Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Now that was a game. Except for the first fifteen minutes of the second half, we dominated from start to finish. And yet for a long time it looked like it wasn’t going to be rewarded. But finally Arteta stole the ball and ran into enough space to line up a great shot and score.

Before that we hit the post several times and had a crazy goalmouth scramble where the ball travelled the whole width of the goal before being cleared. Early on, a Van Persie header hit Vermaelen and bounced away.

Through the game the midfield belonged to Arteta, Rosicky and Song. For the first twenty minutes, City could barely touch the ball. It’s hard to say which of the three played best as they all put in such a terrific effort. The three of them dominated our Man of the Match Poll, with goal scorer Arteta topping the votes.

Gibbs and Sagna exploited tons of space left by a narrow City defence. Early on Ya Ya Toure hobbled off after what looked like a fairly light challenge from Song. Mancini took the opportunity to reshape his midfield, which helped but didn’t regain them the initiative.

The main talking point was how long big kid Balotelli would stay on the pitch as it seed that every one of his tackles was led stud first. His worst was a high one on Song, just below the knee. The referee didn’t see it, but the FA might take a look. After the game, a fed up Mancini actually seemed to encourage them to do it. Eventually Balotelli picked up two yellows and trudged off.

Whilst Balotelli was bonkers, the rest of his teammates looked beaten from the start, Kompany and Hart excepted. They looked like they were still on the case. Kompany was fantastic. He has a great knack of knowing where the trouble is and was a big part of why it was just one nil.

Arsenal were great as a team with everyone pulling their weight. Benayoun made a rare start and put in a big shift all over the pitch. The three subs, Santos, AOC and Ramsey didn’t make a huge impact. Santos looked very rusty, I hope whatever ailed Gibbs isn’t serious. Santos picked up an early yellow, but fortunately he didn’t have to do too much defending. Fortunately, because in his time out injured he seems to have got a little vague on both ‘left’ and ‘back’!

The other worry, apart from Gibbs early departure, was Koscielny picking up a tenth yellow and therefore a two match ban. At least it’s against Wolves and Wigan and he will be back for Chelsea. One more game and he would have reached the end of season cut-off and safety!

With Mertesacker out injured, his replacement isn’t easy. Squillaci or Miquel? Arsene Wenger could drop Song into the back four, but with Frimpong and Coquelin crocked there isn’t a straightforward replacement as defensive midfielder.

But for a couple of days we can rest easy, celebrating a good win that was more comprehensive than the one nil suggests. Back into third too! It’s still tight out there after our Loftus Road slip, but job well done today.

Match reviews written straight after the game finished were quite mixed, reflecting the disappointment that our recent winning run had come to an end.  Arsene Wenger was subdued in the face if ‘didn’t you play well’ from the media.

“We got encouragement, but we needed encouragement and points and we didn’t get the points.”

Arsene hates to lose and that is just as it should be, but the team put on a huge performance against a club that has had nearly a billion pounds spent on it.

Blogs written later and media reports have much more praise for Arsenal.  Maybe there were some who still secretly thought that a run at the title was realistic.  Personally, I felt that had slipped away by September as we paid the price of the Nasri/Fabregas saga with pole-axed morale and five late arrivals to incorporate.

What we did show last night, in a game that could have resulted in a draw or better, was that despite all those setbacks and  injury to every single fullback we are able to compete at the top end of the league.

Thomas Vermaelen won our Arsenal Man of the Match poll, just ahead of Wojciech Szczesny.  I think that was right.  Vermaelen had an immense game – as a fullback, central defender and pushing forward to try and get a goal right until the very end. The guy never stops fighting to win and his technique is fantastic.

Szczesny had a good game too.  He is a great keeper.  Tough, agile and fantastic anticipation.  He had just one flaw yesterday when he rolled the ball out into a dangerous area.  Fortunately the shot that resulted hit the post.

Arteta was another star.  He worked constantly going forward and back.  Koscielny has surely now convinced the doubters of last season.  Another strong performance from him.

Someone who wouldn’t be anyone’s man of the match, even allowing for the fact he was only on for twenty minutes, is Arshavin.  This was a big game where everyone was working their socks off, even those who were struggling to make an impact.  But Arshavin wasn’t.  It’s getting hard to make a case for him now.  The flashes of genius are too rare and, although he tackles a bit more than he used to, his play is so casual and sloppy that he misses opportunities for us and creates them for our opponents.

