Arsenal 3 - 1 Burnley

Arsenal 3 - 1 Burnley

Postby whee » Sat Mar 06, 2010 5:28 pm

Another 3 points bring us level with Chelsea at the top.

Arsenal and Niklas Bendtner in particular refused to pump up the goal difference this afternoon, beating the league's worst away side by 2 goals to 1.

Arsenal started brightly, with Theo Walcott seeing a lot of the ball early on, giving the Burnley back line a hard time. Theo's come in for some serious criticism over the last few weeks, especially after an appalling display for the national side on Wednesday night. But today, he would make sure a few of those critics piped down a little bit.

A few chances came before the goal, the best one being some brilliant inter-linking football between Fabregas and Eboue, with the latter playing a slick little back heel into the path of our King, Leader, God and coolest dude, Cesc. However, the midfielder who would go on to equal Pires' record number of goals from midfield today, dragged his first attempt on Jensen's goal, wide of the far post.

The breakthrough wasn't far away though. Fabregas picked the ball up 7 or 8 yards outside the Burnley box and looked to lay the ball of for a Nasri strike, however the Frenchman, realising how quickly he was being closed down, turned back inside instead of opting for the shot. Fabregas, spotting the gap and the opportunity to burst into the box, was on the end of possibly the best pass i've seen in a long time. Nasri scoped the run out, and scooped the ball over the Burnley back line, letting it drop onto the foot of Cesc, infront of the advancing fat t**t in goal. Cesc opened his foot up and slipped a cool finish between the tree-trunk like legs of Jensen. 1-0 to The Arsenal.

I don't remember anything of any note happening between the goal and half-time, plus I was getting stuck into my Korma. What? Oh yeah, except Cesc coming off with a 'sore knee' - hopefully just precautionary, but time will tell. He was replaced by Diaby.

The second half started with a bang, Theo again getting at the full-back, and whipping in an exceptional cross. I know, I couldn't believe it either, it was perfection. Right onto the head of Bendtner who didn't even need to leave the ground...... but his header darted wide of the post. The groans rang out, not too loudly, they were more like groans of disbelief. But it was only just starting for Nik.

Not 2 minutes later, Clichy had played a deep cross into the box which Theo again did brilliantly to fashion into a chance for a team-mate. Bendtner with a perfect opportunity to make amends for his miss just moments earlier, struck the half volley as early as required, and made sure he put his foot through it. And under it. And through it again. If that ball didn't make the top tier i'd be surprised. Simply dreadful, unbelievably wank, but hilarious, all at the same time.

Burnley knew that at 1-0 they were still in the game and a big header from their centre back caught our defenders fannying about, Nugent beat Vermaelen to the ball and shin-rolled the ball over Almunia, a tidy finish to level the scores and Arsenal were starting to pay for Bendtner's double miss.

We settled well again after their equaliser, and Theo again was having joy down the right, blazing a shot over Jensen's bar rather than picking out Bendtner.... who could blame him?

Theo would put us back in front though, receiving the ball 18 yards from the goal line, just wide of the box. He decided to cut inside this time though, onto his weaker peg, took one touch to set himself - then a cool left-footed instep finish found the bottom corner. He celebrated wildly and it looked like a massive weight off his shoulders. It just shows how much confidence plays it's part in a footballer. A great goal, a great performance and hopefully there'll be more to come from him.

All our good stuff came from the right hand side, and it was no surprise when Bendtner's hat-trick of misses was completed, with a chance fashioned by Theo. His low cross found Bendtner unmarked, 6 yards from goal, with a simple side foot finish required, however the young Dane dragged his shot wide of the goal. Simply not his day and it was only a matter of time before Nik was replaced.

There was a good shot of him applauding the crowd before he'd even been taken off, and the crowd reacted well. As frustrating as his finishing can be, you can't help but feel he's a genuine guy who gives his all. Even when things weren't going well for him, he was always available as an outlet and i've got respect for that. It's all too easy to shy away from getting involved when it's not your day, just ask Theo.

Eventually, he was replaced by Eddy, with Rosicky being replaced by Arshavin too. Bendtner applauded the crowd and smiled knowingly as he left the pitch, not his best day - but he'll be back for more.

Burnley capitalised on our unsettled set up and began to mount some pressure of their own, never really testing Almunia though.

The third goal came in injury time, when a short corner routine was disrupted by Burnley hassling and Eddy managed to feed the ball to Arshavin, who drove a left footed shot, low and hard to Jensen's left, in at the near post.

Not a vintage performance, but so many chances were created by us. Another day we could have had 6 or 7. The performance wasn't important though, maintaining the form book was, and that's another 3 points clocked up.

Thank you.
whee
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Re: Arsenal 3 - 1 Burnley

Postby ayN » Sat Mar 06, 2010 5:31 pm

whee wrote:Another 3 points bring us level with Chelsea at the top.

Arsenal and Niklas Bendtner in particular refused to pump up the goal difference this afternoon, beating the league's worst away side by 3 goals to 1.


Nice work!
Wenger please go away
ayN
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Re: Arsenal 3 - 1 Burnley

Postby whee » Sat Mar 06, 2010 5:34 pm

+2... hardly 'pumped' when you consider how many absolute sitters we had.
whee
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Re: Arsenal 3 - 1 Burnley

Postby Leody » Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:34 pm

Man should have scored at minimum 5 which would have put us ahead on GD... more realistically like 10-15 range...
This space used to be more fun...
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