Arsenal 2 Barcelona 1

And so finally, finally the dragon was slayed at the fourth time of asking. Arsene Wenger finally beat Barcelona at the fourth attempt last night as his substitutions inspired a late fightback that turned the tables against Spain’s best.
It lived up to expectations as a feast of footballing delicacies. All the trickery and polished passing of Barcelona was on display at the Emirates in this eagerly-awaited Round of 16 clash.
Unlike last year though when the Catalans came visiting and silenced 60,000 fans with breathtaking artistry, this time it took them a while to get into their groove.
Arsenal started like the proverbial house on fire, using the pace of Theo Walcott to get behind Barcelona’s backline. On one occasion, Walcott evaded four tackles on the edge of the box and though his final ball eventually came to nought, the early signs were good that the Spanish were in for a difficult time.
Not so soon though. The visitors regrouped and set about their task with their usual precision. Lionel Messi, slippery and evasive as ever soon began his conjurer’s act. By the 20th minute mark, he almost struck as his toe-poked effort beat Wojniech Szczesny but trickled agonisingly beyond the far post when every pair of eyes in the stadium believed it was heading for the back of the net. Relief for all Gunners couldn’t be more welcome.
Undaunted, the Barcelona ensemble continued to dictate the pace and gradually took over possession. Already, the early yellow card to Alex Song restricted the presence of the holding midfielder, allowing the pair of Andre Iniesta and Xavi to enjoy more and more space in the middle.
Their endeavour finally paid off in the 26th minute when Song failed to close down Messi and the little Argentine prodded the ball into the path of David Villa. The dangerous Number 9 took it in his stride and further helped it on its way; between the legs of the exposed Szczesny for the opening goal.
Every Gunner feared the worst, or at least a repeat of last year’s capitulation.
It proved unfounded as we resisted until the halftime whistle. On resumption, we came out quicker from the blocks as Jack Wilshire began to assert his presence and much-trumpeted abilities. It was a different Arsenal that seized the initiative from the Spaniards as we enjoyed more possession and drove forward at every opportunity.
Robin Van Persie became more and more prominent upfront and Barcelona’s defence set-up of Gerard Pique and Maxwell suddenly had their work cut out for them.
Despite our increased presence on the ball, Barcelona were doing a pretty good job of containment and it could be said as the game frittered into its latter stages, that the visitors would comfortably escape with a lone goal lead.
Until a five-minute salvo that changed the face of the game and increased the decibels inside the packed Emirates.
Firstly, newly-introduced Andrei Arshavin - on for Song - received the ball at the near byline and fed the overlapping Gael Clichy. The fullback lifted the ball into the path of the persevering Van Persie and as the Dutchman strode with determination towards the goal byline, not many in the stadium saw any tangible end result for the move.
Not many indeed, excluding Van Persie. He glimpsed a small swathe of space between Victor Valdes and the near post and it was in there that he blasted the ball with all the pent-up frustration of the night. It was a goal of supreme risk and determination. How well he celebrated. How much it meant to the massed army of Gunners all waving red flags and scarves declaring their avowed love for their hungry club.
The second goal arrived to greater excitement five minutes later when Samir finally found himself free on the right side. With all the time in the world, he angled and measured a pass into the path of fast-advancing Arshavin, who took the ball first time and swept it into the bottom corner beyond the reach of Valdes and his massed defenders who were all caught in a frantic retreat.
Barcelona threatened a late response through the irrepressible Messi, but the impressive Johann Djourou and Laurent Koscielny snuffed out everything they could conjure.
The celebrations at the final whistle were full-blooded even though we all acknowledge that it is though a job well done, it was still halftime in 180 minute contest.
Guardiola, Barcelona’s ever- demanding coach, summarised it in typical style:

“In general, I’m happy with the performance – the result is the thing I don’t like”.


