2-1, Premier League, Emirates Stadium, 2013-02-23
Cazorla 6, 85
It was vital for us to get the three points in this game if we are to have any hope of reaching the fourth spot, so needless to say the feeling of relief when we scored the winner with five minutes to go was immense! However, we should have won this game far more comfortably than we did considering all the chances we had. But, for now, we can be pleased with the three points.
After less than five minutes Wilshere had a shot on target that was saved by the 'keeper, and two minutes later we found ourselves ahead! Santi Cazorla's first shot was blocked, but he managed to pick up the ball again and fire a shot past the 'keeper! As we got such an early goal, one might have thought that we could get the three points with ease, but that was not the case as we couldn't seem to convert any other chances. After the goal we maintained a lot of pressure on Villa, but we had to remain vary of their counter-attacks as Szczesny had to make a couple of decent saves in the first half. We, on the other hand, mainly threatened through Walcott and Giroud, the former providing some good crosses as well as shot going just wide or getting blocked and the latter producing a fine shot that was saved and the rebound was put just wide of the goal.
From the start of the second half we continued to put pressure on Villa. Giroud had a powerful shot wide while Cazorla had a shot on target saved by the 'keeper and Jenkinson provided a great cross that was almost met by Giroud. Then disaster struck as Aston Villa scored through a shot from a distance that Szczesny should have kept out. This led to further pressuring from our side and when Giroud had a header saved/hitting the bar the feeling that this was just not going to be our game crept in. But, with just five minutes left, Santi Cazorla did it again! Monreal put in a brilliant cross that was met by the Spaniard, who put the ball into the back of the net with a low and sizzling shot! In the final minutes Walcott had two chances to increase our lead, one went high and wide while the other was saved.
We obviously need all the points we can get in the pursuit of that fourth spot, and fortunately we managed to get the three points in this game. However, ahead of this game one would not have thought it a too hard a challenge to win, at home, against Aston Villa. But in this league no game is a certain victory and anything can happen.
Injury Update:
- Diaby had to be replaced in this game due to some kind of injury, do not know the severity of it yet.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich
1-3, Champions League, Emirates Stadium, 2013-02-19
Podolski 55
Well... The scoreline pretty much says it all. Obviously Bayern Munich is one of the best teams in Europe and there is certainly no shame in a defeat against such an opponent, but that does not mean that it is any less disappointing. What makes the defeat worse is the fact that we were so close to making it 2-2, which would have been meant that we were truly back in the tie, but instead we conceded another goal that more or less killed the game.
We had a positive start to the first half, with Cazorla released down the right-hand side. Unfortunately his cross did not find Walcott in the box and then Walcott failed to find Podolski with a cross of his own. After those initial five minutes the game slipped from our hands and Bayern Munich had a two-goal lead within the first twenty minutes. Our defence was not at its best, we missed a clearance for the first goal and then we failed at getting the ball clear from the box after a corner for the second goal. Before the end of half we did have some chances, but they were all blocked by defenders. Mertesacker had a shot blocked when he found a pocket of space following a free-kick and then Walcott had another shot, also blocked.
In the second half we looked like a team changed (sounds familiar?) and within ten minutes we pulled a goal back! A severe mistake was made in the German defence as neither defender nor keeper went for the ball as we had a corner, and Lukas Podolski (former Bayern Munich player) could head the ball into the back of the net! As mentioned above, we got really close to finding the equaliser. With twenty minutes left Podolski had a shot cleared right in front of the goal, but the best chance we had came when Walcott's brilliant cross found Giroud in the box, but the Frenchman's powerful shot was saved by Neuer. Eventually we conceded yet another goal which killed the game, and (yet again) it came through a failure at getting the ball away from the goal. The last chance we created was a shot that Wilshere had on target, but it was saved by Neuer.
Clearly we have our work cut out for us for the return leg in Munich. It seems unlikely that we will qualify now, however, but hopefully we'll put up a good fight at least! For now, though, we need to focus on getting back on track in the league, which we hopefully will against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Injury Update:
- Gibbs still injured, and with Santos out on loan and Monreal ineligible to play for us in the Champions League, Vermaelen was moved out to the left in the defence.
Podolski 55
Well... The scoreline pretty much says it all. Obviously Bayern Munich is one of the best teams in Europe and there is certainly no shame in a defeat against such an opponent, but that does not mean that it is any less disappointing. What makes the defeat worse is the fact that we were so close to making it 2-2, which would have been meant that we were truly back in the tie, but instead we conceded another goal that more or less killed the game.
