Fun times Arsefans. Yesterday’s win over Chelsea was a huge, huge result. Instead of being 13 points off the pace we’re just 7 and everything looks a little rosier.
We do like to make life difficult for ourselves though, don’t we? Chelsea started brightly but I thought we’d weathered the little storm and gotten into the game quite well when we gifted them a goal. It was a poor throw from Almunia, he should have held on to the ball and calmed things down, but Samir Nasri will think he could have done more to track Boswinga. The Chelsea player’s cross was poked into our net by Johann Djourou to give them a 1-0 lead.
Given Chelsea’s record at home and the fact they’d only conceded four league goals all season one goal would have been impressive, to score two and win the game was just fantastic. The first came when Adebayor won a header, it came to Denilson and he poked it through to a clearly offside van Persie. But there was no flag and he lashed it past Cech with his right foot to equalise. Scolari was less than happy, can’t say I blame him, but sometimes decisions like that go against you. We can all remember van Persie scoring a good goal against Chelsea at Highbury but being flagged offside, so this made up for that somewhat.
It’s the kind of decision that you need to go for you when you’re down on your luck too. I have to be honest, despite the fact Chelsea weren’t playing that well I wasn’t confident we’d get anything from the game. On moments like that seasons can change, however, and God knows we’ve needed a little bit of luck and not gotten it.
Chelsea barely had time to regroup when we scored the second. Cesc floated in a free kick, Adebayor won the header well, it fell to van Persie and he turned on a sixpence to fire a low shot through Lampard’s legs into the corner of the goal. Cech got a touch but it wasn’t enough. 2-1.
At this point you expected the Chelsea onslaught to begin but it just didn’t happen. John Terry should have been sent off for a horrendous two-footed tackle on Bacary Sagna but then the England captain doesn’t get sent off for things like that. There was a Malouda free kick which went flying over the bar but after we scored our second Almunia didn’t have a save to make. We defended very well, both full backs in particular were excellent as they broke up play and won tackles high up in our half of the pitch. Chelsea were toothless and even 4 minutes of injury time was no bother.
In terms of our performance it would be easy to sit here and pick holes in it. We didn’t have a great first half and certainly there were players who never really got into the game as well as they should have but sometimes we over-analyse things and strip any enjoyment out of them. We all know beating Chelsea doesn’t mean all our problems are solved but you’ve got to make the most of results like this. What is the point of winning a game like that, coming from behind at Stamford Bridge, and then saying ‘So and so was shit’ or ‘This player did fuck all’?
Well done to the lads, I say. In particular I liked Djourou at centre-half. He didn’t let the own goal faze him one bit and he’s got to keep his place now. In no time at all nobody will remember the performance, simply the result and the result is what we should celebrate. Without getting too carried away, of course! We’ve been here before. The great win against United was followed by two defeats so what’s vital is that we keep focussed, take the belief and confidence this gives us but make sure we don’t fall into the same trap again.
Afterwards Arsene Wenger was keen to make that point as well, saying:
I am very, very happy to now, after beating Manchester United, we beat Chelsea and I believe that brings us back. It is still far but not impossible. I have an intelligent team, a talented one, but we want to come back with humility and work hard. We have learned that we need that kind of focus in every game no matter who you play.
And that’s the thing. We can’t think that because we’ve beaten United and now Chelsea that we just have to turn up to win the game against Wigan. Perhaps things have been a little fraught in the camp recently and under the new captaincy things are looking a bit better. A new focus on the team. When asked by Sky if the two goals meant it was a big day for him, Robin van Persie replied:
It is not my day, it’s our day. I was the one who scored the two goals but that doesn’t really matter. It was our day – the whole squad really gave extra of everything. If you win the game like that it gives you a lot of confidence and this is what we need at the moment.
It’s good to hear him speak like that and it was good to see him finally deliver in a big game. We spoke about the win against Kiev being a baby step back to where we want to be. Yesterday was another one. Slowly we’ll get our confidence back but that confidence has be kept in check. It has to be allied with hard work and commitment and that’ll get us results. There’s still a way to go for this team but let’s hope yesterday was the start of something and not another false dawn.
So today’s a day for enjoying things. One of the most enjoyable things was watching the Sky pundits squirm. ‘How did that just happen?’, said Monkey-hands Richard Keys, as if they’d just witnessed Brazil being beaten by an Arseblog over 35s XI, hungover from too much Havana Club the night before. Stick it up your holes, you cunts.
And Jamie Redknapp provided the comedy moment of the day. When asked about Arsenal he said:
That’s the thing with Arsenal. They’re either brilliant or completely inconsistent.
Haha, spa. The way they glossed over the John Terry challenge was disgraceful as well. Not at all unexpected of course, but disgraceful nonetheless. The way they replayed Eboue’s innocuous tackle in last season’s game again and again and again and they fail to show the England captain jumping in on a player with two feet. Ruud Gullit, mad fucker that he is, tried to say that was the kind of tackle that could break someone’s leg but the subject was changed very quickly. Terry got a yellow card so no further action can be taken and we won’t hear another thing about it.
No mention either of Chelsea fans belting out that song about Arsene Wenger. That just made victory all the sweeter and people who sing that in a football stadium with kids of all ages are just the scum of the earth. If the FA can investigate racist chants against players, why can’t they do something about this?
Still, there’s nothing like a bit of outrage to mix in with your morning enjoyment, is there? We’re back in the title race, folks. It’s up to us now to make sure we stay there. At this stage of the season 7 points is nothing. There’s a lot of hard work ahead but how much better does it feel this morning?
Much. That is the answer. Much. Have a great Monday.
