Okay, so who is Arsene Wenger gonna blame for this match, this result? Face it, once again Arsenal have stumbled down the stretch pissing away chances at trophy after trophy. It's not that I hate Arsenal so much, I despise the Manchester teams much more, but Wenger is just so.....annoying, and for all his complaining, his teams never step up. I mean, just 5 or 6 weeks ago we were talking about the possibility of an Arsenal Quad. Of course, Wenger doesn't disappoint, blaming the refs for disallowing Van Persie's offside goal.
As for the match itself, it was a classic. Fox Soccer is calling it the best in the Premier League this year. Indeed, there were three goals in the first 12 or so minutes. An absolutely breathless start. Theo Walcott (who I really like, sue me) started things off for Arsenal, scoring off of a nice ball from Fabregas in the 5th minute. However, just two minutes later, Rafael Van der Vaart equalized for Spurs. Here we go! Not to be outdone, Samir Nasri put the Gunners back in front in the 12th minute, and everybody at White Hart Lane took a breath. However, the first half scoring was not done, as Van Persie added a goal taking advantage of a failed clearance from William Gallas (Irony?) in the 40th. Trailing 3-1, Spurs decided to show they were still in it, as Huddlestone scored off a 20 yard strike to make it 2-3 at the half.
The second half was a battle as well, and Gareth Bale did not return after being stretchered off. Spurs are horribly thin. Van der Vaart had a screamer saved, and Van Persie had his goal called back for offside. This was Wenger's big whine of the day, but replays suggest Van Persie was about a half yard off, according to the ESPN match report.
In the 70th minute, Arsenal keeper Szczesny tripped Aaron Lennon in the area and that resulted in a PK for Spurs. Van der Vaart, who I'm convinced really does have ice in his veins, slotted home the shot and equalized at 3-3, which was how things ended.
Unfortunately, neither club really benefits from this result. Spurs are chasing the final Champions League spot after getting a taste of European glory this year. That battle with Man City is likely to go to the end, but three points would have been huge for them today. However, it's perhaps worse for the Gunners, who not only failed to make up ground after United dropped points at Newcastle, but found themselves dropping to third behind Chelsea on goal difference after the Blues destroyed Birmingham City. Bad times. To make matters worse, Cesc Fabregas criticized his team before the game for not having a killer instinct. Arsenal is claiming his comments were misrepresented, but they seem to have been oddly prophetic.
No comments:
Post a Comment