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15-January-2012

Swansea Vs Arsenal

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Arsenal wins at Emirates againt Standard Liege

Arsenal started with a good attacking team and later on went on to win with the help of two first half goals from Nasri and Denilson. The final score remained 2-0 and second half was not eventful except for Gibbs's injury. As all other teams Standard Liege also was determined to take down Gunners with their body. Arsenal sustained lot of physical damages and some inducing by themself. Gunners started off wonderfully well, attacking with all cylinders.

Almunia
Eboue-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs
Fabregas-Song-Denilson
Nasri-Vela-Arshavin

Personally I was happy to see Vela upfront rather than Eduardo who with all respect is a tremendous finisher but seems out of form now. Arsenal missed many chances to score until Nasri found the back of the net from a long ball from Vermaelen and later Denilson finishing from a thunderous long range shot. Earlier Arshavin got in way of a Vermaelen shot which was destined to goal. Arshavin fell shocked with the strike on his head. Later with a wonderful cross Fabregas was trying to setup Arsenal but unfortunately Gallas and Arshavin collided in air and shed some blood. Arshavin got few staples on his head during the second half and Gallas never came out of the tunnel due to the shock. Silvestre came off from the bench to provide cover in the back instead of Gallas. Eventhough Denilson had a good start for his season after the injury in September, Alex Song was the best again. This is the third game in row that I am not able to find another player for the Man of the Match. Song was great in holding the ball, passing, marking and infact last evening saw some commendable runs from the Cameroon international.

Fabregas was often targeted by the opponents for a push or a knock. He persuaded the referee to give a red card for a Standard Liege player for a push on him. He himself acquired an Yellow card during the whole drama. Later Gibbs was terribly challenged by No.22 which made Gibbs sidelined for next 3 months. This had been a bad challenge and the creepiest part is that No.22 was trying to foul Gibbs all through the match. Finally he was successful by 87mins. Arsenal brought in Walcott for Nasri and Rosicky for Denilson to induce pace and creativity. Towards the final stages of the match Arsenal was playing a 4-4-2 with Vela and Arshavin upfront. Eboue had few good runs and also shot at goal too. Rosicky showed some fine touches coming off the bench meanwhile Walcott troubled the right flank defenders with his illustrious pace.

Arsenal missed Robin Van Persie's presence in the center for sure. This had been quite evident from last two matches. Eventhough people curse him at times for the misses he makes, this was the truth. He gave us power and confidence up there with his creative touches and wonderful strikes. Arsene Wenger had confirmed that Arshavin will play against Chelsea and was confident about Gallas playing too. We still need to improve our marking during dead ball situations. Last evening we were lucky to come out without much damage considering the chances we gave in freekicks and corners. This is a definite negative for Arsenal and against a good opposition it will be very difficult to stop them. Let's wait and watch how it unfolds when they play Chelsea this weekend.

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