His counterpart, the relieved Arsene Wenger naturally had more words and more reason to expand on the outcome of a crucial victory:

”I’m very proud for Arsenal tonight. Everybody urged us to play differently to our nature and this result will strengthen the belief in our philosophy. We needed to score two goals. I just took the gamble – it could have backfired to 2-0 or 3-0, but it worked”.


Indeed it worked well. We wait till March 8 for the return leg to know if those goals will be enough to see us through to the quarterfinals. With last night’s fighting spirit though, anything is possible for this Arsenal side now.


Ratings: Szszesny 7, Djourou 7, Koscielny 7, Clichy 7, Song 6, Eboue 6, Wilshire 8, Nasri 6, Fabregas 6, Van Persie 7, Walcott 6, Arshavin 7, Bendtner 5.

The real reason why Fabregas will stay or go

 In the week where all our progress, strides and forward-movement of this season will be measured against the unofficial ”best team in the world”, Barcelona, a key player of Arsenal gave us the biggest reason so far why Cesc Fabregas will or will not continue his stay at the club.

We play Barcelona in the Champions League Round of 16, on the night of Wednesday, February 16 and oh, what a night it promises to be!

More than games against the likes of Chelsea or Man United, this encounter between the two-most stylish clubsides in the world, will be the marker of how far we have progressed or improved from that 6-3 thrashing of last year.  Pep Guardiola has described Arsenal as dangerous opponents, while bits and pieces from inside the camp of the Nou Camp side suggest that in Theo Walcott, Arsenal possess a player that ought to be feared.

None other than the incomparable Lionel Messi has voiced his concern about Theo:

“I remember we were winning 2-0 on the pitch and Arsenal had no chance to change the course of the game. But on the field came Walcott, and without the help of his teammates, he managed to do something that could not be done by the whole team before”.

Note how he said, ‘Arsenal had no chance’. The great thing about non-Englishmen expressing their opinions in English, is the abject frankness and blunt edge to their expressions. They do not have the vocabulary to do doublespeak and coax their true feelings in innuendos. So they just say exactly what they feel. Period.

All that might just be an attempt to create a sense of falsophobia (the fear of something that doesn’t exist) or simply prematch diversionary tactics. Whichever the case may be, it is not an encounter that would permit drowsiness. Expect fireworks aplenty.

In truth, we have indeed made big strides from last year in terms of playing personnel. Samir Nasri has become a veritable threat and the complete attacking player that Wenger dreamt he would become. Alex Song and Jack Wilshire have formed an impressive midfield combo that oozes strength, guile, boundless skill, mutual understanding and tenacity. Marouane Chamakh has become a reliable goalpoacher that can always be thrown into the fray when goals are the essential commodity. Not to mention the sweet chemistry developing between Johann Djourou and Laurent Koscielny at the back.

But the man that keeps annoying Barcelona when they think of what might have been, remains Cesc Fabregas. In him, Arsenal have a leader, a warrior, a fighter and a standard bearer

He has been the topping on the mountain of potential that Wenger has cobbled together. It is him that will not make Barcelona rest until they have taken him back from London Colney, back to Nou Camp. It is him that continues to make such encounters between we and them more than just a soccer game.

Fabregas’s continued stay at Arsenal or departure, is what Alex Song has finally given a sense of purpose by telling us the real truth. He revealed over the weekend that Fabregas, like any other player simply wants to win trophies. Major ones. Lots of them.

Spanish Armada..Fabregas (front row, 2nd from left) with the Spanish side

Having tasted unprecedented success with Spain –first in Europe and later at the toughest of them all, the World Cup – he is naturally hungry for more.

It is a short career, we are always reminded and at 23 (24 in May), success has come to Fabregas quite early.

But European championships and World Cups only happen once in four, long years and even then, form, injuries, selection hurdles and unfamiliar coaches all present formidable obstacles to a player’s dreams of winning those tournaments. Enroute to being World champions, Spain were lacking in form and rhythm until the second round when they beat neighbours Portugal. That ignited their campaign, though they never hit the heights that we know they can, as they only scraped through most games with a 1-0 scoreline. They won the final itself with the same margin.

