Archive for November 6th, 2011

Arsenal 3 – 0 WBA: Arsenal are boinging back

232 comments November 6th, 2011

Thomas Vermaelen celebrates his first goal of the season

Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction

The most immediate way in which to convey the ease with which Arsenal dispatched West Brom in this game is to the tell you that, in the second half, the man sat next to me began doing his Sudoku.  Furthermore, from the looks of thing, he had a good deal more trouble solving his logical based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle than Arsenal did in unpicking a W.B.A. side in abject form.

Arsenal started with a very strong team, reintroducing Robin van Persie at the expense of Park Chu-Young.  Expecting the pacy Odemwingie to start, Arsene opted for Koscienly and Vermaelen at the back, with Per Mertesacker afforded a rare rest.  As it happened, Odemwingie was nowhere to be seen – and neither was any real attacking threat from Roy Hodgson’s side.

When we took the lead, it was no surprise Aaron Ramsey was the heart of it.  I was quite critical of him in the early part of the season, but he seems to have found his rhythm and an eye-catching, defence-splitting pass released Theo Walcott on the right.  When his shot was saved by Ben Foster, it fell kindly to Robin van Persie to tuck home his 13th goal of the season, and eighth in his last four league games.

Before half-time we had doubled the lead.  Again, Robin van Persie was at the heart of it.  When he cut the ball back from the byline, it evaded Gervinho and Thomas Vermaelen, on one of his many forays forward, arrived to fire home.  The goal was just desserts for an excellent performance from the Belgian.  His urgency and willingness to get tight and win the ball early enables us to get it back quicker.  The fact he’s then able to stride forward and help take part in the attack is an added bonus.

In the first half, we had 71% of possession.  West Brom, conversely, had not yet managed a shot.  Vermaelen was a more potent attacking threat than anyone in the Baggies’ line-up.  The second half was similarly one-sided, though probably less eventful – hence the introduction of a Japanese puzzle-game by my disgruntled neighbour.  Vermaelen and Van Persie both had chances to extend their tallies, with the Belgian heading just wide and RVP firing over from Walcott’s cut-back.

A series of substitutions saw Arsenal’s style change – the pace and power of Ramsey, Walcott, and Gervinho was replaced by the tippy-tappy technicians: Rosicky, Benayoun and Arshavin.  It was again Van Persie who made the biggest contribution to the build-up, turning in midfield, playing a one two with Rosicky, charging in to the area and laying the ball off for Mikel Arteta to sidefoot home from the edge of the area.  The Spaniard’s goal capped an impressive display – some have been a little underwhelmed by his start at Arsenal, but it’s clear to me that he’s deliberately playing a more cautious, defensive game than he’d like.  Hopefully as we become more secure, he’ll be able to get forward more and express himself – the composed finish showed that he certainly has plenty still to offer.

Arsenal eased off in the remaining minutes, but crucially did manage to keep a second consecutive clean-sheet – an important achievement after the defensive horror show at Stamford Bridge.  Andre Santos had the expected heart-in-mouth moments, but was still good on the ball.  In the first half alone, this guy produced two 360 degree pirouettes.  That’s my kind of defender.  On the other flank, Carl Jenkinson looked a million miles away from the player so cruelly exposed at Old Trafford.  His response has been emphatic and impressive, and he’s clearly by far the best crosser of the ball at the club.

This victory avenged the 3-2 defeat in the same fixture last year, and moved us level on points with Liverpool – a team some pundits probably thought would have disappeared over our horizons by now.  We’ve got a couple of weeks off now.  Keep saying those prayers and let’s hope everyone returns from international duty in good health.


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