A massive victory for Arsenal as they go 1 point behind the leaders Man U playing 1 game more. Squillaci was the hero of the moment as they got past an spirited Stoke side. The bad side of the night was that Fabregas and Walcott got injured during the match and will miss the Carling cup final.
The first half was an very impressive showing by Arsenal as they had chance after chance. The first chance came when Wilshere danced past 2 defenders passing to there talisman Fabregas and he passed to Walcott and his shot hit the post. Walcott seemed to be doing everything right expect for scoring as he had 2 more chances in the first 6 mins of the match as Arsenal looked like ripping through Stoke.
The goal did finally come after 8 mins when Wilshere took a corner where Bendtner got hold of the ball in the penalty area where he teed up Squillaci for an simple header to give Arsenal the lead. But after 15 mins Fabregas got injured and he was replaced by Arshavin. It seemed like Arsenal had lost something as that injury did rock Arsenal. Maybe they had one eye on the carling cup final but they were fighting less for the ball and were making simple mistakes. But Szczesny wasn't tested at all in the first half.
The second half Stoke did have a go at Arsenal much more. Walters and Carew were combining well and they forced Szczesny to make some decent saves. One Carew shot had Szczesny having to make full length dives. Shawcross nearly scored a goal from an Pennant cross but Djourou was there to head away.
Szczesny was dealing with the long throws really well most of the night but one time when Delap throw Szczesny missed Huth headed over the bar. Arsenal were still dangerous on counter attacks and Arshavin nearly made them pay for there misses as he ran into there half crossed in for Walcott who sliced wide a shot. Soon after that Walcott was taken off for injury. Stoke did push on but they could not find a way through the defense and Arsenal held on for a big victory.
Arsenal are now 1 point off the top and now go in to a long run where they are playing in 4 different competitions. There first chance of winning something comes this weekend when they play Birmingham in the Carling cup final. They are still the only team still no for 4 trophies the Arsenal fans will be hoping to make sure they win 1 at least as they haven't won one for many years.
For Stoke there big target is to stay up and there big matches come when they play teams around them like West Brom this Monday that these matches matter. I think they will stay up they are also in the FA cup so a good cup run wont hurt them too. The Premier League is hotting up for every position from at the top to being in the top 4 to getting into Europe or even staying up. Every team still has something to play for which makes this such an exciting league to watch and to write about.
No comments:
Post a Comment