Malaysian Gooner

A very impressive second half performance from Theo Walcott leaves Arsenal joint top of the league with Chelsea but the Gunners were valiantly defending their lead for the last quarter of an hour as Nicklas Bendtner decided to leave his shooting boots at home, missing countless sitters before being substituted.

Arsenal’s first home game since Aaron Ramsey’s injury was always going to be about “doing it for Aaron”, but the Gunners early pressure couldn’t pay off as Burnley found their footing in the game half way through the first half. Arsenal though, did not find much problems getting behind the Burnley defence with Walcott, Nasri and Fabregas finding themselves in space on numerous occasions. Arsenal finally found their goal n 34 minutes when a delightful lob from Nasri found captain Cesc Fabregas who put it between the ‘keeper’s legs for 1-0. Cesc though was forced off minutes later after failing to shake off an injury picked up earlier in the game, on for the captain was the returning Abou Diaby.

The second half started very well for Arsenal with lots of opportunities. Almost all of the chances falling to Bendtner, who consistently missed even when it seemed harder to miss than to score. To be fair to Bendtner, he forced good saves out of the ‘keeper on a few occasions. Just when you began to wonder if Arsenal would pay for Nicklas’ misses, disaster struck. A clearance was headed right back into the box by a Burnley defender, catching the Arsenal defence of guard. Nugent was in space and calmly put the ball past Almunia.

Arsenal responded well, with Walcott speeding past and dribbling around the Burnley fullback on numerous occasions. The Gunners just needed to finish one of the many chances that we being created. Up steps Walcott, who decided to take matters into his own hands and instead of taking on the fullback, decided to cut inside and take a shot at goal. The result, an absolute gem of a goal. 2-1 Arsenal!

Bendtner continued to miss a few chances before being replaced by Eduardo with a quarter of an hour left. Arshavin also came on Rosicky. As time ran out, Burnley pushed men forward, creating a few chances for themselves though every attack seemed to result in the Gunners counter attacking them as well. The Arsenal defence weathered the storm and in the dying seconds, Andrei Arshavin finished the match off with a world class finish.

Besides Walcott’s great performance, Nasri also had a brilliant game. He was all over the pitch, playing left, right and in the centre of midfield throughout the match. He impressed me most at one particular moment. I was rather annoyed by Arshavin’s decision to play the ball into an empty box when the rest of the team were trying to wind down the clock, I didn’t expect that from one of the more senior members of the squad. Nasri though took Burnley’s weak clearance right to corner flag and shaved valuable seconds off the clock. A year ago, he might have continued attacking and risked a Burnley counter attack, a sign of maturity perhaps from the young Frenchman. Another Frenchman,  Diaby played well after coming on for Fabregas, looked lively and dangerous when leading counter attacks. The loss of Fabregas to injury is a worry. Going to the KC Stadium against a Hull side fighting for survival is going to be tough without two of our best players this season, Cesc and Alex.

With Arsenal title chase back on track, Malaysian Gooner looks to the fixture list to forecast how the Gunners will fair in what might prove to be an important month in one of the most closely contested title races since the Premier League’s inception.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd all have relatively easy matches in March but potential babana skin matches lie towards the end of the month for all three clubs. Besides the second leg Champions League tie against Porto (9th March), the Gunners will play at home to Burnley(6th March) and West Ham(20th March) while travelling away to Hull City(13th March) ; all within the space of 14 days. It wouldn’t be unrealistic though to expect 4 wins out of 4 as our home record has been good and while our away form has been mixed, we have passed more difficult tests than Hull. The potential banana skin match though comes on the 27th, when we play Birmingham at St. Andrews. Birmingham played out a 0-0 draw against Chelsea and held Man Utd to a 1-1 scoreline already this season at St. Andrews; the Gunners will definitely not be expecting an easy day out.

Chelsea play Stoke(7th March) , West Ham(13th March) and Inter Milan(16th March) at home before travelling to Blackburn(20th March) and Portmouth(24th March). Not many would bet against 4 wins out of 4 for Chelsea in the league but a tough 2nd leg against Inter Milan may not leave much in the tank for when they visit Ewood Park 4 days later. Blackburn though, have had a mixed season and is definitely not Chelsea’s potential banana skin for the month of March. That award falls to Aston Villa, who visit Stamford Bridge on the 27th. Aston Villa’s away record against the top 3 this season has been mixed, managing a 1-0 win at Old Trafford before getting smashed 3-0 by the Gunners.

Man Utd will look at their two away games in March as relatively straight forward, beginning the month by visiting Wolves (6th March) and ending it at Bolton(27th March). But their three home game between those matches are anything but straight forward. AC Milan(10th March), Fulham(14th March) and Liverpool(21st March) will all visit Old Trafford in the space of 11 days. Fulham have proven tough competition for the top 3 this season. Arsenal somehow escaped with a 1-0 win at Craven Cottage thanks to a 5 star Vito Mannone performance before Man Utd were stuffed 3-0. Even away from home, Fulham led at Stamford Bridge before Chelsea struck twice on 73 and 75. If playing Fulham wasn’t hard enough, a Liverpool side chasing the 4th Champions League spot worth €40m come to town a week later. And the fixture list doesn’t get any easier for United, if there ever was a month of death on the Manchester United footballing calendar, April is definitely it. United play Man City, Chelsea and Spurs in what will be a decisive month for the Red Devils.

In a season filled with surprises, anything can still happen in this title race. The title is still Chelsea’s to lose but suddenly that title seems a lot easier to lose for the Blues. Arsenal look to do what has been done to them so many times before, pick up form at the right time of the season and grab the Emirates first piece of silverware!

Gooners around the world saw the nightmare of St. Andrews flash before their eyes yesterday. Seeing Thomas Vermaelen look away, visibly shaken gave enough of an indicator we were seeing another Eduardo incident happening before our eyes. And when Shawcross was given his marching orders, the St. Andrews nightmare wasn’t the only thing flashing before our eyes, so was our season. It was almost scripted, Chelsea losing at home to Man City gave us an opportunity to pounce; an opportunity we could not afford to blow.

We were up against it. Our bad record at the Britannia. One nil down to ANOTHER Delap throw in. And when we were finally getting into some kind of rhythm, the Ramsey injury. The Gunners didn’t crumble like they did at St. Andrews in 2008. This Arsenal side not only found two goals,  but were denied what was an obvious penalty when Bendtner was shoved off the ball.

Three points behind Chelsea and two off United. Whoever predicted this after the Chelsea loss must definitely own a crystal ball. With United and Chelsea yet to play each other and both sides still have fixtures against Liverpool to look forward, the title is very much ours for the taking. For all those years we threw away leads in the title race, this is our chance. May the rest of the season be dedicated to Aaron Ramsey. We love you Aaron, get well soon!