We had a positive start to the first half, with Cazorla released down the right-hand side. Unfortunately his cross did not find Walcott in the box and then Walcott failed to find Podolski with a cross of his own. After those initial five minutes the game slipped from our hands and Bayern Munich had a two-goal lead within the first twenty minutes. Our defence was not at its best, we missed a clearance for the first goal and then we failed at getting the ball clear from the box after a corner for the second goal. Before the end of half we did have some chances, but they were all blocked by defenders. Mertesacker had a shot blocked when he found a pocket of space following a free-kick and then Walcott had another shot, also blocked.
In the second half we looked like a team changed (sounds familiar?) and within ten minutes we pulled a goal back! A severe mistake was made in the German defence as neither defender nor keeper went for the ball as we had a corner, and Lukas Podolski (former Bayern Munich player) could head the ball into the back of the net! As mentioned above, we got really close to finding the equaliser. With twenty minutes left Podolski had a shot cleared right in front of the goal, but the best chance we had came when Walcott's brilliant cross found Giroud in the box, but the Frenchman's powerful shot was saved by Neuer. Eventually we conceded yet another goal which killed the game, and (yet again) it came through a failure at getting the ball away from the goal. The last chance we created was a shot that Wilshere had on target, but it was saved by Neuer.
Clearly we have our work cut out for us for the return leg in Munich. It seems unlikely that we will qualify now, however, but hopefully we'll put up a good fight at least! For now, though, we need to focus on getting back on track in the league, which we hopefully will against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Injury Update:
- Gibbs still injured, and with Santos out on loan and Monreal ineligible to play for us in the Champions League, Vermaelen was moved out to the left in the defence.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Arsenal vs. Blackburn
0-1, The FA Cup, Emirates Stadium, 2013-02-16
Go figures that when Swedish television finally sorts out the FA Cup situation and can broadcast it live, we are defeated, at home, by Blackburn Rovers... Absolutely dreadful.
We dominated this game from start to finish, but our shots went either wide or straight into the arms of the 'keeper. After fifteen minutes Koscielny headed the ball wide and Monreal provided a great cross from a tight angle, but no player was there to meet it. The next cross came from Oxlade-Chamberlain, but this one was a bit too high for Giroud to be able to reach it. We had plenty of corners, within the first twenty minutes we had had 6 of them, as a result of all of our corners. At the half-hour mark Vermaelen had a header on target, but it was saved by the 'keeper and Monreal had a shot deflected wide. Gervinho was the next one to fire the ball wide, he managed two within two minutes, one after a brilliant pass by Rosicky. The last chance of the half belonged to Arteta who fired a free-kick straight at the 'keeper.
The second half started rather slow, when suddenly Rosicky hit the bar! That brilliant chance was followed by a Diaby shot straight at the 'keeper. With twenty minutes to go Wilshere, Walcott and Cazorla, right after that Blackburn scored. After that we built up some pressure, far from enough though! Monreal fired wide as Walcott's cross was almost met by Giroud, who, two minutes later, headed the ball straight at the 'keeper. In the final minutes Diaby and Walcott had two powerful shots saved by the 'keeper, Giroud had a shot blocked and Arteta fired wide.
So obviously immensely disappointing to be knocked out of the FA Cup at the Emirates by Blackburn Rovers. I mean, that sentence pretty much says it all...
Injury Update:
- Not injury news exactly, but Gervinho started this game (having returned from the Africa Cup of Nations).
- Rosicky and Diaby were back from injury.
Go figures that when Swedish television finally sorts out the FA Cup situation and can broadcast it live, we are defeated, at home, by Blackburn Rovers... Absolutely dreadful.
We dominated this game from start to finish, but our shots went either wide or straight into the arms of the 'keeper. After fifteen minutes Koscielny headed the ball wide and Monreal provided a great cross from a tight angle, but no player was there to meet it. The next cross came from Oxlade-Chamberlain, but this one was a bit too high for Giroud to be able to reach it. We had plenty of corners, within the first twenty minutes we had had 6 of them, as a result of all of our corners. At the half-hour mark Vermaelen had a header on target, but it was saved by the 'keeper and Monreal had a shot deflected wide. Gervinho was the next one to fire the ball wide, he managed two within two minutes, one after a brilliant pass by Rosicky. The last chance of the half belonged to Arteta who fired a free-kick straight at the 'keeper.
The second half started rather slow, when suddenly Rosicky hit the bar! That brilliant chance was followed by a Diaby shot straight at the 'keeper. With twenty minutes to go Wilshere, Walcott and Cazorla, right after that Blackburn scored. After that we built up some pressure, far from enough though! Monreal fired wide as Walcott's cross was almost met by Giroud, who, two minutes later, headed the ball straight at the 'keeper. In the final minutes Diaby and Walcott had two powerful shots saved by the 'keeper, Giroud had a shot blocked and Arteta fired wide.
