07 October 2007
Now THIS is football. Two teams gunning for goals, fighting for victory without fearing defeat, and having the contest settled with a lethal injection of skill.
It promised to be a feisty encounter, with Roy Keane visiting Arsenal for the first time as manager. Those who were expecting a violent encounter had nothing to fear though… Sunderland played hard, but played fair. Arsenal got off to a blistering start, passing the ball around at a pace that the visitors could barely contain.
The breakthrough seemed to come around the 6th minute, when Diaby unleashed a ferocious drive which beat Craig Gordon all ends up. But the referee had already blown for a fowl committed on van Persie, so the goal was disallowed. But no problem, said Robin, and made Diaby’s shot look subtle with a free kick that flew into the goal before the keeper could move. 1-0 Arsenal!
Hardly ten minutes had passed when the lead had been doubled, by the unlikely boot of Senderos. Ade picked up a loose delivery and crossed into the box. Senderos got an awkward touch but the direction of the ball fooled everyone, giving the Swiss defender a rare goal.
It was a fabulous start for the Gunners, and was exactly what they would need against their tenacious opponents. They did not lower their tempo though, pushing on with pace and purpose, even testing Gordon on a couple of occasions. A rapid break resulted in Hleb flashing the ball across goal. Flamini failed to make contact and the ball rolled on to Diaby. The makeshift left winger certainly has found his shooting boots, but has not been able to locate his lucky charm. He clinically sidefooted the ball into the net and jogged away celebrating (never seems to get too excited, this chap), but his joy was cut short once again, this time by the linesman’s flag.
The let off revitalised Sunderland who began launching attacks of their own, and were rewarded in the 25th minute. Clichy was muscled off by Kenwyne Jones. Almunia saved the shot, but the rebound was smartly chested down and buried home by Ross Wallace. Sunderland enjoyed a great spell of
The second half began promising a lot more action, and a few more goals. Sunderland were the first to oblige. This time in was Jones, the instigator of the first goal, who once again, beat Clichy to power a header and draw the away side level. Why in the world the diminutive Gael Clichy found himself marking that colossal striker on two occasions is something I hope Wenger takes a long hard look at.
After the equaliser, Arsenal sucked it up and slowly dragged themselves into the game. Toure tried to do it all by himself with a cruise missile that flew in from nearly the half way line, and smashed the post. Arsene made his moves and brought in Walcott and Eboue.
The young Englishman had a major impact on the game, with searing pace and turns so fast that it would have left defenders dizzy. Unfortunately, he completely fluffed the simplest of finishes, after Hleb had done so well to cut the ball back into a dangerous position. He may not have found the finishing touch, but Theo made several powerful runs down the right flank, keeping his head up, and darting into space with intelligence. Looks like the wonderkid is beginning to show his stuff.
And it was another one of Theo’s lightning quick turns and runs behind defence that led to the winning goal. Latching on to a pass from Eboue, Walcott spun, ran and passed the ball in to Robin van Persie’s feet. Robin van Persie MAGICAL feet! He took a touch and pulled the trigger before the fans could shout ‘SHOOT!’ We were in the lead again!
Not long after, Gilberto came on for van Persie and Arsenal brought down the pace, maintaining possession. They still had time to strike the post from a Walcott shot, and have a Sunderland players sent off for a tackle that had Hleb hoping all his equipment was still functional. When the whistle blew, it was relief and joy. We are back on top of the table, having won some tremendous battles. This match should give the team the confidence that they can handle anything. Watch out Premiership! We mean business.