Share/Save

However, to reach such a scenario, Arsenal must not only avoid a defeat tomorrow, they must win the match. The odds are heavily stacked against them. The Gunners were the last team to beat Chelsea at their home ground, when Robin van Persie scored both goals in the 2-1 victory. Since then Chelsea have remained unbeaten in 23 successive home league matches.  Chelsea have the best head-to-head record of the Big Four clubs this season, winning all three league matches without conceding a goal. Arsenal have the worst head-to-head record, losing three of their four matches and conceding nine goals. Didier Drogba, back from the Africa Cup of Nations, has scored 10 goals in his last nine matches against Arsenal in all competitions. The Gunners have only won two of their last 15 competitive games against Chelsea.

In spite of all the statistics, Arsenal can still go ahead and beat their title rivals.  The visitors must fight as a team and close down the Chelsea midfielders, deny them time and space to feed Didier Drogba. Above all, they must believe in their own capabilities, because on their day, this team can beat anybody in the world.

Commenting on the same, Manager Arsene Wenger said: “I know this team wants to do well. But because they haven’t won games against Chelsea or Manchester United yet they have made it harder in their head than it really is. When we get close to winning, we play with the hand brake.” Praising the team’s mental toughness, Wenger added, “But I know the team is mentally strong and dedicated. I see them everyday and I wouldn’t defend them if they didn’t have the right attitude. But they do have to find that final part to win the big games. ” “Last year, with the same team, we didn’t really lose big games. Before we went to Manchester United in the Champions League we didn’t lose a game between November and May. This year we have lost them but we have to bounce back quickly and show everyone how strong we are,” he said. Talking about the importance of tomorrow’s encounter, the Frenchman said: “I know how much the players need these kinds of wins to finish the development of the team. When you play at home in a big game you want to win. You end up frustrated because you know it’s not because the players don’t want it. It’s just because they miss the final push.”

Chelsea themselves have not been too strong in recent weeks. After pummeling Birmingham City, the Blues were held to a 1-1 draw by Hull City. They have also demonstrated a vulnerability to set pieces, which Arsenal must look to exploit.  They will go into the match without the services of Eduardo and Carlos Vela, while Abou Diaby will face a late fitness test.

Share/Save

Share/Save

Share/Save

“It’s difficult because Chelsea defend well and attack on the break but I think we were very unfortunate to be 2-0 down at half-time. Then after the referee cancelled the goal nobody understands still why. What is he doing? I have watched it five times nobody touches Cech, he lets the ball down and we score, he cancels the goal. Then of course coming back I think that was a big turning point in the game today. I felt in the first 20 minutes with a better first touch and a bit more belief we could score,” he added.

The Frenchman added that his side were not out of the title chase yet. “I believe we are, we have nothing to be ashamed of with our performance today. I believe that it all went Chelsea’s way today and I was not especially impressed with what went on, on the pitch and they took their chances very well and they have, in Drogba an exceptional player. But it is down to us to come back into it. From what I have seen today of Chelsea they can drop points,” he said.

Share/Save

Share/Save

Fletcher takes out Arshavin, yet goes unpunished

On the other hand, Dean was quick to award United a penalty when Almunia was adjudged to have brought Rooney down inside the box. Rooney had his back towards Dean, who was further out and couldn’t have possibly seen the incident clearly. However, he was quick to point to the spot and didn’t even bother to consult with the linesman. As is seen in the picture below, Rooney was already going down before he came into contact with Almunia.

Rooney dragging his back leg and going down before contact with the keeper

Had it not been an own goal, Mike Dean would have thought of some other way of ensuring that his master Sir Alex Ferguson’s team took all three points. Not only did he award the dubious penalty, he also sent Arsene Wenger to the stands with just a minute or two left to be played. That situation could easily have been avoided. Arsenal had made their three substitutions. With just seconds left, there was no way Wenger could have influenced the game had he remained in the dugout. But Mike Dean thought otherwise and made sure that Wenger was humiliated.

Injustice has been meted out to Arsenal for a long time now. The referees, both the domestic and European associations, the media – everybody has had a go at the club, its players and the manager at one point or the other.

Why is it that Arsenal are singled out every time?  I am reminded of Arsenal’s Champions League campaign two seasons back. While playing Milan away in San Siro, Alex Hleb was fouled right inside the box. The referee, who was standing close by, booked Hleb for diving !

The same competition, Ryan Babel went down very easily inside the Arsenal box. Result – penalty.  Needless to say that Arsenal were knocked out of that season’s competition.

The UEFA also seems to have problems with Arsenal. Michel Platini, for some strange reason, has never been an admirer of Arsene Wenger. Platini has never spoken in favour of the club or the manager. Time and again he has accused Arsenal of poaching young talents from other clubs. But the UEFA president never opens his mouth when clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona openly use the Spanish press to unsettle Arsenal’s players. He never said a word when Barcelona made it clear that they were after Cesc Fabregas, knowing quite well that he had a long-term contract in place with the Gunners.

