Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey celebrates the match winning goal (Getty Images)
It's been a long week for the Gunners. Not only did they drop a home Champions League match to Schalke 04, but Arsene Wenger drew some ire from some supporters and media after saying that qualifying for the Champions League was probably more important than winning a trophy. Well I think we all know Mr. Wenger is probably talking about trophies like the League Cup, but the point of criticism still stands and has been debated for much of the week. Wenger and his players came into the match hoping a result against bottom dwellers QPR would ease some of the pressure.
There was reason to be optimistic for the Gunners as well. Jack Wilshere made his season first team debut after an injury that sidelined him for more than a year. He looked pretty good too. As a matter of fact, he was about the only thing that looked good in the first half.
Arsenal did have the best chance of the opening stanza, and it came very early on. In the 10th minute Bacary Sagna sent a cross into the six, where it met the head of Aaron Ramsey. Ramsey managed to direct it on to the goal, and perhaps he had Julio Cesar beaten. However, the ball dinged off the crossbar and out of danger.
QPR was largely punch-less through the first half as well, failing to tally a shot on target. The Gunners would have a half chance right before halftime, as Andre Santos got a shot on goal, but Cesar made a fairly easy save to send the teams to the interval scoreless.
After a very mediocre first half performance, Arsenal came out looking much better in the second. In the 51st minute Per Mertesacker headed a free kick from Mikel Arteta that forced a diving save from Cesar. It was the first of a couple of fine saves from the former Inter man in the second half.
In the 77th minute Arsenal had a golden chance to go a goal up. After a bit of a scrum in front of Cesar's goal, the ball fell very nicely to Santi Cazorla, who was all alone in the middle of the box. Unfortunately the Spaniard blazed his wide open look well over the crossbar to the dissatisfaction of his teammates and the crowd.
The match changed just two minutes later though, and it totally swung the odds in Arsenal's favor. In the 79th minute Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen pushed QPR's Stephane Mbia just outside the QPR penalty area. The assistant referee awarded the foul, but that wasn't enough for Mbia, who lashed out in a kick at the Arsenal man. The referee spotted it, and had no choice but to issue him the red card, putting QPR down a man with ten minutes to go.
It didn't take Arsenal long to capitalize either. In the 84th minute Cesar found himself alone in front of his goal with Olivier Giroud and Arteta. Cesar managed to save Giroud's close range header, but parried it right to Arteta, who hit the bar with a header of his own. The ball dropped to him though, and the former Everton man poked it over the line to give Arsenal the 1-0 lead. Replays later showed Arteta was was probably offside on the play, but it would have been a tough call for the assistant to see so close to goal.
QPR did not fold though, in fact they responded with their best stretch of the match. In the 90th minute Adel Taarabt found Esteban Granero in the box with a long range free kick, but Granero poked his shot just wide of the far post. In the 2nd minute of stoppage time, Jamie Mackie gave the Arsenal defense the traffic cone treatment and maneuvered for a close 1v1 with Vito Mannone. Mannone saved the shot stone cold to preserve the lead. Finally in the third minute of stoppage, Mannone came up big again, tipping a Granero free kick away from his top corner, which finally silenced QPR and locked in the 1-0 win for the Gunners.
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