Finally! Arsenal beat Man U

I nearly couldn’t bear to watch this game. But I did, and am glad for it.
After watching Chelsea beat Liverpool I felt it was lost … Manchester United would obviously be the favourites to beat Arsenal at Old Trafford and the title race would almost be sealed. Arsenal haven’t been doing too well against their nemesis in the last few seasons, and under former captain Patrick Vieira the encounters were rather physical, too.
However, apart from tattle-tale Wayne Rooney getting Jens Lehmann yellow-carded at the beginning, the foul that led to a penalty kick for Arsenal, and Lehmann getting smacked in the face by Cristiano Ronaldo’s ball at close range, there wasn’t anything really adversarial or violent about the game. Which was good.
Arsenal once again were playing lovely passes but as with other recent EPL matches I feared they couldn’t finish. Especially with Thierry Henry injured and off-form. The crowded shouted “Theo! Theo!” many times but young Walcott didn’t come on. Emmanuel Adebayor annoyed me with his misses at fairly close range. I see him as a B-grade striker. Lehmann’s aggressive mannerisms also largely unnecessary – why put himself at risk of getting a second consecutive yellow card?
However, in the end all was forgiven as Adebayor tapped in the ball for a goal, and Lehmann made great saves as Man United frantically stepped up their efforts to score an equaliser in the dying minutes of the game. In vain :-B
Other player ratings:
Tomas Rosicky, Alexander Hleb and William Gallas were lively and contributed to the flow of the Gunner’s game. I liked how Gallas roared with pride at the end of the match and got the crowd clapping. I can nearly forget about Ashley … Ashley who?
Fredrik Ljungberg is not as good as he used to be, and can be outrun by opponents. Substitute Cesar Julio Baptista was not too bad. His shots were near misses and it should only be a matter of time before he finds the back of the net for Arsenal.
Gilberto Silva’s penalty shot was not powerful and Thierry Henry is missed in this area. However Gilberto did act like a captain, giving the thumbs up in acknowledgment of a good attempt.
I was also happy to hear that Newcastle won. There is life after Alan Shearer, much as I’ve admired him.
So overall, it was a satisfying night in the end.
Technorati Tags: Arsenal, Manchester United, soccer