So, considering all the odds, a player stands a far better chance of glory at club level, where competitions are annual and playing patterns more consistent. It is at that club level that Fabregas now wants to prove himself as a winner.

The 2005 FA Cup apart, he’s got nothing to show for seven years of stewardship at the Gunners. Though he was part of the squad of Invincibles that won the Premier league in 2004, he didn’t the minimum requirement of ten games, to earn a medal. The same fate that befell Jermaine Pennant.

Now, as captain, expectations are higher on him and his mates to deliver. All that high hopes have a chance of being fulfilled in a fortnight when we file out against Birmingham in the Carling Cup final.

But as Alex Song rightly mentioned, Fabregas needs to lead Arsenal to major trophies, to make him want to stay. The Premier League and Champions League that is. Trophies that make you belong to the big boys’ club. Trophies you can boast about and tell of your exploits with a glint in the eye. Trophies you cannot win without beating a very, very big team.

It is in that exclusive category that Fabregas wants to belong. And deservedly too.

That is the long and short of what will keep him at Arsenal; or make him finally demand a move back home to Catalonia. Overcoming Barcelona in this Round of 16 will go a long way in determining where Fabregas’s immediate future lies.

Arsenal 2 Wolves 0

Milking it up....Van Persie celebrates Goal No 1

What better way to banish memories of last Saturday’s disgraceful capitulation at St. James Park, than to not only beat Wolves, but keep a clean sheet. We achieved both objectives with aplomb and swagger as Robin Van Persie continued his rich vein of form in front of goal with a brace.
Arsene Wenger read the mood of the fans perfectly and put it into words by declaring after the game that:

“We were defensively solid and that was important after the four goals we conceded last week. It wasn’t easy to read about the Newcastle result in the media and we needed a response today”.


And a response was delivered indeed.
In what was also effectively a dress-rehearsal for the big, big Champions League showdown against Barcelona on Wednesday, Wenger turned to the calvary as we welcomed back Alex Song and Johann Djourou to the side. Our movement and passing was top class as Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin and Theo Walcott took turns to cut Wolves into ribbons with their speed and interchange of positions.
The first goal came rather belatedly after soek susutained pressure, in the 16th minute. Unmarked on the right flank, Fabregas released a short pass to Van Persie, who was lurking on the edge of the box. Without breaking stride, the Dutchman bent his body horizontally and unleashed a sweet volley that flew beyond the reach of the impressive Wayne Hennessey for the opener. It was just reward for all our endevaour and it spread relief around the ground.
On the other end, Wolves were attempting to engineer something but with last week’s calamitious events in Newcastle still fresh I everyone’s mind, Johann Djourou and Laurent Koscielny were in no mood for gifts.
I mentioned during the week that the real turning point of last week’s game for us, wasn’t the dismissal of Abou Diaby. Rather, the departure of Djourou with a slight knock was the game-changer. Yesterday, the Swiss giant proved me right as he read every ball with precision and tackled with panache.
He has really come on in leaps and bounds this season and I can’t help showering him with praise after praise. He is developing into a class defender and in an era where such like him don’t grow on trees and are hard to find, Wenger must be commended indeed for persevering with him and nurturing a fine hardman.
His understanding with Koscielny, who won his first international invite last week, is proving to be one of the revelations of our season. Both men enjoy a telephatic understanding and coming in a part of the team that has endured severe criticism over the years, it is indeed welcome and timely.
The two centrebacks shielded Szszesny effectively in goal, restricting Wolves to long, hopeful shots that the goalie easily dealt with. The ever dangerous and lively Kevin Doyle - a player I think Wenger should make a move for – along with Nenad Miljas and Adam Hammill were squeezed off the ball and denied any real attempt at goal.
On our side, Jack Wilshire – another Gunner starting out on his international career with a maiden debut for England during the week – showed us why he’s got such a big future ahead of him. He ran with the ball confidently and took on opposing players without fear.
Mention must be made of Andrei Arshavin as well because the hit-and-miss Russian seems to be playing his way back into form. He peppered Ronald Zubar on the left flank with his direct running and tireless approach and deserved a goal if not for the brave goalkeeping of Hennessey.
I read somewhere that his game takes a dip during the winter months and if his recent form is anything to measure by, there might be some truth in that. But for a Russian who has lived 28 of his 30 years in the bitter cold of the Slavic country, it is indeed strange to whinge about the cold. Whatever the real cause maybe, the Arshavin who destroyed Liverpool with four goals at Anfield in 2008 seems to be re-emergig slowly but surely.
Back to the game, we continued from where we let off in the second half with more sustained pressure. Walcott ought to have got on the scoresheet after being put through by Wilshire but he missed the target in the 50th minute and even he himself looked shocked by the miss.
He supplied the assist for Van Persie though in the 56th minute as the Dutchman coolly beat the very-impressive Hennessey, this time with his regular left foot.
Soon after, with the points now seemingly in the bag and Barcelona now on our collective minds, Wenger rung the changes and withdrew Wilshire, Arshavin and man of the match, Van Persie.
Despite that, the stats for the afternoon spoke volumes for our dominance. We had seven shots on target as against nil for Wolves; we won 72 tackles as against Wolves' 45; we won 81 aerial duels as against Wolves' 19; and possession was 54% for us as against Wolves' 46%.
All in all, it wasn’t a day for mistakes. It wasn’t a day for unforeseen happenings. After Man Utd had earlier in the day opened up a seven point lead and with Barcelona arriving here in three days’ time, we couldn’t afford any blunders. None happened and we closed up the gap with Man Utd to four points and avoided any injuries ahead of Barcelona.
Don’t expect to see Bacary Sagna against Barcelona though cos he’s due to be suspended after picking up a red card in our last group game against Partizan Belgrade in December.

