Arsenal Rise to the Challenge

Arsenal left Stamford bridge with one point after upsetting Chelsea in a thrilling match. Arsenal were first to go up from a great strike by Flamini off a Hleb cross. Essien returned the favor minutes later with a long and bendy shot that Lehmann had little chance to stop. The finish to this match was amazing, and Arsenal were frankly a bit lucky to end it with a point.

This could be one of the better performances of the season for our young squad, especially when you take into account our injury problems. Our average age is considerably younger than Chelsea’s, yet we managed to really make them fight for even a draw. The squad dug in and held their ground while making very strong and accurate tackles.

Lehmann made several necessary saves and Cesc even cleared the ball off the line in a pinch. Our back four looked great today, especially Gael Clichy. Senderos did well to clamp Drogba down, but he made several errant passes and even let the ball through unintentionally on occasion. It still feels like he hasn’t found his form this season in what must have been his most disappointing performance yet.

Fabregas continues to dominate the midfield as our play maker. Gilberto was largely unnoticeable which as usual means he had a great game. I do remember several stops and passes from the Brazilian that kept us out of sticky situations though. Hleb and Flamini worked well along the wings and it was Flamini of course that netted home the first goal of the match.

Robin Van Persie and Adebayor both performed admirably in our front line. Each striker had several deft touches to work their way past Chelsea’s line or to hold up for the rest of the squad to advance. I though Robin outplayed Adebayor but only just. Robin also took more shots and I like that someone recognizes we occasionally do too much passing in front of the net.

So all-in-all it was a good performance to take a point from the champions at their ground. It was nearly a win and we should be happy about that. However, we’re still far behind the leaders. We’ve also proven that we can play under pressure. It’s when we aren’t under pressure or in an uphill battle that we have wavered.

I watched the match at the Fox and Hounds in Studio City. It was quite a good time and there were many other gooners in attendance. However there was quite a wretched Chelsea cunt in the corner who screamed like a banshee and clearly didn’t understand the game. She made a good case for watching the game at home, despite the atmosphere at the pub. Oh well.

I hope to post more wallpapers this week so stay tuned. Come on Arsenal!