Shame about the weather for this one, especially after Cesc had clearly taken so much time over his hair – pretty boy.
Arsenal had the better start and plenty of possession in the first twent minutes, whilst Mikel was found wanting in the concentration department and was pushed off the ball a little too easily. There seemed to be a bit too much space down left to start with and all, so we clearly weren’t getting a few things right. An Eduardo and Essien clash, sees Essien up on his feet pretty much straight away while Eduardo took a bit more pampering before he could rise. But altogether, a pretty lively start from the gunners even if they’re preference was to try to walk the ball into our area. Our passing game in the early stages left a lot to be desired and it all felt a bit frustrating. Our best move doing those early stages came from Joe Cole’s quick feet which saw him feed in Drogba who must’ve been offside by all of a blade of grass.
Penalty shout for them a minute or so later, but there really hadn’t been much of a shout to try for. We on the othet hand, had a Stonewall penalty not given when on 18 minutes, Sagna’s arm round Anelka’s waist clearly brought him down in front of goal – and United feel they’re the only side hard done by?!
Mikel was beginning to irritate with his far too casual approach which saw him caught in possession way too often. And then after the half hour it was Didier Drogba guilty of poor decision making – pushing forward, Anelka went on a blistering run and was unmarked yet Drogba makes the pass to Joe Cole who had two men on him. Argh!
Still, in the 41st minute, a beautiful ball to Drogba in the box from none other than Arsenal’s favourite Chelsea man, Ashley Cole. Drogba’s lovely finish saw it come off both bar and post – cracking goal. Then in the 44th min, another quality ball in from Ashley Cole and Vermaelen pops it in the back of the net for us, sending us into the break two goals up.
Arsenal again started the better side in the second half and thought they’d scored in the 48th – fortunately the whistle had already blown before the shot had left Arshavin’s foot courtesy of a slightly stray boot attempting to dislodge Cech’s trachea. Walcott on for them second half saw Ashley Cole less keen to get forward. Then a period of stop-start football disrupted play on the hour, with one free-kick after the other. Whilst the corner was being prepared, JT was noted to have a word with the ref about a previous corner where Vermaelen was apparently trying to see how many times he could wrap himself around the Chelsea captain with no foul given – so to all those who slate the Chelsea captain for getting into the same sought of scuffles in the box it just goes to show he clearly isn’t the only one the refs fail to see.
Just after the hour, Drogba puts ball in Lamps deflects it off his chest and it was only saved by the fingertips of Almunia, so we clearly weren’t sitting back on our lead.
You’d have to say from this game though, you could see why we have the tightest defence in the league. Deco on for Joe Cole (68 mins) to a chorus of ‘twat’ in my house. Mikel gives away a free-kick in dangerous area a minute later and managed to get himself a yellow into the bargain. Paulo Ferreira on for A Cole (71 min) – plenty of boos but then he did set up both goals in the first half, lol.
To pretty much round it all off, Cesc Fabregas brings Essien down, whinging his arse off when the foul is given, although had more reason to whinge when Didier Drogba stepped up to take the free-kick in the 85th min, banging it into the net. 3-0 and empty home seats all round, bloody lightweights.
Overall then I don’t think Arsenal necessarily did badly, they certainly pressed us hard enough and had the better of us for twenty minutes, their trouble though, apart from missing the odd big name player in their squad is that they want to walk the ball into the area and they just ain’t going to get that opportunity in games like this. Our defence isn’t the tightest in the league for nothing and JT put in an outstanding performance yesterday. Talking of outstanding performances though, Anelka and Drogba yet again made such a difference, with Anelka having another really good game – and Ashley Cole’s contribution was irony in the extreme.
Sublime!
TEAMS
ARSENAL: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Traore, Fabregas, Song Billong, Denilson, Nasri, Eduardo, Arshavin.
Subs: Fabianski, Rosicky, Vela, Walcott, Ramsey, Silvestre, Eboue.
CHELSEA: Cech, Ivanovic, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Joe Cole, Anelka, Drogba.
Subs: Hilario, Ballack, Malouda, Zhirkov, Paulo Ferreira, Deco, Kalou.
Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)
