, was caught in possession by Taylor-Fletcher who sent Campbell one on one with Lehman. Credit to Lehman who stood his ground to get in a vital block and Arsenal held on for three vital points.

Man of the match will have to be Fabregas. Not only did he provide the cutting edge and contributed to all things going forward, but he put in a captian’s shift when required, making a goal line clearance and also having a quick word with Diaby when he was cautioned for kicking the ball away, just to make sure that Diaby understood fully exactly what was at stake.

Lehman’s contribution to the match was also very telling as apart from the penalty incident, the veteran stopper looked solid. He was his old commanding self and made sure that his backline knew where they all stood. No wonder that Eboue, Squillaci, Koscielny and Clichy all put in solid shifts and looked assured for the most part. This match though, would have summarised Lehman’s Arsenal career in just 90 minutes!

With one match still in hand, this may just be the season where Arsenal land the title but tough fixtures against Liverpool, Spurs, Bolton and Stoke await, that looks a very long shot.

Up next, Liverpool visit the Emirates in another must win match for Arsenal and with United playing Man City in the F.A. Cup, Arsenal have a change to cut United’s lead to four, albeit just for a couple of days. Kick-off is a 4.

Arsenal 0 Blackburn 0

Arsenal’s faltering season received another massive and potentially knockout blow as the Gunner’s failed to breakdown Blackburn at home. This result sees Man. United sitting pretty at the top of the League table with what now looks like an unassailable seven point lead. Full match report can be found here.

We could find ourselves 10 points behind, with United with one hand on the League title and the other hand edging, creeping, closer by the time we play next, away at Blackpool (as United play a day earlier). With Blackpool still fighting to avoid relegation, a tough encounter is expected and anything other then three point will surely be the final nail in the coffin as far as our title aspirations are concerned.

West Brom 2 Arsenal 2

The Good

Arsenal came from two goals down away at the Hawthorns to claw back a point in a match where all looked impossible. West Brom lead 2-0 on the hour mark thanks to goals from Steven Reid and Peter Odimwingie but Andrey Arshavin started Arsenal’s comeback late in the second half with a brilliantly taken goal on the 70^th minute. Robin van Persie then got in on the act and pulled Arsenal level seven minutes later to setup a tense finale but that all important third goal eluded both teams.

The Bad

This draw away to relegation strugglers was two precious points dropped on a day when ten-men Man. United somehow managed to win at home against Bolton as United’s manager looked on in from the stands while he serves a five match ban for comments made against match officials during United’s loss to Chelsea. We now find ourselves five points adrift of United with a game in hand and will have to concentrate on winning every game from here on in and hope that United get distracted due to their heavier playing schedule.

The Ugly

West Brom’s second goal was one only we could gift when stand-in keeper and former number one Manuel Almunia came a mile out from his goal only to not clear. Needless to say that Sebestian Squillaci could have cleared the danger too but got totally taken aback when the keeper he was supposed to be passing back to was standing right behind him, stunned as a mullet! The mix up presented Odimwingie with the open goal to put West Brom two goals to the good. The blame lay more with the keeper solely because he should have done better and how costly this lapse will be will become clearer when the season concludes with nine rounds to go.

Up next, there is in international break and we can only hope that all Gunner’s out on duty for their respective nations come back in one piece. Let’s face it, March has been a crap month! We can begin April with a bang when we host Blackburn. Kickoff is at 5:30 am.

Man. United 2 Arsenal 0 (FA Cup quarter-finals)

Arsenal’s fortnight to forget got a lot worse when United knocked us out of the FA Cup. With United setup to defend, setting up two banks of four, and with the Gunners lacking the cutting edge, mainly through the absence of Cesc Fabregas, goals from Rafael and Wayne Rooney ensured United’s progress.

It seems that the chance to get back on the proverbial horse, we fell off during the Carling Cup final loss, passed us by thanks to the nil-all draw at home to Sunderland (thanks to the match officials). The said horse was again in our sights when we beat Stoke City at home but thanks to some very doggy refereeing, it got away from us during the away defeat to Barcelona. Now, any such hope of getting back on the horse has pretty much vanished with the horse riding off into the sunset, leaving us to choke on it’s dust as missed chances cost us dearly at Old Trafford.

All that remains now is the Premier League with only three points separating the two teams at the League summit and with Arsenal having a game in hand, we can only hope that the proverbial horse trips out of exhaustion and we finally get a break and can catch up to it. We do however have a much more relaxed schedule compared to United and even Chelsea. More the reason to be worried? Can we really pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and really focus on the one target we have? Or will that darn horse get the better of us and smile (in a horsey way that only horses can) as it takes away whatever little hope we may have? Only time (end of May) will tell.

Things are not going to be easy if we are to still rescue some silverware from this faltering season as we will have to do so without the services of Johan Djourou (dislocated shoulder) and Wojciech Szczesny (dislocated finger), two of the inform players who are both out for the season. And with no sign of Thomas Vermaelen, we will have to rely heavily on Laurent Koscielny and Sebastian Squillaci, who are still in their debut season. The goalkeeping situation is none the better as having Fabianski out for the season as well, due to a shoulder op, means that we have Manuel Almunia as out only recognised senior keeper, a situation which has Wenger looking at asking the Premier League bosses for a special dispensation to sign a temporary back up.

Ten League matches remain, compared to United’s nine, for a chance at salvation as some hope still remains. Expect some of the players to come back fresher and more focused (after having had their first full week off in quiet a while) to face West Brom this Sunday morning. Kick off is at 4 am.

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