What an absolutely amazing game of Football; it had everything; fous, cards, end to end football, and a barrage of fans' abuse. How ironic it should be William Gallas who got the winner. How typical that the final act of the game was a bad tackle by Cesc Fabregas on none other than Ashley Cole, the same guy that said the Spaniard had no commitment and did not have enough experience. Yes, we were lucky Wright Phillips has not learnt the finishing ability of his father. However, today I was proud to be a Gooner. Chelsea normally like to bully their opponent, but today it was not to be. We stood up to all they threw at us and forced them to resort to tactics far passed the border of dirty. The ref had no control of the match and countless times Mikel, Joe Cole and Lampard were diving into tackles, something closer to assault than anything near fair. The ref seemed to let this go on so many occasions with yellow cards very lenient for the constant fouls that were comitted. It simply was not the same in our case. Arsenal players were called up for fouls that did not come close to anything the Chelsea players carried out. Flamini was booked for constant fouling, why was Mikel not sent off for this, combined with some very dirty challenges? Arsenal players are said to be soft, yet when they give some back, they are accused to going too far.
Enough of the rant at the ref and those thugs from South London - we won after all. A 1-0 win is just so sweet, if not extremely nerveracking. The first half was not really a great example of Football, Arsenal kept the ball with little penetration but with little threat to our own goal from Chelsea. The goal came out of the blue a little and I have to say I was so surprised to see Cech misjudge what looked like a routine catch. It just had to be Gallas though, how he resisted the urge to run over to the Chelsea fans and celebrate right in front of them I don't know. Queue pandemonium in the stands, aswell as continuous replays of our goal from all angles at half time.
The game had been feisty and after Chelsea gave as good as they got, it was hard not to smile when John Terry was forced off after a tackle from Eboue of all people. It was probably the cowardice of Eboue not to commit to the challenge with a proper tackle that ended his afternoon. It was probably karma that resulted in Eboue's departure on a stretcher.
When the game settled and the football came through, it was end to end stuff. Arsenal relied on the counter attack and I am not sure I can complain with the disallowed goals, however much I did at the time. Maybe one could question the decision to penalise Adebayor after all the challenges that had gone before. We were holding on at the back but always looked dangerous on the break. How we did not score a second baffles me, still! The defence were required to hold strong with our poor finishing and they stood up to be counted. From the moment Gallas was determined to carry on after his injury, the defence were brilliant, what a soldier!
Clichy was the official man of the match I think but it could have gone to any of the back 5. Sagna and Clichy dealt with their wingers brilliantly, with one lapse allowing Wright-Phillips to show he will never be like his famous father in front of goal. Gallas and Toure did not have a lot to do when Shevchenko was up front but
Pizarro added a whole lot of other problems. They had to be strong in the air with the constant barrage of long balls and were sharp in the tackle when they needed to be. I really will miss Toure when he leaves in January.
Fabregas and Hleb were very busy at the start but did seem to fade. They did look like they lacked match fitness slightly and their passing was not always as sharp as it can be. Rosicky thrived with them back in the team and the link up play really started to come together. It was brilliant to see and Rosicky really shone in both his defensive duties and as a key member of the counter attack brigade!!! Flamini was also fantastic. He gave Lampard no time on the ball with the midfielder having one shot on goal all afternoon. Not many have done a similar job on Lampard this season, and many have failed in the same task during past seasons. Eboue managed to get at Cole and beat him a few times. He has not been in the best form at all but he did well today.
Adebayor had a hard job up front but was a real menace for the Chelsea defenders. He was unlucky to have a goal chalked off but showed what Chelsea missed with Drogba out. Hleb was slightly off his game today - as expected - and Ade really worked hard to link the play, holding the ball up till support arrived. All of these players I have mentioned were brilliant but massive praise must go to Almunia. He made many saves that kept the score at 1-0. He had one dodgy moment as he flapped at a long range Shevchenko shot but after that he excelled. Van Persie was a bit rusty and showed this with two skied efforts on goal - at least it didnt cost us!
The fans did well also - the Emirates was a cauldron at times and I think they got the right blend of hatred for Cole and support for the team. There was no way Wenger's call for "respect" for Cole would be adhered to, but it could have been far worse for old "Judas".
I called for everyone to win their battles today and we did. This was what we needed to do to win.
Almunia vs Cech - Cech's error cost them dear and Almunia saved us many times. Almunia
Terry vs Adebayor - Terry lost the battle, but mainly due to Eboue rather than Ade. Adebayor (eboue)
Flamini vs Lampard - Flamini shackled Lampard all day and gave him no room to play. Flamini
Toure vs Shevchenko - No contest. Toure
These personal battles may have been won but we won battles all over the pitch! Well done Arsenal and we are still top of the league, now bring on those from across North London!
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