Arsenal vs. Manchester City

1-0, Premier League, Emirates, 2012-04-08
Arteta 87

What. A. Game! Am literally exhausted from shouting and jumping around! We were brilliant from start to finish and tactically spot on! We both began and ended the game as a team possessed !

We started the game with sheer dominance. Before long we had our first chance to score, which should have been a goal had it not been for our own player. Robin van Persie headed the ball that was bound for goal when Vermaelen suddenly popped up and managed to get in the way and the ball bounced off his shoulder on the goal-line.. Immensely disappointing, but since we had complete dominance it felt as though we could get past it. Manchester City slowly ate their way back into the game, but what really marked the first half were the three times when Balotelli marked our players with his studs. First he put his studs right up on Song's shins. The ref didn't even award a free-kick for us. Then there was his two lunges with his studs on Sagna, and then he did get a yellow card. Should we be grateful for that..?

The second half continued in likewise fashion. The game ended up as a real nail-biter (or, in my case, lip-biter). There were a lot of predictions ahead of this game that there'd be a lot of goals, which may not have been quite true, but we did burn a LOT of chances. We should have found ourselves in the lead several times in the second half. Not least when van Persie headed into the post or when we had three chances in one sequence that all should have led to a goal. First there was Walcott's strike that hit the post, the rebound fell to Vermaelen, who miss-hit it completely, and that reached the feet of Benayoun right by the goal-line, but his poke of the ball ended up on a defender's feet and bounced off the post (again) and out for a corner... Phew...

There were some really strong feelings amongst the players following that sequence, and in the end that showed as we proved throughout the entire game that we were the hungrier side. And the goal that settled the game showed that as well. Mikel Arteta snatched the ball from the feet of a City midfielder and went straight for goal, his shot was magnificent! It was power mixed with precision and Hart never had a chance in saving it.

A perfect game that ended in likewise fashion. In the dying minutes Balotelli was sent off (it was long overdue) when he (once again) hauled down Sagna. I sincerely hope that he will be penalized for more than just one game (with the lunge on Song particularly in mind). However, I shall not go into an endless debate on what could possibly be going on inside the head of that ... man. (excluding the fact that you would actually need to have some sense in your head to be called a man).

We are now two points ahead of Tottenham (who, obviously, dropped two points this weekend) and it feels like we are back on track again after this wonderful display. We just need to get back into the former shape of efficiency and then the wrapping of this season could bring a lot of joy to us.

Injury Update;
-Gibbs were substituted at the beginning of the second half, hopefully it's nothing serious.
-Wilshere and Diaby are on their way to return to action, it shouldn't be too long now.