Thanks heavens he’s fine

Head cuddle.....Little Jack Wilshire gets a headhug from the big Swiss

This has been his breakthrough season. Every player has one. Every sportsman as well has one.

For Johann Djourou, season 2010-2011 has seen him show the world what he can actually do. If you ask me, he is better than stalwarts and household names from the past of the club such as Sol Campbell. Nothing personal against the big man but this Swiss bloke with an intimidating frame is a better deal than his erstwhile senior colleague.

Last Saturday, if you ask me, it was no coincidence that our spectacular, historic collapse at St. James Park happened when the Swissman was off the pitch. Soon as Johann hobbled off in the 47^th minute, I feared the worst. Many pundits prefer to point to Abou Diaby’s 55^th minute dismissal as the turning point of the game and the moment when we lost our grip on the pitch. Methink it wasn’t

The real pivotal moment was Johann’s departure. His departure allowed the clumsy and ineffective Seb Squillaci to enter the game. All apologies to Seb, he has morphed into a modern-day Pascal Cygan, whose clumsy and heavy-footed movement frustrated both teammates and fans alike. Arsene Wenger’s preference of Cygan over Matthew Upson forced the latter to demand a transfer and was eventually sold to Birmingham City.

Cygan was of course third or even fourth choice to Campbell and Kole Toure during the era of the Invincibles in season 2004 and the brilliance of that glorious group of players greatly masked his incompetence. Anytime he was on the pitch, we were guaranteed to concede goals. He was however a lucky man cos he was surrounded on all sides by some of the best footballers in the world at that time. Players like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira and Sylvain Wiltord happened to be his teammates and what more, they were all French!

So in the midst of so much excellence, it was almost impossible to spot the ugly duckling.

