Arsenal-Mania

5-star Gunners run riot

By Loyan Abdulle on Sunday, September 23, 2007

After the international break early this month many would be forgiven if there were fears that, like many times in past seasons, that Arsenal would return lacking cohesion and winning results. Two wins later which included a morale lifting victory over our North London rivals, see us topping our Champions League group, but more importantly leading the way in the Premier League with a game in hand.

Saturday saw the visit of Derby County to the Emirates in a game which saw us consolidate our lead at the top with our main rivals facing tough tests. The Manchester United v Chelsea game will inevitably see someone drop points. Also judging from Liverpool's recent record I wasn't surprised to see them to play out a bore draw against Steve Bruce's Birmingham.

After a hat-trick from Emmanuel Adebayor and a goal apiece from Vassikri Diaby and Francesc Fabregas we are four points ahead of our nearest rivals with a game in hand as well.

Derby would have liked to show a good account of themselves at the Emirates on the back of their victory over Newcastle United but they were just overwhelmed by an Arsenal master class. The away side did not anywhere near their opponents. To be honest Derby were poor today but we will needed to keep this run of form which saw us win all of our games this season except for one Jens Lehmann gifted draw to Blackburn.

The spirit and fight of this team is great to see and displays like this are making punters and reporters alike go from terming Arsenal as a team that would struggle to make the top four to one which will win the Champions League.

To be honest we are somewhere in between but if we keep taking out the small teams and manage to keep our record against the top teams from last season we should be up there with the cream of the crop come the end of the season. They say titles aren't won two months into the season but they can definitely be lost, and in the past two seasons slow starts for us have meant just that.

Onto the game and we started with the same team that played against Seville in midweek except for three changes, two of which were enforced with injuries to Alexander Hleb and Thomas Rosicky, with van Persie being rested. In their places came in Vassikri Diaby, Theo Walcott and Eduardo da Silva.

Arsenal started the game with their usual fluency and as expected Derby started with a 10-0-0 formation with everyone behind the ball. It didn't take long for us to create our first chance of the game though as Clichy burst down the left wing but Adebayor just couldn't get on the end of his teasing cross.

Walcott raced down the right and aimed another cross at the big man and although this time he connected, his shot skewed wide of the mark. The signs looked ominous for Derby County and it only looked like a matter of time before we put the ball in the back of the net. In fact it took less than 5 more minutes until we did as Diaby gives us the perfect start by putting us 1-nil up. After picking up the ball wide on the left the Vieira look-a-like managed to cut in from the wing and release a thundering exocet which flew into the top-hand corner.

Minutes later the young Frenchman found himself in a similar position but this time his low daisy cutter was aimed straight at Bywater in the Derby goal and the keeper pushed the ball away from the goal. We were really exploiting the Derby defence from the wings and being given time and space were really piling on the pressure on the helpless Rams.

After a clash of heads between Bakari Sagna and Eddie Lewis, it was the American who came off the worse but luckily was back after getting some treatment from the physios. Soon afterwards Theo was taken down in the box by Claude Davis but the referee waved play on. The game was as one-sided a match as I can remember and very soon afterwards we did get the second goal. As in most games this season Fabregas was heavily involved as his delightful through ball was picked up by Adebayor who in turn rounded the 'keeper to score a simple first of the afternoon.

Arsenal though were not content to sit back and continued to press for a third and had Eduardo not miscued when in a decent position the we probably would have had it. The Croatian was everywhere and deserved a goal for his confident play and he nearly made amends when skimming one of the Derby defenders but just as he was about to shoot Stephen Pearson produced a fine challenge to clear for a corner kick.

From the resulting kick Eduardo was first to the header but Bywater produced a stunning save to keep the score at 2-nil. We earned another corner but the ball was cleared for the third in quick succession before another the referee blew the whistle for half time.

The half time break couldn't have come at a better time for Derby but come the second half it was yet the same story and seconds in Diaby had already set his sights on goal before being blocked. Less than a few minutes later the ball was in the back of the net again. This time it was Eduardo who had been pulled back in the box and the referee had no choice but to point to the spot.

Adebayor stepped up and was never going to miss from 12 yards as he placed a firm shot into the net despite Bywater guessing right. It was little more than we had deserved as we could easily have been 5 or 6 goals up by this point.

On 68 minutes Flamini created some space and threaded a nice ball out to Walcott who picked out Adebayor, but the goal-machine couldn't jump high enough to get his header on target. From a Fabregas cross from open play, Touré somehow managed to find himself in the box but his rocket header was just wide of the upright.

A let-off for County but two minutes later it was indeed 4-nil to us. Eduardo played the ball into Fabregas' path and true to recent form, the young Spaniard blasted another long-range rocket into the top corner to add to his tally of 6 goals this season. It was to be his last contribution of the game as he was substituted, to a standing ovation by the Emirates faithful, for Denilson before play could resume.

The game was over for Derby County for some time now but Arsenal desperately wanted to put the finishing touches to the game by scoring a fifth while also keeping a clean sheet for the untroubled Manuel Almunia.

With eleven minutes remaining we did just that and Adebayor managed to score his third and Arsenal's fifth of the game and it was his best one of the day. He controlled a long ball on his chest before out muscling his marker before curling the ball superbly around Bywater. Adebayor could have scored a fourth with a carbon copy of his third goal but was closed down at the death but for the big Togolese striker it was to remain and a five star display by the Gunners.

The game ended with our trademark huddle after the final whistle and with the grit, determination and spirit shown by this Arsenal team so far this season, our rivals in the Premier League and in Europe will be keeping a close eye on us for the time being and I'm lovin' it.

User Comments

4

Liteboy

Posted on 24 Sep, 2007 at 06:43 AM - Reply

Well am lovin the season for us so far, and i believe henry's departure has really given our youngster freedom to play to their potential, freedom to play without fear, but we shouldn
't get carried away just yet we should keep taking it a game at time and not get ahead of ourselves, also wish bendtner would get more games, AM LOVING THE SEASON ALREADY

3

wizzywig

Posted on 23 Sep, 2007 at 09:22 PM - Reply

Just discovered this website and think it`s brill . Funny and informative .A good read . As for the team , Henry might have been the best when he was with us , but not anymore. It`s really given the youngsters a chance and they`ve grabbed it superbly.Let`s hope they can keep it up.

2

Gooner4lyf

Posted on 23 Sep, 2007 at 08:01 PM - Reply

Couldn't agree with you more :)

1

Lim Meng Hock

Posted on 23 Sep, 2007 at 06:10 PM - Reply

No doubt it was a 5 star perfomance.However we will know when the gunners tangle with Pool and ecpeciallMU.
Just watched the game on tv in sunny Penang between Chelski and MU.To my mind the sending off shd not have been given and most neutral observers are agreed on this.I am confident the gunners superior passing will cause the rd defence plenty of problems. This is the rub . The match could be decided by the whim of a ref. You never know.If the ref is strictly impartial I believe the gunners can beat both Chelski and the rd. When I say impartial it means 100% impartiality.