Henry and Pires sink Blackburn

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
28 Aug	3:00 PM	P	Blackburn Rovers (A)	2	1	Win

In the build-up to today's game there was a lot of noise about Arsène Wenger's 'rugby' comments aimed at Blackburn.

The significance of those comments? They weren't actually aimed at our opponents at all, he was making reference much more to the manner in which Stoke equalised against Spurs last weekend.

The big teams dropping points against the smaller teams was a big feature of last season, but so far it doesn't look like that will continue this year. Man City aside, it's been a very quiet transfer window; the small sides haven't really made the necessary steps to improve.

Despite the rugby tactics, Spurs beat Stoke having lost there last season, and Arsenal beat Blackburn, having lost there last season.

And while it's been an equally quiet summer spending-wise for us and Tottenham, young players like Walcott and Bale have improved to the point of becoming match-winners. Even if we don't spend, our young players have far more potential than most from the clubs further down the league.

I've perhaps been Walcott's biggest critic over the last year or two, and while it will still take some time for me to be properly convinced, he's definitely getting there. His goal today is the kind that should become his trademark, and his overall performance today was like a right-sided Thierry Henry.

We were solid without being particularly penetrative, like we were at Anfield, but this time with a bit more quality on the pitch with the returns of Fabregas and van Persie. van Persie's exquisite Bergkamp pass released Theo and our Henry for the day made no mistake, slamming it low and hard into the corner - the crucial first goal that came from basically nowhere.

Sadly, but predictably, van Persie now faces a small spell on the sidelines. Hopefully it won't be more than ten days as I've heard, but we really can't be surprised if we lose him for the bulk of the season again. It's tragic to see such a quality player suffer another injury on his first start of the season.

Still, Marouane Chamakh came on in his place and played his part in the win, playing surprisingly deep at times, as I imagine he has been encouraged to by Wenger.

And it was Chamakh's pass from midfield that released Sagna, who for once got a good ball into the box. His low pass found Fabregas, who hit it against Walcott before the ball found its way to Arshavin, who scored a Píres goal to win the game; arriving late to coolly sidefoot into the corner. He had another quiet game today, but if the Russian can find that Píres in him and provide more end product then no one will mind too much.

Apart from that we created very little. Our most noteworthy opportunity came on a late counter-attack as Walcott fed substitute Jack Wilshere, who should have scored, but scuffed his shot into Robinson's arms.

Four points from our first two away games at Anfield and Ewood Park? I don't think anyone would have been surprised at 0 or 1 before the campaign started, so I think we can be very happy with the smash and grab nature of these two results.

Still, the defence is not without its problems. Surprisingly I was waiting for a bad moment from Almunia today but it never came. The Spaniard was solid in dealing with any crosses that came his way, but Koscienly and Vermaelen let him down on occasion.

Koscienly looked weak on their goal. Diouf should not have been able to shrug him off like that. Our new signing mentioned that he would be doing extra work in the gym in preperation for the Premier League and let's hope so, otherwise good luck against Drogba and Rooney.

Vermaelen uncharacteristically misjudged the bounce of a fairly slowly-moving ball and allowed Kalanic in, only for the Blackburn striker to blaze the shot over. Earlier we had to clear a Nelsen header off the line and saw Samba head over from close range.

Still, we survived and that's nothing but progress. I look forward to seeing new signing Sebastien Squillaci play soon, as he seems more like what we need for games like today, and indeed most games. Koscienly looks like he'll be a good defender, but there's no sense in rushing him when we have a more experienced alternative.

The season's got going and it feels lovely, so naturally there's now an international break. Wake me up in two weeks.

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