One solitary point is now the gap between us at second place and Manchester United at the top. Fair enough, they have a game in hand, but it's against Chelsea, and right now we have the points on board.
We beat those scummy bastards, Stoke, but ultimately it came at a price.
The main news was that Koscielny and van Persie were out, with Squillaci and Bendtner deputising. We started very strongly, and could of been 1-0 up sooner but Walcott's low drive hit the inside of the post and somehow bounced back out. We took the lead through the much criticised (from myself and many others) Seb Squillaci, heading in a Nicklas Bendtner cross. In the first half, we dominated. They had one shot, from John Carew, drawing a smart stop from Szczesny.
Cesc Fabregas limped off with a knee injury and will now miss Sunday. Very very gutted. For him and for the team. Should we win the Cup, I hope we see a double lifting of the Cup with Cesc and whoever is skipper, which should be Robin van Persie I'd imagine. More bad injury news saw Theo Walcott stretchered off, also missing the final and maybe a little more. It was an unlucky tackle I thought on Theo, wasn't Shawcross-esque dirty. But still looked pretty painful. Both players should and hopefully are going to be back for the Barca game, because both of them are going to be pivotal should we triumph at the Nou Camp.
I was very pleased in the manner of how we won. Very nitty and gritty. Grinding out a 1-0 win is a rarity for Arsenal these days, so it's nice to see. More signs of this team maturing are growing by the week. Sunday could be a huge game, not just for this season, but also for some of the players careers. A first trophy will push these players on to bigger and better things. A trophy win would compensate for some players absences.
A cup final preview will be up later or possibly tomorrow. But for now, I must get back to work!
Thanks for reading.
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