Confident Gunners Outperform Reds

With a three-nil win over Liverpool at home Arsenal have regained the third spot (on goal differential) and boosted the club’s confidence. Arsenal played a wholesome 90 minutes dominating play nearly 60% of the match and allowing very few chances for the Liverpool side. The game was decided on midfield domination from Flamini, Fabregas, Gilberto, and Hleb, while goals came from unlikely sources. Fabregas played a great game although he had a bit more errant passes than normal. That being said, the youngster performed adamantly.

Ahead of the match it was announced that Almunia was starting ahead of Lehmann, and Mart Poom was on the bench. The commentator quickly informed us that Jens had showed up with a it of a sore throat, so clearly the medical team must have determined he needed to sit this one out. I’ve been quit ill as of late with a sore throat so Jens, if you need any Zithromax, I’ve got some on standby. Almunia played consistently throughout and made a couple of good saves. He was rarely called upon and came out of the box once to clear a leading pass before it became threatening.

The first strike came from Flamini after a brilliant set-up in the mid-field that yielded a Cesc-y cross. Flamini somehow managed to sweep the ball into the next from 6 yards out despite falling down and the ball behind a bit behind him. It was a great goal and a better way to go into the locker room just minutes before the whistle in the 41st.

Ten minutes after the restart Kolo Toure nutmegged ‘Pool keeper Reina after build-up and a sliding pass from Van Persie. Toure powered himself all the way up the center of the pitch and the combination play left him in a one on one situation with the keeper. Kolo deserved this goal and you could see how excited he and the rest of the team were. Aside from his solid defensive contributions Toure showed in this match that he is also capable of scoring goals and providing meaningful opportunities in the midfield.

The third goal came as a header from William Gallas in the 80th. It was a well-placed cross from Van Persie that saw Gallas completely open just a few yards in front of the center of the goal. Gerrard and Riise were seen arguing right after this goal, and rightly so. You can’t leave any man, even a center back, open in front of net like that. It was a comfortable finish for a comfortable win.

There was some sloppy tackles from the Liverpool side out of frustration of their situation. They were lucky to end the match with 11 men as there were two particular incidents that could have resulted in a second yellow or a straight red. The first was a second card-able offense on Jamie Carragher after his first yellow for a tackle on Henry. The second was wildly errant tackle on Flamini from behind by Jermaine Pennant. Arsenal received cards for Flamini’s goal celebration and on Van Persie for a bad tackle. This is Van Persie’s fifth yellow card of the season.

It’s interesting that our goals came from two defenders and a defensive mid-fielder. I think it’s great that these situations arose for goals to pour in from unlikely sources. Henry and Van Persie played well up front, but were unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Each player had a couple of opportunities but the keeper.

Arsenal looked comfortable and in charge for the entirety of the match. I’m glad to see the team perform so well against a strong Liverpool side. To be fair Liverpool didn’t look as good as they normally do today, but it’s important to realize that any win over The Reds is still a major victory. Meanwhile however Liverpool remain left behind the league leaders with little hope of contending for the title. Arsenal once again proved that they have the gumption for winning and fighting for the top spot. Consistency will remain key.

And there was a bit of silliness in this match as well when the Ref needed some care from the Arsenal medical staff. The ref collapsed after stretching out his right leg while trying to avoid getting hit with the ball right in the nuts. Unfortunately it didn’t work and as a result his leg was hurt and his nuts were sore. Poor guy. The fifth official even starting warming up like he was ready to come on. I was waiting for a whistle to blow and the fourth ref to hold up a substitution for the officials.

We’re still a game in hand and securing the third spot with a win over Liverpool is a great start at making things interesting for United and Chelsea. If we win our game in hand we’ll be just 4 points from Chelsea and 7 from United. Both Manchester and Chelsea have looked absolutely brilliant this year and are showing no signs of stopping their progress.

Drogba sunk another hat-trick on Saturday as the striker hits top-form. He appears to be a truly unstoppable goal scoring machine. However, if Chelsea suffer an injury blow to any of their first squad, it will make things very difficult for them. The same could be said for United. We’ve been coping with out our injury problems just fine while the two league leaders have remained fairly unscathed.

Well it’s a great day to be a gunner and I’ll be wearing my jersey with pride. I thought we would win this one, but I didn’t think it would be so easy. And I certainly didn’t expect a hat-trick of defensive goals. Come on Arsenal!