april 21st
So any slight doubt that the title was still a contest was put to bed once and for all with a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge last night.
We started very brightly and Robert Pires crashed a volley against the bar with Cech well beaten. A couple of minutes later the ball broke to him after a corner. It was the sort of chance you’d put your house on him scoring but this time he fired it just wide.
Chelsea were playing their customary 4-5-1 and made a couple of chances through Lampard and Drogba, Jens saving well from both of them.
In the second half Chelsea had a couple more chances, Drogba showed why Chelsea spent £24.5m on him when he fired wide with Jens beaten, Lampard too shot wide and that was about it really. There wasn’t any real niggle in the game and both teams were out to play football although it was obvious from the start that Chelsea were quite happy to play for a point and who can blame them?
I have to say I thought AW left it a little late to make changes. Neither Dennis or José caused the Chelsea defence any real problems – and sadly on their current form I don’t think we really expected them to.
I would have liked to see van Persie and Aliadiere brought on a bit sooner. Maybe they wouldn’t have got any change out of Terry and Carvalho either but I’m not sure 10 minutes at the end is giving them a fair chance. At the back Philippe Senderos put in another excellent performance and he’s going a long way to prove he’s the centre half we’ve needed for some time now. And a word for Jens Lehmann whose form has been excellent in the last couple of months and as much as anyone should take some of the credit for our clean sheets and unbeaten run.
Arsene Wenger promised Arsenal would bounce back after conceding the title to the Russians and pointed to the emergence of young players like Cesc, Senderos, Flamini and Clichy as positives for the future. Senderos himself had something to say about next season assuring fans that even though Chelsea have all the money in the world that doesn’t mean they’re going to win everything in sight again. He said “Money doesn’t play football. You have to show it on the pitch. They can buy how many players they want next season, there may be another team for Chelsea. Chelsea have been consistent and you have to congratulate them. As for next season, we are going to continue to work hard and show that we are one of the best teams in England – if not the best.”
Elsewere Manchester United got beaten 1-0 by Everton to give us a 4 point cushion in second place. They ended up with 9 men and Ferguson sent his assistant, Carlos Quieroz, to do the media thing afterwards, as did Jose Mourinho, sending brick-headed number 2 Steve Clarke out to do his bidding. I just made me think that whatever people might say about Arsene he’s always available to do his job. If we lose in horrific circumstances he’s always there to talk about it. He never throws a huff and sends Pat Rice out. Just thought it was worth mentioning.
David Trezeguet has revealed he’d like to play in the Premiership with Arsenal his preferred destination so he could play with Thierry Henry. With Arsenal in the market for a striker this summer he’s likely to the be the first of a very long list between now and the day we sign somebody.
Last but not least your final chance to win copies of the 71, 79. 93 and 98 FA Cup finals on DVD with thanks to ILC Sport. Just answer the following question: Who scored Arsenal’s winner in the 1979 Cup Final against Manchester United? Answers on a postcard or an email to : [email protected]. The winners will be chosen by our old friend, RNG (Random Number Generator), and announced in tomorrow morning’s blog. Oh, the excitement. Till then.
