Surely by now you've watched the game, seen the highlights, seen Andy Gray analysis of the game. We've just beaten Chelsea 2 - 1 at the Bridge. Our season is extremely weird. We can't seem to beat anyone and then we go and beat Chelsea. It's crazy. I'm not going to focus on our inconsistency right now, let's enjoy the night.
So, we've just won at the Bridge, in a six pointer, which puts us 7 points behind Chelsea instead of 10 and instead of 13. As I write this, I'm in a sense of shock. Not at the game, but at the consistency of our inconsistency. The lads were brilliant today. They played with their hearts and it was a great game.
The game didn't start well and we conceded when Almunia threw a ball to no-one, inviting pressure. Players out of position and Bosingwa crossing for Johan Djourou to slide into his own net. But such is the character of the player, he just got up and carried on. He went from strength to strength and ended up playing a blinding game.
In the second half, three minutes, one person saw us go 2-1. That person was Robin Van Persie. The first goal came through good passing (triangles, triangles, triangles) and although Van Persie was offside, he finished really well as he smashed it into the back of the net. Three minutes later, the ball was delivered from Cesc to Ade who headed it down and Van Persie turned and quickly struck into the bottom right hand side. Awesome stuff 2-1.
Arsene kept his cool and only made one sub. He kept the formation the same and allowed the players who got us to 2-1 protect our lead.
The manager spoke after the game and said:
“It is a massive win for us because we recently lost two games unexpectedly, and to lose today would have put us 13 points adrift of Chelsea; that would have been too much. It was a test of character and we came here maybe without the needed level of confidence but we showed from the start that we have character and I think we were a bit unlucky to be behind at half-time.
“In the second half we slowly moved on top and started to win the fight in the middle of the park. From then when we had the ball we looked as though we could be dangerous. So I am very, very happy to now, after beating Manchester United, we beat Chelsea and I believe that brings us back. It is still far but not impossible. I have an intelligent team, a talented one, but we want to come back with humility and work hard. We have learned that we need that kind of focus in every game no matter who you play.”
It was a very important win today. A vital game in our stuttering season.
I’ll be back tomorrow with some more insight.
In the meantime, relax and watch the re-runs!
———————————————————–
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, A Cole, Mikel (Malouda 69), Deco (Stoch 81), Ballack, Lampard, Kalou, Anelka.
Subs Not Used: Hilario, Bridge, Ferreira, Mineiro, Alex.
Booked:Terry, Ivanovic.
Goals:Djourou 31 og.
Arsenal:Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Djourou, Clichy, Denilson, Fabregas, Song Billong, Nasri, Adebayor (Bendtner 83), Van Persie.
Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Vela, Ramsey, Silvestre, Wilshere, Gibbs.
Goals:Van Persie 59, 62.
Att: 41,760.
Ref:Mike Dean (Wirral).]]>