The neutral sponsor’s Man of the Match was Samir Nasri.  I think that’s wrong and surprisingly so.  I don’t think he had the biggest impact on City’s win.  Balotelli or Aguero up front had more influence on play.  Zaboletta marked Walcott completely out of the game.  Kompany closed down Van Persie throughout.  Maybe whoever made the choice decided that it should be an ex-Arsenal player to fit the overall story?

Anyways, where does all this leave us?  Apart from worrying about another defender being injured after Djourou had to come off with what appeared to be a groin strain.  We are still fifth, although the weekend games have spread the the teams out a bit more.  But we have now played all the away games against the teams above us and we are still in touch with the top four fight.

There’s still a lot in this season for Arsenal.  Come on you Gunners – and take out our disappointment against Villa on Wednesday!

Something has changed.  Recently I’ve been watching the big games with a sense of dread.  So often last season we were short when it really mattered.

This season it feels different.  Despite the evidence of the opening games I felt we were stronger. My renewed faith took a knock in the West Brom game, but survived – mainly because our rivals slipped up too.  Even after the Chelsea game I didn’t feel as down as last season because I thought we played well and deserved something more from the game.  Plus we had players to come back.  Yesterday I was really looking forward to the game.

So, the game!  Fantastic game to watch.  Right from the start.  Fabianski got a great save in early and carried on in the same style.  Excellent performance and a clean sheet. This should really build his confidence and keep him in the team ahead of Almunia.  I’m not completely convinced yet but Arsenal have nothing to lose playing him ahead of the Spaniard.

Then at the other end a perfect pass put Chamakh in on goal and Boyata brought him down.  It has to be a red card.  Boyata is the last man and it was clearly a foul.   I see that Mancini has been blaming the referee, saying that it wasn’t a clear chance on goal because Chamakh’s next touch would put it in the goalkeeper’s hands or out for a goalkick.  Arrogant rubbish.  What happened was that a great Arsenal pass split City open and a player he brought in panicked.  Definite sending off.  The rule may be a harsh one, but referee Clattenburg got it absolutely right.

Soon after Djourou missed good header chance.  He also got caught out a bit during the game.  He wasn’t bad, none of the team were on Sunday, but he was probably the least impressive.   For a while in the first half it looked like Arshavin was going to give another frustrating performance with the loose passing that can cost us.  But as the game went on he got more and more into it, even tracking back and covering leftback when Clichy got caught miles out of position upfield.  In the end Arshavin had his best game this season.  Clichy was OK, but we still looked weakest on the left.

On the right we looked great.  Sagna had a fantastic game.  Terrific work rate, covering the length of the pitch and he got a lot of help from Nasri.  Samir Nasri is my player of the season so far, the guy has matured so much.  Maybe the absence of Fabregas has helped bring him on as a player, giving him the incentive to play a more responsible, decisive game.  Whatever it is, he has been immense.  He as quick feet, he reads the game and has a high workrate.  His goal was terrific, fast one-two and buried it.  Top, top player.

Fabregas had a great game too, despite missing the penalty.  Unusual blunder form Kompany, who is a player I really like, but he didn’t need to take out Fabregas there and a great save from Hart kept City in it.   It was a good save, although Cesc’s kick was at a well reachable height.  He may have fluffed the penalty but it was the only thing Fabregas got wrong in the whole game.  The King is back!

By half-time all our midfielders and a few others were on yellow cards.  Hard to argue with, except maybe Djourou’s was a bit harsh.  It really put the pressure on second half to judge tackle right and stay disciplined – but they did it.

I think that we still waste a lot of freekicks and corners, especially now we have Chamakh and Squillaci to aim at.  But as as the second half went on Arsenal dominated.  Song‘s goal was excellent.  He pounced on the loose ball and finished brilliantly.

I thought that Wenger might use his subs to protect the yellow-carded midfield but no, it was attack all the way with Rosicky, Walcott and Bendtner getting time on the pitch.  Rosicky and Bendtner didn’t get the opportunity to make much impact, but Bendtner picked up where Chamakh left off.  He made a well-timed run and asked for the ball ahead of him, Nasri obliged and he coolly finished it to make it three nil.

It could have been four near the end when Sagna dragged one wide but it didn’t matter.  It was a great performance that will answer a lot of critics.  Keeping a clean sheet is another plus, particularly against a big team.  Squillaci had a good solid game.  Denilson did well, very discplined in his task and hardworking.  He’s going to have a hard time getting in past Jack Wilshere now, but yesterday he showed that he is up to the job.

Top game, top team.  Bring on Newcastle and West Ham.

Fabianski and Nasri are still neck and neck in our Man of the Match poll.  You can add your vote here.