And so Cygan found himself winning trophy after trophy, while riding on the shoulders of other players’ efforts. By the time though when he was sold in the summer of 2006 – after we lost that forgettable Champions League final to Barcelona in Paris - he had been found out and pushed further down the pecking order at Arsenal. The fact that Villareal even agreed to pay 2million Pounds for him was because he was included in the deal that took Robert Pires from Arsenal to the Spanish side.

It is such a clown that Squillaci is striving so hard to emulate now.

So seeing him saunter onto the pitch was something of a precursor to doom. I thought he had been out to pasture after getting himself red-carded against Huddersfield the previous weekend in the FA Cup. Don’t know what happened to the normal three-match suspension that accompanies such straight red cards. Except we had been involved in game on another planet, I recollect that we only played Everton between the Huddersfield game and Newcastle. So, seeing Squillaci firstly squeezed on the reserve bench and lo and behold, finally strolling onto the pitch to replace Johann was an unexpected surprise.

The rest as they often say, is history.

Even though it was the unlucky Koscielny that conceded the two penalties that accelerated our capitulation and helped Newcastle onto a very undeserved draw, I’m convinced that those penalties wouldn’t have happened if Johann’s partnership with Koscielny had continued for the rest of that afternoon.  On the day when he scored his first goal for us, how sad that Johann had to exit with a knee complaint.

Well, it looks so far that Johann’s substitution was a precautionary move. Reports from inside the Swiss camp, where he has reported to join the national side in their preparations for their friendly against Malta, confirmed that he only picked up bruising against Newcastle. Nothing was broken, or torn, or twisted as first feared.

There is even the likelihood that he will be fit to file out against Wolves this Saturday. But I trust the ultra-careful Wenger, he’ll be saving the big Swiss for Barcelona, next week Wednesday in a top billing Champions League showdown.

So, at least the big man is back. For him, this has been a rubicon-crossing season. He has cobbled together a fine partnership with Koscielny and together, they have helped take us to second spot on the league table and into our first final since 2006.

Compared with Squillaci, he is royalty. He is a handsome prince to Squillaci’s ogre and if he stays fit, we surely do have real hope of winning things this season.

He’s back and with him, hope springs anew for the rest of this season. 

Newcastle 4 Arsenal 4 / Vieira lays into them

On a record-breaking day when 41 goals were scored on a single day of the English premiership, Arsenal and Newcastle produced eight goals between them. But the real story; the headline grabber would be how Arsenal threw away a four goal and contrived to produce draw out of a nailed-on win. It was, to put it mildly, headshaking stuff.

How on earth we managed to throw away as four-goal lead and hand Newcastle a draw out of certain defeat, will be talk of the league for years and years henceforth. Yes, we gave the game away from the 51^st minute when Abou Diaby got himself sent off. That moment may yet turn out to be season-defining in the bigger picture of title-chasing and if the truth be told, it told the story of the character of this team.

Things couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. We were one goal in 46 seconds thanks to Theo Walcot who outran (as always) the Newcastle pair of Coloccini and Williamson before sidefooting beyond Andy Harper. Two minutes later, it was 2-0 when Andrei Arshavin lifted a fine freekick on the edge of the box onto the head of Johann Djourou for a pin-point header that went in under the bar and left Harper helpless again.

By the tenth minute it was 3-0. Walcott turned provider as he latched onto a Diaby pass to outrace the Newcastle’s Enrique before crossing perfectly for Robin Van Persie to score decisively from close range. We kept pouring forward as confidence amongst the players reached the heavens.

It was to yield more fruit as Bacary Sagna bombed forward in the 26^th minute to send in a fien cross from the right, which Van Persie met with a bullet header that flew past the hapless Harper for 4-0. At that point, it was game over as far as all were concerned. Right? Wrong it later proved.

Moment of madness...Diaby reacts violently to Barton 's tackle

 A clash between Abou Diaby and the combo of Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan in the 51^st minute saw the Frenchman laying hands on Barton’s throat and shoving Nolan strongly to the ground. The referee, Phil Dowd promptly expelled him and down to ten men, the complexion of the game changed. Newcastle sensed an opportunity for a fightback and buoyed by an angry crowd, the players responded on the pitch.