So obviously immensely disappointing to be knocked out of the FA Cup at the Emirates by Blackburn Rovers. I mean, that sentence pretty much says it all...
Injury Update:
- Not injury news exactly, but Gervinho started this game (having returned from the Africa Cup of Nations).
- Rosicky and Diaby were back from injury.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Sunderland vs. Arsenal
1-0, Premier League, Stadium of Light, 2013-02-09
Cazorla 36
This turned out to be a fight to the very end, we managed to get the lead in the first half and as we were down to ten men for the latter part of the second half we had to withstand quite some pressure from Sunderland. Huge credit goes to Szczesny, who showcased some brilliant goalkeeping in this game.
In the first half we had tons of shot that went just wide of the goal or was saved by the goalkeeper, with Walcott having a shot saved by the keeper in the second minute, Ramsey's brilliant shot at the half-hour mark was also saved by the keeper and Giroud fired just wide after approximately fifteen minutes. Fortunately, we had one shot finding the back of the net as well. Wilshere started the attack with a great run, he then played the ball to Walcott, whose pass reached Santi Cazorla, and the Spaniard fired a low shot beneath the keeper into the back of the net. Just before half-time Walcott had a shot that went just wide and Ramsey almost made it 2-0, but the keeper made yet another save.
At the beginning of the second half Wilshere picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Diaby. Both Giroud and Cazorla fired their respective shots just wide of the goal (feels like I've written "just wide" a bit too many times in this post...) before we were reduced down to ten men as Jenkinson received his second yellow of the game and was sent off. After this Sunderland built up some immense pressure, luckily we had our Polish keeper who produced brilliant save upon amazing save upon great save! He made several vital saves in this game and truly reminded us why he is our no. 1. With fifteen minutes to go Walcott put the ball past the keeper but hit the post! That could have proven to be a costly mistake had it not been for our desperate defending and brilliant goalkeeper.
So in the end we managed to hold onto our lead, largely due to some brilliant goal-keeping by Szczesny! Obviously vital for us to get the three points before heading into our FA Cup clash against Blackburn next weekend.
Injury Update:
- Vermaelen is still out due to an injury.
- Koscielny picked up a calf injury in the warm-up to this game, meaning that Sagna played as centre-half.
Cazorla 36
This turned out to be a fight to the very end, we managed to get the lead in the first half and as we were down to ten men for the latter part of the second half we had to withstand quite some pressure from Sunderland. Huge credit goes to Szczesny, who showcased some brilliant goalkeeping in this game.
In the first half we had tons of shot that went just wide of the goal or was saved by the goalkeeper, with Walcott having a shot saved by the keeper in the second minute, Ramsey's brilliant shot at the half-hour mark was also saved by the keeper and Giroud fired just wide after approximately fifteen minutes. Fortunately, we had one shot finding the back of the net as well. Wilshere started the attack with a great run, he then played the ball to Walcott, whose pass reached Santi Cazorla, and the Spaniard fired a low shot beneath the keeper into the back of the net. Just before half-time Walcott had a shot that went just wide and Ramsey almost made it 2-0, but the keeper made yet another save.
At the beginning of the second half Wilshere picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Diaby. Both Giroud and Cazorla fired their respective shots just wide of the goal (feels like I've written "just wide" a bit too many times in this post...) before we were reduced down to ten men as Jenkinson received his second yellow of the game and was sent off. After this Sunderland built up some immense pressure, luckily we had our Polish keeper who produced brilliant save upon amazing save upon great save! He made several vital saves in this game and truly reminded us why he is our no. 1. With fifteen minutes to go Walcott put the ball past the keeper but hit the post! That could have proven to be a costly mistake had it not been for our desperate defending and brilliant goalkeeper.
So in the end we managed to hold onto our lead, largely due to some brilliant goal-keeping by Szczesny! Obviously vital for us to get the three points before heading into our FA Cup clash against Blackburn next weekend.
Injury Update:
- Vermaelen is still out due to an injury.
- Koscielny picked up a calf injury in the warm-up to this game, meaning that Sagna played as centre-half.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Arsenal vs. Stoke
1-0, Premier League, Emirates Stadium, 2013-02-02
Podolski 78
An absolutely vital win! These are the games that we quite simply have to win, which only makes the relief of actually winning these games greater. Our new signing Nacho Monreal started this game and he looked a decent player. He might not have had an outstanding performance, but he did not make any significant mistakes and provided some good-looking crosses, as well as getting a shot away towards the end!
