Arsenal punishes Blackburn for early lead

Blackburn took early lead with a marvelous header by Nzonzi which no one would have bet for. Arsenal responded with a beautiful goal again by Vermaelen from the edge of the penalty box. The shot from Vermaelen had hit the back of net with some force. Game on once again and Blackburn got lucky with a deflected shot from Gallas to back of net. Arsenal again came back with a beautiful goal left footed goal by Van Persie to make the game equally poised. It never looked equally poised after that to be frank. Arsenal started a rampage run with Arshavin, Fabregas, Walcott and Bendtner on score sheet towards the end of the match.

Arsenal started with the regular formation which is tested throughout this season's campaign.
Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Clichy
Fabregas-Song-Diaby
Rosicky-Van Persie-Arshavin

Eventhough Rosicky could not get to the scoresheet he did his job remarkably well. He had few shots on goal himself and setup lot of attacks with his meeky passes and runs. Fabregas was instrumental in Arsenal victory who masterminded most of the goals and scored one himself. Rosicky was substituted by Walcott on 67th minute as expected. Walcott immediately delivered his goods which might had caught Fabio Capello's mind with no surprise. By 75th minute Fabregas and Arshavin was substituted with Bendtner and Ramsey. Ramsey won the challenges well and laid few long ball threats with the help of Walcott who was at the end of the ball always. Robinson was lucky to save couple of shots from Walcott and one mishit which should have been a goal any other day. Bendtner closed the charts with a wonderful dribble and blast run similar to those seen from Arshavin quite a few times. Young lads seems to be learning quite a few tricks from those old chaps out there in the team. This is how experience helps the team building.

Eventhough Arsenal won the match in some style. Defensive errors were not few, Infact countless. Song and Diaby were not providing the much needed sweeping as usual. Arsenal got carried away with attacks and forgot the defensive side of their game. Most of the occassions Gallas and Vermaelen came for the rescue. We are not marking men or attacking the ball when it is with the opponents and near our goal area. We are trying to ease out and relax and wait for their errors. This is not a fair practice to be employed by any team. We need to attack the ball and win the tackles, this is key area which has more scope for improvement. Going forward Arsenal do have lot of options with the likes of Samir Nasri coming back to team and Eduardo and Denilson getting back from injury. Vito Mannone once again saved few great shots and was perfect with his positioning. This guy never did that against Fulham by luck. This looks sheer brilliance and promises a better future for Arsenal in years to come.

The biggest celebrity off the pitch for any Arsenal fans in this game would be the presence of Thierry Henry on the ground. Henry and family watched the match from the gallery and looked like enjoying every bit of it. Arsene Wenger started his illustrious career in Highbury(London) with a 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers on an October fixture 13 years back and this was a good gift to him from the young gunners.