Eleven goals in his last eight games is as good a reason as any for all Arsenal fans to be thankful that Togo didn’t qualify for the African Cup of Nations. The big man got two against City yesterday to send us, thanks to Sp*rs result against United, back to the top of the league.
The first came when Petrov’s misplaced pass gave us the ball. Petrov then stood admiring his handiwork as Hleb set Sagna free, he drove past the defender to the byline, cut the ball back and Adebayor’s shot went in off Micah Richards. Those are the sort of goals that go in when you’re banging them in left, right and centre.
Adebayor had a big hand in the second too. Clichy’s cross to the back post was cushioned down by the head of the Togonator and Eduardo, who did look offside it has to be said, brought it down on his chest, swiveled and fired it into the bottom corner. A deadly finish from a player who was probably due a goal.
Then an uncharacteristic mistake by Gael Clichy saw City get one back. He got caught in possession by Corluka and he squared it for Fernandes to make it 2-1. It was a bad error by Clichy but thankfully it wasn’t too costly. Given the season he’s had it would have been unfair.
The third came late on and it sums up Adebayor perfectly. With City pressing, but not really causing us any problems, the ball broke and Adebayor set off only to be floored by a cynical Elano trip. For once the referee played a good advantage and Hleb took it on, played it to Cesc who played it back across goal and when it broke who was there but Adebayor. He’d picked himself up, joined in the attack again and he sealed the game. That kind of enthusiasm, that willingness to be involved in everything is rare. So late in the game other strikers might have not bothered getting forward after being so blatantly fouled.
He has become hugely important to us and he is reaping the rewards for all his hard work. It’s a pleasure watching him at the moment. Arsene Wenger says he is now the complete forward and as well as the goals he scores with his feet he is a massive threat in the air. As good as Thierry Henry was he rarely scored headers. Off the top of my head now I can think of at least 5 in the league (there may be more) and that has really provided an extra dimension to our attack. It’s nice that he’s winning people over as well and I hope that when he does go through a period without a goal, like all strikers do, people don’t start getting on his back again.
A word too for Philippe Senderos at the back. He had another very good game and I think himself and Gallas work well together as a partnership. Gallas, like Toure, prefers to sit off and try and nick the second ball. Senderos will always attack it, challenge for headers, try and get in ahead of the attacker. We’ve been very solid at the back in recent games and while some of it is because we haven’t had a huge amount to deal with, there’s no question the form of both Senderos and Gallas is a big factor too. I’m happy to see Big Phil do well though, I thought some of the stick he was getting when he wasn’t playing well was way OTT.
And as I mentioned Sp*rs managed to sneak a 1-1 against United. Typically they could have won it but Tevez scored in the last minute to salvage a point for them. We now sit two points clear of United at the top and 6 clear of Chelsea who were held 1-1 by Portsmouth. All in all a most satisfactory day for the Arsenal.
We now have almost 10 days until our next game, a Monday night home game against Blackburn Rovers. Plenty of time to give the legs a rest and a good recharge before the schedule starts to get hectic again with the FA Cup game against United then the first leg of the Champions League against AC Milan.
In other news the People rather artibrarily links us to a €20m summer move for Ricardo Quaresma.
And that’s about it. I’ve got to have some breakfast then I’m away to play football. Have a good Sunday, more tomorrow.