Five minutes into the game Walcott made a brilliant run and the following cross looked dangerous, unfortunately it was not met by anyone. After that initial chance the game stood still for a while, until the half hour mark when a great corner, taken by Wilshere, found its way to Oxlade-Chamberlain who fired the ball straight at the keeper. A few minutes later we had another corner, this time Walcott provided the cross, that was met by Giroud who headed it in towards the goal. It was cleared by a defender, but the clearance got no further than back to Walcott, whose second attempt was almost turned into the back of the net by Koscielny, but the keeper made another save. Then Oxlade-Chamberlain had another chance to score, Wilshere passed it to the English winger, but the keeper made another amazing save. The last chance we had in the first half came as Walcott's shot was blocked by Giroud, the Frenchman then made an attempt of his own, only for it to be blocked by a defender.
It cannot have escaped anyone's attention that we have had a trend of playing far better in the second half compared to the first half in recent games. So it was not particularly surprising to find that it happened in this game as well. We began somewhat slowly, Monreal had a cross almost met by Giroud, which was followed by a series of passes between Wilshere and Giroud that ended with a shot well over the bar. The game slowed down a bit after that until approximately fifteen minutes were left. That was when the only goal of the game took place: Walcott was awarded with a free-kick just outside of the box, that free-kick was taken by Lukas Podolski with a low and powerful shot that took a deflection off a defender into the back of the net. After the goal we built up more and more pressure, and Cazorla should have scored as he made a brilliant solo run past the defence and into the box, but his shot went over the bar. Before the game was over our new full-back to the left, Monreal, had a shot blocked.
Three vital points earned, meaning that we are slowly advancing as both Chelsea and Everton dropped points today. Another positive is this new defender, who appears to know what he is doing!
Injury Update:
- Arteta returned from injury to start this game as captain in Vermaelen's abscence.
- Gibbs will be out for approximately another month.
Podolski 78
An absolutely vital win! These are the games that we quite simply have to win, which only makes the relief of actually winning these games greater. Our new signing Nacho Monreal started this game and he looked a decent player. He might not have had an outstanding performance, but he did not make any significant mistakes and provided some good-looking crosses, as well as getting a shot away towards the end!
Five minutes into the game Walcott made a brilliant run and the following cross looked dangerous, unfortunately it was not met by anyone. After that initial chance the game stood still for a while, until the half hour mark when a great corner, taken by Wilshere, found its way to Oxlade-Chamberlain who fired the ball straight at the keeper. A few minutes later we had another corner, this time Walcott provided the cross, that was met by Giroud who headed it in towards the goal. It was cleared by a defender, but the clearance got no further than back to Walcott, whose second attempt was almost turned into the back of the net by Koscielny, but the keeper made another save. Then Oxlade-Chamberlain had another chance to score, Wilshere passed it to the English winger, but the keeper made another amazing save. The last chance we had in the first half came as Walcott's shot was blocked by Giroud, the Frenchman then made an attempt of his own, only for it to be blocked by a defender.
It cannot have escaped anyone's attention that we have had a trend of playing far better in the second half compared to the first half in recent games. So it was not particularly surprising to find that it happened in this game as well. We began somewhat slowly, Monreal had a cross almost met by Giroud, which was followed by a series of passes between Wilshere and Giroud that ended with a shot well over the bar. The game slowed down a bit after that until approximately fifteen minutes were left. That was when the only goal of the game took place: Walcott was awarded with a free-kick just outside of the box, that free-kick was taken by Lukas Podolski with a low and powerful shot that took a deflection off a defender into the back of the net. After the goal we built up more and more pressure, and Cazorla should have scored as he made a brilliant solo run past the defence and into the box, but his shot went over the bar. Before the game was over our new full-back to the left, Monreal, had a shot blocked.
Three vital points earned, meaning that we are slowly advancing as both Chelsea and Everton dropped points today. Another positive is this new defender, who appears to know what he is doing!
Injury Update:
- Arteta returned from injury to start this game as captain in Vermaelen's abscence.
- Gibbs will be out for approximately another month.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Signing: Nacho Monreal
In this transfer window we have managed to secure a long-term contract with the Spanish defender Nacho Monreal. He is 26 years old and joins us from La Liga side Malaga. Monreal is primarily a left full-back, and since Gibbs has been ruled out for more than a month it is likely that the Spaniard will mainly appear on the left side of the defence. However, since he has played in Malaga he will not be eligible for us in the Champions League, which most likely means that Santos will be the left full-back for the Bayern Munich game or possibly games. Either way, Monreal appears to be an exciting signing, having made nine appearances in the Spanish international team. He was described by Wenger as a "techincally gifted player, a good crosser in the final third and strong in the air", which sounds like exactly what we need!
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