If you speak in terms of serious rivals to Arsenal, the usual suspects come to mind – United, Sperz, Chelski, those Catalan fucks. However, I’m not sure that there is more of a pantomime villain for us than anyone currently managed by Sam Allardyce. We all remember our travails oop norf first when he was at Bolton, and now with Blackburn. His sides play the 180-degree antithesis of Arsenal football, which is to say the equivalent of the way John Ruiz boxes. It’s one thing to be physical, it’s one thing to be direct – but the fact of the matter is that their constant technical fouling is about all they bring to the table.
Before the match, the constant refrain of “Arsenal don’t like it up ‘em” reverberated from every corner of the land – well, this isn’t your older brother’s Arsenal, sunshine.
Actually, the match was determined to go off script straight from the opening whistle. The normal flow of these games is that Arsenal cuts into them early, gives up a stupid goal around 30 minutes in, and then can’t quite get the equalizer/winner that they need. This time, Blackburn went off to a bright start, worrying the Arsenal backline with the usual aerial bombardment (including Morten Gamst Pedersen reprising the role of Rory Delap with long throws into the area). To the Gunners’ credit though, they dealt with the physicality far better than they have in the recent past. Some of that is the addition of Laurent Koscielny (who other than one mistake which led to the goal had a fantastic match), and some was Manuel Almunia’s improved catching, punching and positioning. There was one moment where the loathsome little troll El-Hadji Diouf tried to intimidate him with some verbals after a play, and our Manny got nose-to-nose with him and told him off. Seriously, that filled my heart with joy. We know he’s never going to be Jens Lehmann (for a multitude of reasons), but standing up for himself perhaps belies a certain increase in confidence? We can only hope, given the rapidly-closing transfer window.
Anyway, for once, it was us sucker-punching the other mob off a counter. Before he went off crocked yet again, Robin van Persie did slip a wonderful through-ball to the onrushing Theo Walcott. He made no mistake, utilizing his beloved across-the-keeper’s-body daisycutter in the far corner to give Arsenal the lead on 20′. If you had asked me right then, I would have predicted a rout…that kind of goal is a sickener to give up when you’re dominating play, especially if you’re the underdog.
But, to the grudging credit of the home side, they took advantage of the aforementioned mistake from Koscielny to get the equalizer. Bacary Sagna gave it away in midfield, and all of a sudden there were acres to work with down the right wing. El-Hadji Diouf brushed aside the challenge of Koscielny far too easily, cut inside to draw out Almunia, and threaded a slide-rule pass across the face of goal to Mame Biram Diouf. The on-loan United man had the simplest of tap-ins as Thomas Vermaelen had missed his interception. It was amazingly frustrating to see the Gunners concede so poorly after having defended so well early on. Still, at least they got back into the game rather than fold in the manner of some of their predecessors.
I still insist that releasing William Gallas was the best possible thing Arsene Wenger could do to improve the defense.
Anyway, we had some half-chances but nothing to write home about until after the interval. Six minutes after the restart, Arsenal were ahead once again. It was a bit of a scrappy old thing, but isn’t that the kind of goal that we get so much stick for never scoring? Anyway, a powerful shot from Cesc Fabregas just outside the area hit Walcott in the back. It bounced nicely into the path of Andrei Arshavin – who had been largely anonymous up to that point. Again. Anyway, the little Russian timed Paul Robinson’s run out perfectly, and slotted it underneath the diving keeper’s body and past the despairing slide of – erm, Christopher Samba, I believe.
It was another hammer blow for Blackburn, but they stuck with it and did create some havoc at times in our area. However, the defense held, even when the awful Nikola Kalinic came off and the strike pairing became the giant pairing of Samba and Stephen N’Zonzi. The final whistle went, and Arsenal leave the dirty north with three fantastic points.
It’s early days yet, and there are some worrying things (RVP’s injury, Arshavin’s form), but this is the best start that Arsenal have had in ages. I don’t know about any of you, but I’m starting to talk myself into this team winning something this season.