Platini also openly criticised Wenger’s call for the introduction of video technology in the game. He would rather see his crazy five referee per game system being implemented, even though that system is inferior to goal line video technology. Back in September 2008, when asked to comment on Wenger’s call for introduction of video technology, Platini had this to say:

“I like to talk about football, him (Wenger) about business. We must stop with Wenger and all that. It would make me happy that Arsene Wenger never sees it.” Citing the example of Romanian club CFR Cluj’s victory over AS Roma, he said, “That is what makes football so great. It is what people like Wenger do not want, little clubs beating the big clubs, because they want their business.”

Going by those comments, one would think that under Michel Platini, the UEFA was totally against video technology. However, it is the same UEFA which decided to hand a two-match ban on Eduardo da Silva for allegedly trying to deceive the referee by diving.

In doing so, UEFA contradicted FIFA’s rule that says that the decision given by a referee in a match would remain final and no changes to it would be made later. Also, the UEFA needs to explain how a yellow card offence can be turned into a two-match ban by a disciplinary committee.

Secondly, how did the UEFA committee come to the conclusion that Eduardo dived, when the video footage shows there was actually contact between the Celtic keeper and the Arsenal striker?

Thirdly, if the UEFA has decided to punish Eduardo, will Michel Platini take retrospective action against Ryan Babbel for diving in the Champions League quarter finals against Arsenal? Would he be willing to have his men analyse every single minute of every single match played?

That won’t happen because the issue here is not stamping out diving or cheating. Had that been the case, video technology would have been incorporated in the game long time back. The agenda here is to pull down Arsenal by whatever means necessary.

Share/Save

Share/Save

Written off by the media and the pundits even before a ball was kicked, Arsenal produced a stunning display today to demolish Everton in their own backyard. Arsenal were without Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure, both sold to Manchester City for a combined total of £45 million. In return, Arsene Wenger spent just £10 million on Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen.  With Manchester City spending oil cash to bring in other quality players like Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz, doubts were raised about Arsenal’s capacity to remain in the top 4, let alone winning the league.  Wenger’s men had to respond to the doubters and the criticisers. And respond they did, humiliating Everton in the process.

Arsenal started with the expected 4-3-3 formation – Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen and Clichy making the back four, with Fabregas, Song and Denilson in the midfield. Bendtner, Van Persie and Arshavin were the attacking trio.

Arsenal found their rhythm and took charge from the first minute. The midfield and the attacking trio connected well, however, the final touch was missing. It all changed in the 26th minute, when Bendtner dodged two defenders on the right channel and played a square ball to Fabregas, who in turn fed it to Denilson. The Brazilian met the ball first time and curled a spectacular shot into the top left-hand corner. The little Brazilian made an even more important contribution six minutes later when he cleared Marouane Fellaini’s goal bound header off the line.

Arsenal doubled their lead in the 37th minute. Vermaelen, reading the game exceptionally well, showed great positional sense to sneak into the back post to powerfully head home from a Van Persie freekick.  Arsenal were never renowned for scoring from set pieces and in this game they scored two!

Five minutes later, Arsenal were awarded another freekick, which Fabregas whipped in into the box. William Gallas stole away from his marker to head home and make it 3-0 for Arsenal.

Arsenal were well and truly on their way to victory when they scored their fourth within two minutes of the start of the second half.  Arshavin stole the ball deep inside his own half and played the ball to Denilson and the Brazilian took two touches before playing the ball into Van Persie’s path on the left channel. The Dutchman squared the ball to Fabregas, who neatly tucked the ball between Tim Howard’s leg and into the net.

Fabregas scored his second in the 69th minute, when he collected Almunia’s throw inside his territory and ran unchallenged all the way to just outside the Everton box and struck a low drive into the bottom left corner to make it 5-0 for Arsenal.

Wenger took off Fabregas and Van Persie and sent on Aaron Ramsey and Eduardo. The Croatian got in on the act with two minutes left, as he tapped in an Arshavin shot that had rebounded off the post.

Louis  Saha scored a  consolation goal for the hosts in the 90th minute.

Commenting on the game later, Wenger said, “We showed cohesion, attitude, team spirit and desire to play together, all these things were the reasons that we won.” “People have been writing us off. But what is important is not what others say, but what we do. From being told we were not competitive before the game to now being told we are super-favourites is strange. But it is right to say that this is just the first game and we aim to continue to give our best,” he added. He further said, “We have matured and this is a good basis to continue like that and to show what we want to do. We are told we do not have the squad, well we want to show that we do have the squad.”

Given the ‘open’ race that many people expect this season to be, a point tally of 86 should decide this season’s champions. Arsenal have a goal difference of + 5 and have 3 points in the bag. There’s 83 more to go…

Share/Save

Share/Save