Well that feels a lot better of course, though the toothless Bolton game still does my head in. Look where we could be! Anyway, back to the good news.
After a run of Sunday games we were first up for a change with a lunchtime kick-off. Our rivals are all still to play. What a game it was. Same squad as Bolton but Coquelin and Rosicky started rather than Sagna and Ramsey. Sensible changes. Ramsey has looked jaded of late and Sagna is coming back from a long lay-off. On Wednesday of course the whole team looked jaded. Not yesterday.
In less than two minutes Walcott set up Van Persie for a tap-in. Confidence flooding all around. Arsenal in control, on a stroll, not going to blow this one! But then Koscielny pulls down Modeste just outside the box. Pedersen’s freekick was inch perfect and Blackburn were level. Surely we weren’t going to blow it again?
Despite getting level, Blackburn just didn’t seem to have it in them to take advantage. So Walcott and Van Persie went and did exactly the same. 2:1.
That was the game for Blackburn then. They had nothing left and the stage was set for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first Premier League goal. Set-up by Van Persie with a fantastic pass onto a clever run from Chamberlain. With composure he took three touches to collect the ball, get some room and then score. 3:1
As Arsene Wenger said after the game, Chamberlain has made a very rapid transition from youth player to confident first-teamer. I’m not always a big fan of Mark Lawrenson’s punditry, but he was spot-on last night about AOC: what marks him out already is that he has a bit of everything.
Explosive pace to lose opponents, head up early to read the game, intelligent runs, strength to stay on the ball under pressure, composure to finish.
We all rolled our eyes in the summer didn’t we? There goes Arsenal blowing a thick wad on a teenager when we need maturity. Well we were right but so was he! Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was a major signing for Arsenal. He’s currently leading our match poll.
Today the pace and movement of Ox and Walcott either side of the sublime Van Persie looked unstoppable. OK, so we can’t play Blackburn every week, but it looked fresh and dangerous. Running into the box scares the hell out of defenders good and bad.
Blackburn were dead now but not content to let Arsenal to do all the burying! A desperate two-footed lunge from Givet on Van Persie earned him a straight red. All this and the second half still to come.
The second half was more one-way traffic. Arteta collected a loose ball from a corner and forced a goal through a deflection. 4:1
Then a great run from Walcott sets up AOC for his second. 5:1.
Another hat-trick for Robin Van Persie. Very similar to the first two, but this time the pass came from Coquelin. You could call them all tap-ins, but that takes something away from Van Persie. He has that talent to check and dart that loses his markers and gives him space to receive the ball and score. 6:1
Now the most curious bit of the game. We’re 6:1 up and RVP, without whom our season etc etc, has already suffered a couple of crunching tackles. He can surely come off can’t he? No he can’t!
Sagna, Henry and Benayoun come on, but Van Persie stays put. Just how big a cushion is needed to let Park Ju-Young give Van Persie a early finish? Clearly Arsene Wenger doesn’t rate him highly, but really, just how bad can he be? If a five goal lead against ten isn’t safe enough, there have to be other players in the squad who can sit on the bench don’t there?
Anyway, the game was nearly done. It just had enough in it to let Henry play one-two with Van Persie and score number seven. Bit of a lucky defection true, but he worked hard to win the ball and get there so he deserved the goal. 7:1, majestic, emphatic, about time!
Now we can relax and watch our rivals play later. Dream results would be losses for Chelsea and Newcastle against Man Utd and Aston Villa respectively. Both possibilities! Then tomorrow Tottenham play Liverpool.
So potential to improve our standing having finally got it right yesterday. All good.
No related posts.
