1-0 to the Arsenal

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
10 Feb	7:45 PM	P	Liverpool (H)	1	0	Win

I said yesterday that, statistically, it was unlikely we would falter last night. I also said two days ago, in a blog post called "Next Goal Wins" that the team that scored first was most likely to win, Abou Diaby's bullet header for the only goal of the game proved me right on both counts.

To cap a truly brilliant night for Arsenal, the defeat that Chelsea suffered at Everton, allied to Manchester United's draw at Villa Park sees things pretty much as they were before Sunday's defeat at Chelsea. The less said about Harry "We could finish third" Redknapp and his Tottenham side, the better. I will settle here for a Nelson Muntz style, "Ha ha!"

I said it before, in fact I said it in the immediate aftermath of the Manchester United game and it's an observation made elsewhere that we look anything like prospective Champions, but the bottom line here is that it won't matter what we look like if, by some miracle, we are top of the pile come the end of the 38th game. And when you look at the fixtures that comprise our run in, next to those awaiting Manchester United and Chelsea, there is no reason why we can't bridge the gap between us and the top. Not that I'm getting ahead of myself in any way whatsoever.

Rafa Benitez said beforehand that he knew how to beat Arsenal, it turned out that his methodology was not too different from that of Manchester United and Chelsea's. In fact, in the early exchanges, Liverpool were keeping the ball much better than Arsenal, smothering the life out of us when we were in possession. But they lacked, in Fernando Torres's absence, the attacking thrust of a Rooney or a Drogba.

So much so, that for all their possession early on they created very little and in that fashion slightly resembled us on Sunday. Equally, we didn't create much ourselves, Nicklas Bendtner- making his first start since forever- shooting wastefully over when played in by Arshavin and a lengthy Cesc dribble ending in a weak shot easily smothered by Pepe Reina the sum of our efforts in the first half. In my view Liverpool missed a trick in the first half, against opponents lacking in confidence they had a real opportunity to shake us up early and never managed to really.

Tomas Rosicky replaced Samir Nasri, who may or may not have been concussed, as the first half drew to a close and it was he who had the first real opening of a much more forceful start to the second half. It came almost immediately after we saw compelling evidence of quality of the Gallas / Vermaelen axis. David N'Gog was put through by an incisive Steven Gerrard pass, cutting across Vermaelen he invited the centre back to make a challenge that would certainly have resulted in a free kick and a booking. In Howard Webb's - why do we keep getting this buffoon for our big home games? - state of mind, a red card may even have followed.

Vermaelen let N'Gog go, whether it was just common sense, or genuine trust in his partner William Gallas to make the tackle, we'll never know. What I do know is that Gallas obliged with a perfectly timed penalty area tackle. We can not lose this guy at the end of the season, it would be madness. Seconds later, Rosicky burst clear down our left, one touch into the penalty area and surely a shot to the far post or a pass across goal would follow? No, Rosicky took another touch and the ball bobbled off his shin and out of play.

On top of an Arshavin shot from an insane angle when surely he could have crossed, it was starting to look like another of those nights for us. Luckily, Nick Bendtner, having already been harshly booked for a dive when it looked like he was caught and gone closest to scoring when his shot through the legs of Reina took enough of a nick to slow its progress completely, did exactly what he is in the team to do. Even if it took him two goes to get it right. Trying to play a ball to Cesc, it was cut out but came back to him, gathering it in, he spread it wide to Rosicky, Rosicky's cross was speared across goal to an unmarked Abou Diaby, with Reina out of position, Diaby's header gave him no chance. Looking at the replays of Diaby's celebration, you could see how much the goal meant to one of the most improved players in the team this season.

Of course, with Arsenal, you never feel one is enough and with Walcott replacing Arshavin and then Sagna replacing Bendtner shortly after Ryan Babel's arrival, things proceeded to get a little shaky. Babel himself came closest to rescuing a point with a thunderous drive that Almunia *cough* did well to tip onto the crossbar. Arsenal, as the game ran out of time, had a numerous moments to have you tearing your hair out, Walcott's brainless no look cross into the penalty area when a bit of corner flag keep ball was in order, or Vermaelen's gallop into the opposition penalty area.

It would be harsh to be too critical as I thought generally we kept a good shape and played responsibly with good cover in midfield, but at the time it looked as though our cavalier approach would come back to haunt us. Steven Gerrard, in the final seconds of injury time, diving again. Dirk Kuyt made sure of a dubious free kick award by backing into Fabregas and falling over. The stage thus set for last gasp drama and we how we got it. Gerrard's free kick was arcing over the wall, until Cesc got his arm in the way. Right on the edge of the box. Liverpool bayed for a penalty, the referee was unmoved and blew for full-time. In the context of the match, Cesc's view that the referee got a lot of things wrong, for us and them, seemed like the most reasonable summation.

So, we didn't get the free flowing "demonstration of football" we would have liked, but we did get a vital win and, I thought the display of the team as a whole was summed up by a left back who looked a little more like the left back we all know and remember from two years ago. Stand up Gaël Clichy!

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