Suddenly, from beaten men, the Magpies found a new lease of life to pepper our area with aerial balls and raid after raid. They got a breakthrough when Laurent Koscielny was adjudged to have fouled Leon Best in the box. The hated Barton stepped up to plant the ball beyond Szszesny and thus began the fightback. It soon became 4-2 as Best latched onto a loose ball in the area to fire beyond the diving duo of Koscielny and Szszesny. Another penalty awarded for a seemingly innocuous challenge made it 4-3 and with their tails now firmly up, it was a matter of time before Newcastle leveled. They did it with the best goal of the game, courtesy of Cheik Tiote, who blasted in from 26 yards into the corner of the post and thus sealed what must be one of the most-memorable comebacks in the history of the game anywhere in the world.

Arsene Wenger rightly revealed that our players were psychologically damaged after the game. Anyone would be after climbing down from a position of supreme strength that only four unanswered goals provide, to throw away two points and finish with a nerve-jangling draw. Interestingly, his assessment of a remarkable afternoon make some sense amidst all the mayhem:

“I cannot measure how angry I am because no one has managed to do that. Mathematically, it is two points dropped but psychologically the damage is a bit bigger because everybody is of course very, very disappointed in the dressing room”.

Ex-captain and club legend, Patrick Vieira put his big boots into the players by slating them with these words:

"Like everybody else I was quite surprised. It does show that in football if you don't work hard until the last minute, if you don't have 100 per cent commitment, anything can happen. Newcastle is still a difficult place to go to."

It was shades of Tottenham allover again. The night of 30^th November 2008, when we also contrived to throw away a 4-2 lead and allowed our North London neighbours claw their way back to 4-4 replayed itself again yesterday at St. James Park. This time, it was even a worse performance considering that we were comfortably 4-0 up at a stage, not 4-2.

The only consolation would be that lessons will have been learnt, because collectively ours is not  a poor team. The position of second on the log in a very, very tough league as the English premiership is not something you achieve by default. Or mere luck. Only hard, gritty endeavour puts you there and luckily for us, the damage inflicted on our collective psyche and title aspirations were tempered with Manchester United’s defeat three hours later at Molineux at the hands of Wolves.

It reduces the gap between us and them to four points and maintains some ray of hope that this season’s title is not yet all signed and sealed. Long as we keep our heads and focus on the task at hand and do not allow thuggish behavior from the Joey Bartons of this world, lure us into needless sending-offs.

Ratings are as follows: Szszesny 6, Sagna 7, Koscielny 7, Djourou 6, Clichy 6, Diaby 6, Wilshire 7, Fabregas 6, Walcott 7, Arshavin 6,  Van Persie 7, Rosicky 5, Eboue 5, Squilaci 5.

 

 

Don’t believe the hype, we have no squad

We’ve had the chance thrice. Not once, not twice, but thrice to have a good look at Arsene Wenger’s squad players. The back-up who are expected to fill in once in a while whenever the calvary are unavailable or need to simply take a break.
In the category of squad players, belong the likes of Manuel Almunia, Kieran Gibbs, Seb Squillaci, Emmanuel Eboue, Denilson, Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky, Nicklas Bendtner and like it or not, Andrei Arshavin. They are the flotsam and jetsam that Wenger often calls upon to do a job for him when the regulars, whom I call the calvary, whom Jose Mourinho calls the ‘untouchables’ are unavailable.
Since the turn of the New Year, we’ve had the chance to have a better look at all the afore-mentioned players because the FA Cup and the Carling Cup have afforded Wenger to use his full team. So far, the squad players haven’t done themselves proud at all.
Twice, against Leeds in the FA Cup third round and against Ipswich in the Carling Cup semifinal, Wenger has had to wheel out the calvary to rescue the team after the squad players have had their chance to show what they’ve got – and bungled it. Firstly, it was at the Emirates where the ‘squadies’ huffed and puffed in vain against Leeds and even fell behind after Denilson hacked down a Leeds player inside the box. It took the introduction of Fabregas and Theo Walcott to save our bacon and force a replay two weeks later.

