Arsenal vs West Ham

Saturday's game was, again, frustrating. Since (& including) the West Brom game, we've been average at best in the league at home. Against WBA we were both unlucky and awful. Against Birmingham we were poor. Against West Ham, we were alright, but lacking, simultaneously. If I'm honest, I really do think we should  have come away with a 4 or 5 nil win - after all, we had 20 shots on goal (according to the BBC) compared to WHU's 6 -and I feel that it was only Rob Green's heroics in their goal which prevented it. 

I can stomach only coming away from the game with a 1-0 win; what does leave a bitter after-taste though, is that it was yet another poor refereeing display at the Emirates. I feel that Scott Parker should have been, at least, booked during the game, the referee warning him multiple times. There were also some dubious decisions. One instance, where Chamakh was called back for offside (after a Walcott shot I think), was as far as I could see from the MOTD replays, completely, 100%, totally wrong.

Returning to the football though, the free kick from Nasri, which hit the bar, was truly amazing, a fraction of an inch lower, and it would have been in. An audacious effort from a full 35 yards. Not the only occasion upon which we hit the woodwork though, Walcott being denied his third goal of the week by Green's right post, again mere centimetres away from a goal. When it came though, it really was worth the 88 minute wait. Clihy, superbly released down the left hand side, dummied the cross perfectly, beating his man with ease. Then it was the final ball... On his weaker right foot, the number 22 swept in a tempting cross, that needed only the slightest touch to break the deadlock. Nicklas Bendtner's outstretched leg almost reached it, but instead it fell onto the diving head of Alex Song. Rob Green never stood a chance; the Emirates in ecstasy, West Ham hearts broken. 

Before the goal however, they'd had another lucky set of escapes. Twice the penalty area like a pinball machine. Chance after chance spurned by Arsenal, the East Londoners lucky to come away unscathed. Then only to play out the remaining minutes. The Hammers, previously content to waste as much time as possible, found a new vigour about themselves, pushing for the equaliser, but to no avail. Not even a half-decent opportunity on goal could they muster, let alone the finish they so desired. Nervy moments nonetheless; it was one of those games in which anything could happen; even at that late, and outplayed stage. The Gunners held on, to achieve a well deserved win, the 3 points keeping them in second place.

The title race seems to be over before it even began, Chelsea 5 points clear already, the title must be theirs. Now all that remains is to determine the positions of the rest, and to fight for silverware on other fronts. Right now, I feel that second should be ours, leaving City, United and Spurs to slug it out for the last two Champions League places.

City v Arsenal & Newcastle v Arsenal round up...

City:

To be fair, it's hard to draw any real conclusions from the game as to whether we've progressed (or matured) from last season on Saturday's game. Like it or not a red card so early in the game did change it. However, much as everyone's been saying he now fantastic, I feel that Fabianski's goalkeeping was still suspect in the areas he always used to have problems in. He has always had really good reactions, pulling of some fantastic saves, as he did against City, however my problem with him is that he's not decisive enough when a ball is put into the box, it's always 'do I go, or do I stay on my line?' and in the end, he never really does either - and was lucky not to concede from it against City. 

I don't feel that it's possible not to be disappointed at Fabregas not scoring the penalty - you just can't not from 12 yards. Like every other one he's taken this season, it wasn't great, they've all gone to the goalie's left, at the middle of the post (heightwise). A good penalty is taken into one of the corners of the goal, and Fabregas just isn't doing that. In terms of the goals though, they were fantastic. It was a great bit of build up play, and 1-2 for Nasri's and Song's really was a screamer - even if it was from inside the box. As for Bendtner's it was great to see him back and scoring; and not a bad goal to boot!!!

Newcastle:

Again it's hard to judge the performance, because Newcastle really weren't up to much. Not because they're a bad team, just the side they fielded was somewhat understrength. The first goal was hilarious and merited, the second was just a teeny bit offside (Bendtner was interfering & Walcott looked like he was off) but a technically brilliant finish from Walcott nonetheless. The third from Bendtner was brilliant, the #52 of old would have put that miles over the bar, so his game has certainly progressed. From a similar position, it was even better than his one at City, with even more that he had to do. Walcott's fourth was, I think, Thierry Henry - esque. The burst of pace and quality finish, just stroking it into the net...

In summary:

It seems that the pressure is really on Wenger to win a trophy this season, and - no matter what he says - our strategy has changed, and we really are going for it. If you believe an old Sky Sports news report though, we won it (when we actually lost to Chelsea) in 2007. Wenger really is going to have a nice headache now though, with Szczesy & Fabianski impressing, who does he go with. Bendtner's only just back and already in the goals, Vela still looks quality & Walcott's back too. He really is going to have trouble finding a strongest first XI.

Arsenal vs Shakhtar

Unusually, on recent form, I came away from the Emirates happy. Our preceding two home games, I came away  from dissatisfied (to say the least) we really were poor. On Tuesday's performance though, things would appear to have picked up somewhat. Jack Wilshere's last appearance for a fortnight was superb, and capped with  a quality goal, with a fantastic build up. To be honest though, the thing that made the game was the reception Eduardo got, both when he came onto the pitch and after his goal. It's a remarkable change from one of the most hostile atmospheres I've ever seen there (aimed at the referee soon after the penalty in the Birmingham game), to one of the friendliest I've seen. I shows just how much of an Arsenal legend he was/is. 

Back to the game though, I was impressed by how much more flowing we were in attack; we really did look much better following Fabregas' return. Although I don't like to have a go at the players, I really do think that not playing Diaby made a humongous difference. Against Birmingham, every time we were looking to counter, the ball got moved to Diaby, and suddenly everything stopped. All the momentum just ceased, and we started going backwards. 

Not only did we look better than previously, there were two new Champions League records set. With 14 goals from three games, Arsenal have set a record for the most goals scored in the first three games. Not only that, Marouane Chamakh became the first ever player to score in 6 consecutive Champions League games - a record started last season at Bordeaux. Now we have the luxury of being able to qualify for the last 16 by taking 3 points from the 3 remaining games. No disrespect to them, but I feel that we should manage to beat Shakhtar next time out. After that, the Braga and Partizan games should be a good run out for the younger players; much like against Olymiacos last season.

The story of the week though, is Wayne Rooney's determination to leave United. Arsenal are being quoted odds of 25/1 to sign him, and Arsene Wenger has said that the matter is "too sensitive" to comment on. On occasion this has meant that he's interested, though I'm sceptical. Much as I'm not keen on him, I'd never turn down the chance to have a striker of his quality available - that and as a club we'd have majorly got one over on United.