Well that was a nice way to get things going again, eh?
Blackburn away is never easy, it wasn’t easy yesterday, but we spanked home 4 goals meaning in the last 3 games we’ve scored 11 and conceded none. It’s good preparation for the midweek trip to the Ukraine and we didn’t suffer any kind of Interlull hangover which we are prone to now and again.
We started very brightly in the face of a physical Blackburn team. Their lad Andrews was very lucky to stay on the pitch, I thought, after a shocking raking tackle down van Persie’s ankle and a studs-up tackle on Cesc. He was obviously told to put himself about by Paul Ince but Mike Dean’s refereeing was weak and the bloke didn’t even get a yellow card. When you add the challenge on Eboue to the mix that’s three very bad tackles on our players since the start of the season and not one of them was punished. Typically the cretinous Blackburn fans started singing ‘Same old Arsenal, always cheating’.
Nevertheless we went in at half time two goals up. The first from van Persie after nice work from Walcott and right on the stroke of half-time Adebayor headed in a Denilson cross. Robin might have had a couple more in the first half and had Adebayor decided he’d even try to stay onside he might have too. All the same Blackburn looked dangerous when they came forward. Pedersen and Emerton whipped in a series of crosses from either side which had our central defence panicking. It was slightly worrying, I have to say. You always felt we could score more than them if they did get one but a better team would have taken those chances. Something to work on at the training ground.
We coped better in the second half though and beyond one very good save late on from Benni McCarthy, Almunia was relatively untroubled. I know the Spaniard has his critics but that he was alert when needed is a good sign. And keeping clean sheets behind a central defensive pairing that really doesn’t quite work is good going.
Ally on the Arseblog forums worked out that in 14 games against Paul Robinson we have scored a total of 46 goals. Incredible. It was something the ‘holic pointed out in the Arsecast on Friday and it was no surprise to see another couple go in. He made a decent save from a very good Eboue shot but could do nothing about the third, a penalty won by a ridiculous Eboue dive, and the fourth when fine play from Ramsey put Adebayor clean through for his perfect hat-trick (header, right foot, left foot). Typically the Arsenal fans started singing ‘Same old Arsenal, taking the piss’.
A word about Eboue. He had his best game in a very long time yesterday. He looked good offensively, made good decisions in the final third, but then managed to injure himself diving for the penalty. Just classic Eboue, I suppose. He, Clichy and Nasri are all doubts for the Champions League game on Wednesday.
Afterwards Arsene Wenger said:
I am happy we didn’t concede and that we always looked fluid going forward. It was a well-accomplished away game.
And the result was all important yesterday. There are definitely things we need to look at from a defensive point of view but going forward we look dangerous all the time. Walcott is playing with more confidence, Eboue is/was contributing, van Persie got another goal and Adebayor, despite having what I thought was a pretty poor game, ended up with three. In midfield I thought Cesc was quiet but he has such presence it calms the team and Denilson put in another good shift alongside him. There are plenty of positives to take from it.
And not only did we win the game, handsomely, history was made when Jack Wilshere became the youngest ever player to play for Arsenal in the league when he came on as a sub with about ten minutes to go. Cesc still holds the overall record, his appearance in the Carling Cup, but well done to young Jack and may it be the first of many.
It’s good to have football back, isn’t it? It makes the Sunday papers so much more enjoyable. Now we just regroup and get ourselves ready for Dinamo Kiev.
Till tomorrow.