Night of a million stars..Arshavin destroying Liverpool at Anfield in 2009.
Since then, he has lost form and motivation.

Yet again, against Ipswich in the Carling Cup semis. The ‘squadies’ lost the game meekly and without guts, forcing Wenger to use the calvary to steamroll Ipswich in the second leg and book us into a first final in four years.
Looking at our ‘squadies’ individually, every single one of them, except Denilson, is a full international for their respective countries. But within the confines of Colney Creche, they are treated as tin-gods and serenaded by Wenger as the best young players of their ilk in the world. Such kid-gloves handling creates the impression in the minds of these over-pampered players that they are indeed very good, when the real truth is that they are basically very average players.
I can’t see any of the ‘squadies’ walking into any starting eleven of any of Europe’s top ten sides. It is indeed hard to imagine the likes of Denilson, Eboue, Squillaci or Bendtner displacing any player in Chelsea, or Man Utd or Bayern Munich in their respective positions. Trying to imagine them claiming a shirt in star-studded Real Madrid or Barcelona is just taking things too far. Too ludicrously far.
Arshavin perhaps could hold his own elsewhere and in any clubside of pedigree around the world. But the Russian had gone backwards, so alarmingly in the past one year that it is now a formidable risk to vouch for his effectiveness. I watched him plod around the ground against Leeds in the first leg that ended 1-1, that it was hard to believe he was the same player that scored four goals against Liverpool at Anfield in March 2009. So terrible was he that even the mightily-clumsy but egomaniac Bendtner looked a better bet than him. What a downturn for such a classy player!
Yes he scored a huge, huge equaliser against against Everton the other night, but such cameos are too far apart to rely on him game in, game out. The fact that he's coming off the bench is even an indictment with someone of his mercurial abililties.
Like them or hate them, those are the players on whom are silverware hopes rest upon. Even though they were not collectively good enough to beat the likes of Leeds and Ipswich Town, we will have to live with their limitations as we enter the serious part of the season where trophies are the be-all and end-all.
Let’s just pray and hope that nothing tragic in terms of injuries happens to the calvary. Because if it does, then we can kiss our trophy hopes goodbye for yet another season. Because also, I cannot for a second fathom Denilson doing the job of Alex Song; or Eboue stopping the likes of David Villa and Lionel Messi; or Bendtner attempting to score past Carlos Puyol or Victor Valdes.
If they couldn’t cut it against Leeds and Ipswich, they won’t survive against Barcelona and Man Utd when the chips are down.
Can you for a second imagine the incredibly-fragile Rosicky standing up to the hard-tackling Darren Fletcher? Rosicky can’t even stand on his own two feet for five minutes without hitting the turf at the slightest touch. How then can he ever hope to survive a ‘cuddle’ from the no-nonsense Fletcher if need be.
So far, Nasri apart, the scourge of injuries haven’t been too hard on us. Almost all of Wenger’s first eleven starters have remained fit till now. Fingers crossed, our luck will hold. Because if the unthinkable happens and we have to do without the likes of Fabregas, Wilshire, Djourou, Sagna or Chamakh, then our hope of winning anything this season would simply go up in smoke.
Because fact is, Arsene Wenger has no reliable back-up to these ‘untouchables’. Bitter, but true.

Arsenal 2 Everton 1

Midfield battle...Fellaini and Song fight for the ball

David Moyes delights in taking on the big teams and making life difficult for them. He has carved out a reputation based on frustrating the perceived big sides of the premiership and last night at the Emirates was no different. Despite their lowly 14^th position, Everton are always a handful for the royalty of the premiership. Last night again, was no different.

