REPORT:
Arsenal beat Champions Chelsea today at the Emirates, courtesy of goals from Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas, and Theo Walcott. Ivanovic did pull one back 12 mins after half-time, but that was not enough to shadow a classy performance by the Gunners.
Well the game started with a very fast tempo. This was expected as its us..In the 5th min, we got our first chance. Song’s chip through-ball from the midfield found RVP, but the latter mistimed his receive. Sadly, from that time on Chelsea began dominating, and this did include Drogba hitting his shot wide of Luke’s right post !
In the 20th min, Malouda fouled RVP right outside the box but the ref never gave it. Damn it ! From that time on we started to get back into the game. In the 32nd min Cesc brilliant trickery left Lampard and Mikel helpless, but the Spaniards assist to RVP was intercepted by Ashley Cole. 2 mins later we witnessed a typical Arsenal move. Cesc to Nasri, and Nasri to RVP, unfortunatelty the dutch-man skied his shot! 6 mins later, Cech showed us why he is regarded as one of the best in the world. ” The Czech” pulled out an immaculate save from a Samir Nasri shot.
But 3 mins later, we got our ‘precious’…Jacks assisted Song from in front of the D-box, and in all that commotion which included Cesc beng fouled by Ivanovic, Alex slotted the ball home from the left….1-nil to the Arsenal. When the second half started, both teams knew what they had to do. We had to attack, and they had to score. Hence, the tempo was just as it was before, unpredictable.
It was done in 12 mins, 3 goals…BANG, BANG..bang ! First it was RVP..the dutch-man fended of Ivanovic, and Terry, only for Essien to interfere and mis-back-pass to Theo. Cesc made the corresponding run, and it was 2-0 !, courtesy of El Capitan..
At this time Chelsea were shook, Terry passed the ball to Malouda who was dis-possessed by Theo. Theo got the ball, and played a quick pass to Cesc, the Spaniard delightful low-chip through-ball found Theo, and what a finish by the English-man….3-0 to the Arsenal, Chelsea were dumbstruck. In the 57th min, Ivanovic pulled 1 back for Chelsea but that was not enough to beat an outstanding performance put out by a courageous Arsenal side.
Infact we could have had more, Nasri in the 69th received the ball at the end of an Arsenal counter-attack, and tried to chip Cech, but the latter did well to save. And Diaby could have added 1 more 10 mins later. All in all it was a brilliant performance by “The Gunners.”
MATCH RATINGS:
Luke – 7: The guy could have done nothing about the goal, as it was from a point-blank range. But he did play well, the Pole made some good decisions, and deal’t with whatever came his way…
Clichy – 7: He defended well, but did leave many gaps, for he was not tracking back incase the ball was not been playing on his side.
Djourou – 9: In simple words, he was Drogba’s kryptonite. He tamed the Drog, and performed all his duties extremely well…
Kosher – 7.5: One cannot blame him about the Ivanovic goal, [that issue should be addressed separately] but other than that the French-man was alert and solid.
Sagna – 7: No nonsense, as there is nothing I can really say about one of the best defenders we have. He did his duties really well, and attacked too. Brilliant..
Song – 9.5: My MOTM, he scored, and defended . He blocked a Drogba shot, and always tracked back to help out whenever required.
Wilshere – 7.5: At 19, the guy real showed maturity today. He kept the game moving in the midfield, and helped out whenever he saw a fellow compatriot in trouble. Keep it up Jack !
Cesc – 8.5: Today was the first time I witnessed the Cesc of last season. He assisted, he scored, and I hope he keeps this up.
Nasri – 6.5: The French-man had a quiet game today, well when I say quiet I mean relatively. On the left flank, he was sober, and pitched in whenever he was required too. Would have had a wonder goal if it was not for Cech, and he distributed the ball brilliantly over the pitch.
Theo – 9: A close runner-up behind Song. The guy was brilliant in pressing, and that was 1 reason we got us our third. Well, he pressed, and scored. Was alert as well, as he latched on Essien’s howler to assist our 2nd.
RVP – 8: Oh please don’t get injured. RVP’s performance was super today. he was one reason we got the 2nd goal as he held of Terry, and Ivanovic. He dropped back in defense whenever required, and was overall, the RVP We all know. Unfortunate, that he didn’t score, but I guess he will surprise us in the future.
SUBS:
MC29: N/A
TR7: N/A
AD2 – 6: He had a good-chance to score for us, after Jack played him through, but I guess we can forgive him because the guy has just come-back from injury. And the fact that it was a tough-chance, as he is a right-footer also does count !
Next up, Wigan away
Cheer-i-o Gooners
PS: HAPPY NEW YEAR GOONERS, What a way to end the year !
