What a fantastic weekend. Will talk about the
Samsung EFF event later. First up, our trip up to Goodison Park.
Thanks to a first half goal from Bacary Sagna and a second from my Cesc Fabregas, the Arsenal came away with three important points that see us stand in second place, two behind Chelsea. Everton clawed back with a late Cahill goal, but the victory was ours at 2-1.
Let's do the usual three pointers most prominent to me in these fruitful 90 minutes.
1. Howard Webb is a tosser.
2. Our lads are amazing and I am so loving our Double Fab weekend.
3. The game is never over until the final whistle.
How Everton could get away with so many hard tackles on our lads, I'll never know. Yes, we complain about the referee-ing every game. Fair enough - fans always are biased. But this next line came from an objective ESPN Gamecast commentary - "Heitinga boots Song to the floor then kicks him twice for good measure." So I'm not going to ramble on about Webb because it's going to be yet another droning drivel. Suffice to say, I don't like referees.
Next, I want to say how proud of, and incredibly lucky I feel to have the service of one Samir Nasri. Tireless and intelligent, Nasri is the kind of player with a vision that surpasses most opponents' power of hindsight, and the diligence to drive that vision into action. He has great sense of positioning and truth be told, he dares to take the shots. Our first chance of the game came through the Frenchman and it was our first sight of possibility despite the effort being blocked by Distin. We had otherwise been a little bit shite. While others like Arshavin and even young Wilshere did very well to penetrate Everton's defence, it was Nasri's stinger that was parried away by Howard in the 36th minute. The loose ball fell to Arshavin who picked out (surprise surprise!) Sagna. The rightback displayed great skill before shooting into the roof of Everton's goal. Extraordinary skill from Bacary Sagna.
While I was celebrating the goal, I had a flashback. This was only Sagna's second goal for Arsenal. The first time he scored, was the opener against Chelsea. Stupid Drogba spoiled the party. Yes, I was afraid that the same thing would happen and the halftime whistle didn't ease my fears.
Thankfully though, my Cesc came through for me in the second half. Latching on to a pass from substitute Denilson, Cesc played in Chamakh who returned the ball for him to volley superbly passed Howard. The goal was sweetly weighted and placed. I watched it again and like I said on Twitter, I'm pretty sure I had a mini orgasm when I saw the replay. Please please please see the highlights and watch this goal.
Chamakh would have given us the third had he turned in Fabregas' 59th minute wedge into the box. Alas, the Moroccan sent the ball skyward from four yards. It's easy to say that I think I could have turned that sitter into the net, doing it is a different thing all together.
Unfortunately, our lads begun to play a very laidback passing game against an Everton that was eagerly pressing. It isn't that I think we shouldn't. I just wanted to see us keep pressing for a sure-thing. After all, the game isn't over till it's over. And the pressure kept mounting from the host.
We were at risk of losing the points if not for save after save after save from Fabianski. Shots that were swung directly at him, fumbled in a scramble, aimed at the top corner, lunging for the lower corner - all palmed away by an alert Pole who has shown how precious he is, and the kind of quality that he can produce under immense stress. Look at the last 15 minutes of the game and you'll be awed and blown away by the number of saves Fabianski made. I can't even blame him for Cahill's goal because rightly, someone should have been defending the post.
We held out the four added minutes, but to a fan like me, it felt more like four hours. My heart was in my mouth and I seriously felt like I needed a pacemaker. But we earned the points. All three points, and we go within two points of the leader.
Thirteen games down, 25 more to go. Bring on 'em Spuds!
The Arsenal!
8plus1 (28 - 29 Aug 2010)
Had we lost this match against Aston Villa, it will end our longest winning streak since the start of the season. For this match, we gained one point rather than lost two points for it. Aston Villa matched Man Utd in every department. It seem that Man Utd has become an average team overnight.
Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur
Er, an odd name stand out when the first eleven teamsheet was broadcasted on television and Internet. Owen Hargreaves. The last match that he played was in Sep 2008.
We are just 1 point to qualify for the knockout rounds, but at an expense where Nani and Fletcher are injured in the match.