We kicked off on the same night as Man United and Chelsea as a full programme of premier league action got underway after a weekend of FA Cup ties. After overcoming the surprisingly strong challenge of Huddersfield two days earlier, this was supposedly another test of character and Moyes’s Everton made it even stiffer.

After an initial 15 minutes that saw Everton taking the game to us, we finally found some rhythm and gradually asserted ourselves. A fine interchange between Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas in the 20^th minute, which saw the Dutchman backheeling a perfectly weighted pass onto the path of the onrushing Spaniard, opened up the Everton defence but Fabregas’ shot was wide off the mark agonisingly.

We continued to make inroads into their defence with Van Persie and Walcott taking turns to run at Sylvain Distin and John Heitinga in the middle of their defence. It yielded nothing, except a Walcott snapshot that Mike Howard in goal for Everton saved comfortably with his legs.

The game turned on its head in the 33^rd minute when an Everton ball over the top, cleared our defence and a Koscielny attempt to boot it out only helped it into the path of the lurking Louis Saha. He had all the time and space in the world to pick his spot and shoot coolly past the exposed Wojciech Szszesny in goal. Fabregas immediately led the protestations that Saha was offside, which was correct but Koscielny’s inadvertent interception had diverted the ball into Saha’s path, thus rendering his offside position invalid.

The boos rang out en masse around the Emirates as the game progressed and an incensed crowd directed their anger at Lee Mason and his officials.

We regrouped in the second half though without Alex Song, who had picked up a thigh strain and had to be replaced by Abou Diaby. Everton sat back to soak up the expected onslaught and were doing a pretty good job of it until the introduction of Andrei Arshavin and Nicklas Bendtner in the 70th minute for Jack Wilshire and the perennially ineffective Tomas Rosicky.

The leveller came to a huge relief when Fabregas lifted a delightful ball over the top of the Everton defence and Jack Rodwell’s weak attempt at heading it only helped the ball into the path of the lurking Arshavin. Unmarked and unsighted, the little Russian coolly slotted the ball beyond the stranded Howard and redeemed himself before 60,000 relieved Gooners in the stadium. After being behind for a greater part of the match, it was game on now.

The clincher....Koscielny's header wins it for us

Events took a happier turn just five minutes later when an unmarked Koscielny turned instant hero as he rose to head home a Van Persie corner kick at the far post. The celebrations involving every Arsenal player who joined in at the human heap by the corner flag said it all.

Everton threw on the big Nigerian Victor Anichebe, who only scores once in a full season, when I thought I glimpsed the more dangerous Jermaine Beckford on the bench. Poor choice by Moyes but good for us though as we held on for a precious three points.

In view of Chelsea and Man United winning their respective games, it was vital, crucial, vitally-crucial that we sealed this win and maintain and fine form so far this year.

It wasn’t plain sailing though as with all things Arsenal and on a night when most of our players were not at their best, we still did enough to bag the three points and hang onto the coat tails of Man United, who seem to be gathering an ominous head of steam with their unbeaten spell now stretched to 24 games. It is 14 games now left in the league this season and apart from an away tie against us at the Emirates and their visit to Stamford Bridge on March 1, it is hard seeing them lose anywhere else this season.

My biggest source of joy from the game was the never-say-die spirit that inspired the comeback from our boys. It was only the second time all season that we had won a game after falling behind. It is all well and good to score first which is something that comes naturally to us, but team character and fighting qualities are called upon when a team learns to fight its way back into a game from a position of defeat. Man United are masters of such situations and it may yet deliver another league title for them if we also do not pick up that attribute – and fast.

Last night, we showed we could.

Let’s rate our boys for the night after a difficult win eked out in more difficult circumstances 

Ratings: Szczesny 6, Koscielny 8, Djourou 7, Clichy 7, Sagna 7, Song 6, Wilshire 6, Diaby 6, Fabregas 7, Van Persie 7, Walcott 6, Arshavin 6, Bendtner 5