Arsenal Triumph In a Must-Win Match Against Mancs

Sweet Song Celebration

As a fan, you want to believe in your team.  You want to go into a match thinking "Three points...we're going to get three points today".  If you're an Arsenal fan, match day against a Top Four contender means you're thinking, "We have to win today...we have to get three points or else".  Or else what?

Or else Arsenal would have again been known as the club that can't win against the big boys.  The frugal club losing out to its Richie Rich opponents.  A side who is still too "soft" and small to take on a team of tall, muscular and fast players.  And losing also means dropping so low in the league table that clawing your way back up seems impossible.  So, today was, indeed,  a must win. 

And we did it.  We won against that fast, muscular, talented team.  We won thanks in part to Boyata bringing down Chamakh after a superb Cesc pass sent him clear.  City went down to 10 men in the fourth minute.  The fourth minute is not a good time to go down to 10 men.  It means you're likely to be exhausted early.  And they were. 

Before that fourth minute though, and indeed for about 20 minutes after it, we looked shaky in the back.  Djourou got skinned by Tevez more than once.  Fabianski was called on to make save from Silva in the 2nd minute, and there was a communication issue between the center halves and their goalie.  Thankfully, Fabiaski was in great form, and the fowards were tracking back (yes,even Arshavin who played left back against Tevez at one point) to help out the back four.  This team effort allowed us to hang on while still disorganized long enough for Nasri to score after a great assist from our Little Russian.    Nasri seems to be coming into his own with more directness and defense being added to his repertoire.  We had a chance to go up 2-0 in the 36th minute when Cesc got fouled in the box by Kompany.  However, Cesc's penalty shot was saved by Hart, and that's how we went into halftime.  1-0 with a feeling of insecurity in our defense and  a sense of having missed an opportunity to put the match to bed.

The second half brought a change of personnel to City's side with the newly recovered Yaya being replaced by Wayne Bridge and later our old nemesis came on for a limping Tevez.  Tevez was a menace in most of the first half so I was happy to see him off.  I was not worried about Adebayor.  My ease was reinforced a few minutes later when Fabianksi made his one mistake of the match and mistimed a punch, allowing Adebayor a clean look at the goal.  He headed it over.  Just like old times.

We finally gave ourselves some breathing room when Song scored in the 65th minute.  That's right.  Our defensive midfielder who thinks he's a forward scored his third goal of the season. And it was a nice shot.  Cesc and Nasri had tried to find Chamakh, but the pass was deflected to Song  He waited for Hart to commit and put it in the top right corner.  That was his only shot on the day.  One for one.  Perfection.  How can I continue to complain about his surging forward if he keeps scoring?  As long as the midfield is rotating and dropping back in his spot (as Denilson was) then I guess I can't.  What fun is that?

Mancs were pretty done by then.  And so was Chamakh who I thought looked fatigued for most of the second half.  Tommy came on for Arshavin in the 69th minute, then Bendy gave the Chamak-attak a break in the 83rd along with Theo who came on for our Captain.

When Bendtner came on, his energy was apparent, and surprisingly, his finishing was quality as he lashed home a shot after an assist from Nasri.  Game over but only after Fabulous had one more save to make - and it was a nice one a hard shot from Boateng.  Our first clean sheet of the season. 

So we went up the table to second ahead of both Manchester clubs on Goal Differential.  And although this match was not full of perfect performances, it gave us a perfect result.  (Click here for highlights).  We go to Newcastle next Wednesday for the Carling Cup, and while I know Wenger states he's taking all the cups seriously, we have enough depth now and quality in the younger players that we can be certain he'll rest a majority of those who played today.  We have West Ham the following Saturday and we need our starters  rested and healthy so we can get another three points.  We're going to get those three points too.  Yep, I believe that now.

I believe in my team.

How about you?