West Brom vs. Arsenal

2-2, Premier League, The Hawthorns, 19/3 -11
Arshavin 70,
van Persie 77

In the end it was one point gained rather than two points dropped, since we made a great comeback in the final twenty minutes. But I see trouble in the not too distant future if this is how Almunia will act in games to come...

W.B.A scored after just three minutes through a header from a corner, but from then on we dominated in possession and goal-scoring opportunities.
Though as we didn't manage to score it all got really nervy, we were particularly close in the first half when van Persie headed the ball, only for it to hit the crossbar, then the rebound fell nicely to Ramsey, but by the time he got a shot away Carson had already spread himself well to make the save.

In the second half we pushed more and more, but then the unthinkable happened, as a ball was played to Odemwingie (who was closely watched by Squillaci) Almunia went out (!) and completely mistimed the whole thing so Odemwingie could easily just put a daisy-cutter into the net ...

But we created a great comeback, and lots of credit to Arshavin, it really was his amazing shot that set it all into motion, and what a shot it was! And it was nicely set up by Chamakh.
And then came the goal that should have won us the game, had it not been for Almunia, but at least it gave us the one point! It's certainly not van Persie's most beautiful goal, but it was a vital one! He fought hard some yard from the goal and eventually managed to get a foot to the ball which a W.B.A defender seemed to have some trouble getting away!

So it was a bittersweet trip to Birmingham, but we've still got the league in our hands!

Injury Update;
-Fabregas will most probably be back after the international break, hopefully the same applies to Walcott.
-Vermaelen has been ruled out for the entire season, really sad news for us but he'll be back on the pitch for the next season, Djourou is likely to be in the same position, but he might make it back for the last couple of games.
-Not an injury update but Jens Lehmann has returned to cover for Almunia until the end of the season!
-There is no news about Song's injury problem.