Now that is how we shut the neighbours up! Simply brilliant.
From our starting line-up, you could see we meant business. Nine changes were made, but still a strong team. The first half was an absolute embarrassment from our excuse of a rival team. We dominated them. Really dominated them. Such was the domination of the game, we reduced them to a niggly dirty side, very Stoke-like.
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| These kids are alright, I guess. |
At the centre of everything good for Arsenal, was Jack Wilshere. He reminded me of Messi in the way that countless times he got kicked, yet for everyone of them, he got straight back up, demanding the ball. He's a winner, very fierce in the challenge. It was his superb cross which set Henri Lansbury up for the first goal. We were rocking. From then on, besides two shots from distance by Bentley and Pavlyuchenko, Tottenham didn't have a sniff of the ball. Rosicky was spraying passes, Denilson was keeping it simple to great effect, Lansbury was everywhere, Vela was dropping deep to join in the play and Gibbs was more like a left winger. Incredible. But for a dodgy decision from the lino, Arsenal would of been two up. Wilshere played an inch perfect through ball for Gibbs to run onto, who then rounded the keeper before the flag went up, great shame.
With all our dominance in the first half, we were only 1-0 up. Start of the second half, Tottenham came out of the traps, Keane and Lennon replacing to bystanders of the game. Only a few minutes in and Keane somehow found his feeble finish squirm into the net. 1-1. Now I hate criticising players, but Fabianski that was an awful bit of goalkeeping. Wrighty was correct, your wrists were like paper tissue. On a day were Szczesny said he was unhappy and not getting a chance, it's hard to see why Fabianski is getting the game time maybe Wojciech deserves.
But for 15-20 minutes of the second half, Arsenal grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. Relatively quiet by his own standards in the first half, Samir Nasri really came to the fore the rest of the game. Darting runs, holding on to the ball, great range of passing, he was inspirational. One chance that Tottenham had, Lennon was away to pull the trigger until Superman came sliding in with a last ditch block. Superman = Koscielny, what a fantastic player!
Arsenes' desire to win the game showed when Arshavin and Chamakh replaced Rosicky and Vela. Yet still no winner in normal time, we needed another 30 mins to finish this game off.
And how we did it. Barely a minute in, Arshavins delicate dink over the Tot'num defence found Nasri marauding in the box, to be clipped by Bassong for a clear penalty. Up stepped Nasri, who smashed the penalty home for 2-1, delirium amongst the fans. Interestingly, Wenger had words after Saturday with Nasri about his superstition not to take a penalty directly won from yourself. Wenger dismissed this as a fear. And how Wenger was right. A few minutes later had a sense of deja vu about it. Arshavin with a smart first time through ball released Chamakh who tumbled under the pressure from the young Spurs centre back for a second clear penalty. Up stepped Nasri again, who placed the ball in the opposite corner for 3-1. For those of you who dismissed this game, just watch the celebrations for each goal. All met with great joy, the three English youngsters fist pumping, showing delight. Pleasing watching that, it really is.
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| This is getting easy now |
The Arsenal fan's were once again superb. Songs such as ''Shall we make a DVD?'' and ''We can see you sneaking out'' were a real joy to hear. Great night for the fans, great night for the players and the manager. Keep it up.
You can see Arsene Wengers reaction to last night here, and also a lovely touch of class from all involved at Arsenal. RIP Jack Chester.
That's it for today, got a spring in my step from last nights game. Let's hope it's the start of something special!
Keep the faith.
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