Cannonballs: Well Spotted Linesman
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With league leading Arsenal hosting Manchester United this past weekend it was assured that the entire world would be looking very closely at this match. Thankfully, for Arsenal fans anyways, it was the linesman who had the best view of things in the dieing moments of the game.
The match ended in a 2-2 draw allowing Arsenal to maintain the top spot in the Premier League. The game had plenty of drama. Arsenal's best chance of scoring in the first half was from a beautifully placed Cesc Fabregas free kick which was headed on goal forcefully by William Gallas. United's keeper Edwin van der Sar did very well to sort his feet out and make the save. United opened the scoring just before the interval when Cristiano Ronaldo put a low cross into the area where Wayne Rooney was making a run. Unfortunately the ball deflected off the hand of William Gallas and went into the net.
One-Nil to United at the break and I knew Arsenal needed to come out strong in the openning of the second half in order to get back into the game. And indeed the Gunners came out strong. The equalizer came in the 48th minute when a strong run down the right flank by Bacary Sagna saw him being the only one not giving up on a shot in on the United goal that was deflected wide. Sagna picked up the ball near the byline and found a wide open Cesc Fabregas who hammered home the tieing goal.
United took a second lead through a very nice attacking move where Louis Saha pulled the Arsenal defense to the right of goal thereby leaving an onrushing Ronaldo wide open to score. For Arsenal it didn't look good as stoppage time approached. This team though is showing some real character though and that character is never say die. Gael Clichy found Theo Walcott at the far post and his shot rebounded to Gallas who headed the ball into the net to make it all even once more. There was a bit of confusion as the ball never made it all the way to the back of the net and it was the linesman who flagged that the ball did indeed cross the line. Even a valliant effort from Van Der Saar didn't prevent the goal.
I watched the match from my local pub and the place was packed. I was surprised that there were as many Arsenal fans there as there were, usually United fans outnumber us Gooners by a pretty fair margin. I got there early to ensure a spot at the bar right about 8:00AM. While sitting there and watching the Setanta cameras pan across the crowd at the Emirates I noticed an Arsenal supporter holding up a sign that read, "Alexander Hleb is the New George Best." I immediately started laughing and that sign caused a few of the United supprters to let out a few choices expletives. Ah, what fun watching a match at the pub can be, although I did have the unfortunate "pleasure" of sitting next to a very heavily tatooed chelski fan who kept bragging about how many DUI's he had, I only grunted once in acknowledgement.
