3rd place,3 goals,3 points.That’s the summation of this victory.If we win our game in hand,we could be in second place.
However,Gunners didn’t cruise to the victory as Tigers gave us a good fight throughout the game.The game’s pace started to pick up only in the first-half’s additional time when there’re some real fight between the players.The fight started when Nasri “knocked” one of Hull’s players and Hull’s players came to push Nasri around.Consequently,Arsenal’s Nasri and Hull’s Zayatte got a yellow card each.
However,the free-kick given to us proved decisive when Denilson kicked the ball past the ball as well as goalkeeper to give Gunners a 1-0 lead before the first-half ended.
In second-half,the game continued in high gear as both teams attacked and defended against each other.Tigers was close to get their equalizer when Silvestre pulled Fagan’s clothes in the penalty box and penalty kick was awarded to Hull.However,Geovarni’s penalty-kick was easily saved by Almunia.
Geovarni’s missed chance was punished just three minutes later when Eduardo easily popped the ball from Arshavin’s cross into Hull’s net to make Gunners lead by 2 goals to nil.From that on,Hull’s hope to wrest at least a point looked microscopic.
Gunners continued their possession and got a lot of chances from their created play and build-up.However,there’s only one goal was produced when Arshavin’s pass managed to reach Diaby’s foot.The goalkeeper managed to held Diaby’s shot but the ball’s force still strong enough to put itself to the net and confirmed Arsenal’s 3 points from this game.
A good game for us I must say.Almunia should get Man Of the Match for his save against Geovarni’s penalty kick.Had he failed to save the penalty,the game could go against us.
This weekend is a good weekend too for us.Although we don’t manage to get rid of Aston Villa and rival Spur’s pressure on us,but we managed to close the gap between us and Devils.Devils’ 3-0 defeat at Craven Cottage means that we are just 2 points behind Man United with a game in hand.That’s bang on on our title race.
Match Reports
Gunners’ title race hope took a dip as Burnley stole two points from us.It could be three points actually,but we were sort of lucky yesterday.
I did watch the match but not for long(10 minutes) because my live streaming went wrong and I just couldn’t connect to the streaming server.I only watched the first goal of the match which was scored by Fabregas.I’m also quite shocked with the goal and therefore I was emotionless about the first goal.But that goal did spring my attention to the game.But the live streaming just went wrong just after I really want to concentrate on the game.
But through livescore,I knew Burnley equalized not long(28th minute) after our first goal.I thought there will be more goals to come but when I saw the news today,no goal was scored afterwards.
I’m not sure if we should be happy with this result;we did better than United but a game drawn is two points lost.
Match Reports
Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal
Arshavin’s lightning strike into the edge of the inner posts gave warning to Devils and The Blues that this race is not just a two-horse race,and Villa’s 1-0 win in Old Trafford puts the title race so open and it’s 4 horse race now.
Let’s talk about the game first.Gunners’ performance was appalling in the first-half and the effects of not having a real strikers were really clear.We could still get some possession but we didn’t have the sharpness to create chances and put the ball into the net.Liverpool on the other hand,enjoyed their full-forced players and created a lot of chances.In 13rd minute,Torres almost opened the lead against us when Gerrard crossed the ball into near penalty box.But Torres didn’t finish it well and he just passed the ball safely into Almunia’s hands.
The goal came in 41st minute when Gerrard stroke the ball by free-kick.Almunia volleyed the ball out but it fell into Kuyt’s foot.Gallas tried his best to clear Kuyt’s shot,but Gallas failed and the ball went into the net.
It stayed 1-0 until the first-half break.In the break,Wenger went mad and to the extent he quoted that the players were not fit to wear Arsenal jersey.
And his ranting did produce result.In second-half,it was Arsenal who was in driving seat.I’m not sure it’s Gunners who got better or Liverpool who got worse,but Liverpool’s momentum in first-half was gone.
Things got worse in 50th minute when Johnson’s clearance went straight into the net.Kuyt’s goal in first-half was neutralized by an own goal.From that on,Arsenal pressed on with Liverpool’s poor play.8 minutes later,Arshavin made a stunner;his shot went into edge of the goal post’s inner side and the ball was deflected into the net.That goal put a punishment to Red’s shrinking play.
Aware that they were not trailing,Reds started to put more pressure on Arsenal’s defense.But the same thing which happened to Arsenal happened to Liverpool.They failed to create chances to get the goal.The game went on and no further goals were scored.
Match Reports
Our youngsters failed to beat the Greek champ but nevertheless,our kids managed to create some good play.Not only they didn’t embarass Arsenal in international game,but they created an concept of how great the future of Gunners could be.
Ok,to put short,we were solid at back but we were a little bit poor in finishing.We dominated the game for most of the time and frightened the home side with frequent attacks to their goal.But poor finishing rattled their beautiful football.
Tomorrow we will know which team we will play against.Since we are one of the group winners,I certainly don’t hope we will face tough teams in the last 16.The tough teams we could face are Bayern Munich,AC Milan,Inter Milan, and Lyon.I don’t hope to play with those teams mentioned before.
Match Reports
First,I must apologize for not posting my match preview for this match.I had my exam and went to PC exhibition yesterday.I was so tired that I slept right after I went back home.
Anyway,I’m glad that Gunners won the game,although some may not be used to our small margin victory at home.But we could have scored more if Fabregas’ penalty went in.That penalty was really unlucky for us.But we managed to scrap three points and continued to challenge Chelsea and Manchester United at top.
Here’s Wenger’s comment after the match;Source:Arsenal.com
On Arshavin being the answer to Van Persie absence…
“I don’t know yet, I have to try it again and to see if it works at home, away from home and to find as well a balance because I had many technical players around him with Rosicky, Nasri, Fabregas, Eboue, and all penetrating from deep positions. That is needed when you have a player like Arshavin. We will see but at the moment we do not have much choice with Walcott out, Bendtner out, Van Persie of course. But we could get Walcott back, we could get Bendtner back in two to three weeks. We had as well Diaby and Song out today, they should be available next week.”
Our team is disintegrating just like last season’s case.We started with fresh players and we ended with 30-40% of our players injured during December when we must stay fit.Like now,Arshavin is the only striker we have right now.Fortunately we have Wenger who can cope not badly with these injuries.We must have a deep squad to have the Title,but I don’t think we have that yet.I’m not sure why Gunners get injured much more easily that our rivals’ players.Could our players too plastic?I’m not sure.
Match Reports
