Good day to you all!
Arsenal cruised to a 4-1 victory against Portsmouth at the Emirates Stadium today. The game wasn’t the most beautiful performance from the Gunners, but the score-line perfectly portrays Arsenal’s domination. Wenger’s boys faced a weak Pompey side, and even though four goals is nothing to complain about, there could and maybe should have been more. Once again, our forwards failed to score, but there isn’t really much to complain about as they participated in three of our four goals. Not too shabby.
As predicted, Wenger changed the team up a bit. Eboue came on for Sagna, Gibbs for Clichy, Diaby for Song, and Eduardo for Bendtner. Wise choice from our manager, in my opinion. The changes didn’t see us switch formations though – the team stuck to the 4-3-3 wonder tactic that has been extremely successful. Once again, it prevailed. The common attributes of the formation were seen in this game just like in the others; the team pressed intensely when not in possession, they attacked as a unit and defended as one, and the whole team worked for each other. Gorgeous. Exquisite. I absolutely love this new style of play, and it’s really unifying the team.
There weren’t really any exciting moments besides the goals.
The first came in the 17th minute. Fabregas collected the ball in the middle of the pitch and played a long ball out wide to Eduardo. The Croatian controlled the ball, left Portsmouth’s right back looking like a complete idiot by dribbling him out with style, and played a low ball into the center of the area. Who was there to blast it into the top corner? None other than Notorious D.Ah.B. That’s right, Abou scored a screamer from the penalty spot, leaving James with absolutely no chances.
Two minutes later, Diaby struck again. What a game for the Frenchman. This time, Eboue was released on the right, and after a good run, the African played a low ball into the area to the unmarked Diaby who slotted home past James. 2-0 up before the 25th minute and it looked like Diaby could bag a hattrick. But we can’t get carried away.
In the 36th, something rather unexpected happened – Portsmouth scored their first league goal of the season. After everyone missed a Kranjar corner, the ball was played back into the area. It was high and looked bound to end up in Almunia’s firm grip, but the Yellow Canary was outflown by Portsmouth defender Kaboul. The fact that he’s an ex-Spurs player makes the goal even more disgusting. Silly goal. It really should have been averted.
I was hoping we would score again before half-time, but it didn’t happen. Arsenal were still in complete control of the game though, so the Gunners had every reason to come back confident in the second half. And come back confident they did.
Fabregas was subbed out at half time after a hamstring complaint. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious. As soon as we have news on injuries, we’ll post them up. Aaron Ramsey came on to replace the skipper.
It took the Gunners five minutes into the second half to score. Arsenal won a free kick on the left side of the pitch, and Arshavin stepped up to take it. He curled the ball in and RVP headed it to Vermaelen. The Belgian produced a flying volley which found Gallas. Arsenal’s number 10 hit the ball with his foot, let it fly against his face, nicked it on with his nose, and saw the ball roll into the net off the post. He obviously meant that. First a goal with his ass, now a goal with his nose. We all know with what body part he’s going to be scoring next – hopefully against the Mancs. I’m telling you, Gallas makes it look like an accident, but he is just trying to prove that goal scoring is an art, and that he is the Picasso of it. Creative to the max.
Further substitutions took place as Merida replaced Arshavin and Bendtner came on for Eduardo. Both showed flashes of their talent, even though Bendtner frustrated a couple of times. It’s not entirely his fault as in two occasions he was unable to pass to RVP since the latter was in an offside position. Merida showed his technical ability in two occasions – twisting and turning skillfully, and dribbling out an opponent outside the box.
Arsenal’s fourth and last goal came through substitute Aaron Ramsey. Robin van Persie played an incredible through ball to the young Welshman who calmly slotted past James. The poor goalkeeper was so embarassed he later asked to be subbed out due to an “injury.” Sure. An injury to his pride, maybe. Ramsey took his goal well, and the fact that he is only 18 highlights his immense skill even more.
From there on, the Gunners sort of took the foot of the gas and kept possession and played around with the ball until full time. 4-1. I predicted 5-0; didn’t get it right, but at least there were 5 goals.
Man of the Match for me was Abou Diaby. The much criticized midfielder shut his doubters up with two lovely goals and an overall good performance. Keep it up, Diaby. I mean it.
Almunia looked solid except for his misjudgement that led to the goal. Besides that, he was fine. The defense looked strong as well. Gallas and Vermaelen continued their honeymoon on the pitch with another good performance. They connected magically for the Gooners’ third goal. For those of you who missed the wedding, it was great – definitely a sight worth seeing. Eboue and Gibbs once again proved that they are reliable back ups for Sagna and Clichy respectively. Both were powerful coming forward, but they also played their part defensively. Gibbs had one amazing tackle that saved Almunia from a one-on-one situation. The midfield looked good too. Like I said, Diaby had a good game. Denilson was fairly quiet, but he did his part. Fabregas had some killer passes while he was playing, and Ramsey showed off his talents in the second half. The forward three were also strong. Arshavin and Eduardo weren’t really given many chances to score, but they played their part in the build up play. Arshavin had another average afternoon, highlighted by a couple of great dribbles on the left side. I can’t wait for him to play at his full potential again. RVP had a frustrating afternoon as he could have scored at least one goal. The goals will come from our forwards, no worries. In his Post-Match Conference, Wenger had this to say about the Arsenal forwards’ lack of goals:
“It tells me that we have a game where we attack from everywhere.”
“At the moment they provide more than they score but I know that Eduardo and Robin van Persie will score so I am very happy that at the moment they don’t score and we still score goals.”
Wenger also had words of praise for Diaby, saying:
“He is a guy who has a quick transition from defence to offence, from box to box, that is his fantastic strength, to change quickly. Nobody can go with him when he has that, when we are on the counter-attack. He is fantastic.”
Wenger even compared Abou to Arsenal legend Viera, claiming:
“Abou is a more offensive player but if he decides to play defensively he is exactly like Vieira.”
“And he looks completely similar to Patrick to win the ball back.”
Wow, that’s about as good as compliments get. Diaby now needs to prove that he deserves these words of praise.
That’s it for today’s Match Report. If you want to see all the goals, you can go to Gooner Talk and check them out.
Oh, and if you’re up for a laugh, have a look at this. Michael Jackson (RIP) in Thriller and a scarecrow’s secret love child? I think so.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave comments. Stay classy, fellow Gooners!
Forever Arsenal 
