Cannonballs: A Good Old Fashioned...
| 11
|
One-Nil to the Arsenal!
Yes indeed it was a very reminiscent scoreline as Arsenal defeated Chelsea 1-0 on Sunday. What a wonderful scoreline to a very thrilling match. Both teams had chances and of course there were a quite a few talking points in the game.
The match was very physical as well. Both teams putting in hard thumping tackles and challenges. Emmanuel Adebayor caught the nameless one on the knee. I thought the dear Adebayor was making a legitimate challenge on the ball but the referee saw otherwise and booked the big man from Togo. John Terry, as expected, got involved in the physical end of things as well. Terry got booked in the 30th minute when he took exception to a challenge from Fabregas. Eventually though Terry would have to leave in the 38th minute. Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue played the ball just a bit too far ahead of himself and Terry went to clear it. Eboue came in and Terry's follow through found the bottom side of Eboue's boot leaving the England Captain hobbling. Terry was then subbed out and replaced with Tal Ben Haim. All in all there were a total of 10 bookings in the match, testament to the physical nature of the play.
Arsenal were bouyed by the return of three players who they have missed. Alexander Hleb, Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini all returned from injury and their presence in the midfield made a tremendous difference. The only one who worried me a bit was young Cesc because his passing seemed somewhat off and I thought he looked a bit tired toward the end. However, he was strong in his challenges and his joy at winning this match brought a lovely warmth to my heart. Flamini once again worked his socks off he may not be the most creative player in the lineup but he is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
Arsenal did have chances to put away a second goal. Chelsea had been throwing men forward and Arsenal tried to take advantage of that on the counter. One chance was just a bit offside as Tomas Rosicky got just ahead of the play. Cech saved brilliantly from shots by Robin van Persie and Fabregas. Adebayor also put one past Cech that was ruled out because the referee thought it was the right thing to do, apparently the referee gave Adebayor a foul against Tal Ben Haim, I didn't see it that way but not all the decisions can go for you.
The match ended with a small amount of scuffling but never mind Arsenal win and go back top of the league. A job well done by both the team and the fans. I loved how the fans booed the nameless one every time he got a touch. Perhaps the fans best was saved for Chelsea's Shaun Wright-Phillips. The dear Shaun missed an absolute sitter and the fans responded with singing that wonderful old chant that they used to do for his dad when he was scoring goals for Arsenal, "Ian Wright, Wright Wight!" Good stuff all around.
I would also be terribly remiss if I did not make mention of the fantastic play of the Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia. The Spaniard made some very good saves and has now firmly claimed the number 1 shirt at the club. Good job everyone, what a match!
