Arsenal won 4-0 in the Midlands back in 2002/03 and grabbed a 3-0 win the following season, but since then Arsene Wenger’s men have tasted victory just once and Saturday’s draw, like the one two years ago, has put the skids on the Gunners’ title charge.

Sami Nasri’s 81st-minute strike looked like being enough for Arsenal. It was strike good enough to win any game and if he pulls a few more of those out the bag between now and the end of the season, then he should find himself in South Africa with France, who are currently eighth favourites in the World Cup 2010 online betting.

However, on Saturday sub Kevin Phillips popped up to equalise at the death, leaving the Gunners four points behind leaders Manchester United.

It was a shattering blow and just as damaging as the one struck by James McFadden two years ago when he rescued a late point for Birmingham against the Gunners in a 2-2 draw.

That game was marred by the horrific injury to Eduardo and although there were no leg breaks this time, Cesc Fabregas did pick up a knock which almost forced him off. Arsene Wenger was keen to keep him on even with Wednesday’s tussle with Barcelona looming. The midfielder is facing a few days of intensive treatment on the heavy blow he took from Craig Gardner.

Wenger, who ahead of the game said he had not forgiven Martin Taylor for his lunge on Eduardo two years ago, described the tackle as “another bad one” but he is hopeful Fabregas will line up against Barca.

Still it was another disappointing end to a trip to Birmingham, which at one state looked like being a victorious one despite The Gunners not being at their free-flowing best. Arsenal’s Premier League betting odds suggest they are still in with a chance of the title, but Wenger will know his side cannot afford to slip up again.

St Andrew’s was thought to have had a 100-year curse placed on it when it was built something, which prompted former boss Barry Fry to urinate in all four corners of the ground in the 1990s to try and lift the hex.

The so-called curse was lifted in 2006, but try telling that to Wenger who might well have been advised to take a toilet stop on the pitch before leaving on the team bus in preparation for next season’s visit.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

St Andrew’s curse halts Gunners

This post is from: Arsenal Online

St Andrew’s curse halts Gunners

The match was an open encounter with plenty of chances for both sides, Fabregas hitting the post in the first half and Rosicky the bar in the second.

Here was how Arsenal lined up :

Almunia
Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Clichy
Fabregas, Rosicky, Denilson,
Ramsey, Arshavin
Eduardo

Arsenal went into the game knowing a win would put them back on top of the table with games with Manchester Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool to follow in the next fortnight.

The Gunners didn’t settle well in the first half, but were unlucky not to go ahead when a moment of Fabregas magic got him past two men, his strike beating Friedel in goal but coming back off the far post.

Vermaelen appeared to pick up a knock on the shin on the half hour mark and had to be replaced by Sol Campbell, an injury that will be a worry for Wenger ahead of Sunday’s match with Man Utd. Credit to old man Campbell though, he had a solid game after coming on as substitute.

Arsenal sustained another injury in the second half, Eduardo pulling out of the chase for the ball with what looked like a thigh strain. At least the Villa man put the ball out of play when this occurred though; let’s hope Everton saw that…

Eduardo’s injury brought about the introduction of Bendtner, who looked a little rusty and short of a bit of pace but his return is certainly welcome, what with the state our attacking players are in (mostly injured, that is).

The game opened up a great deal in the second half, and I would have found both sides counter attacking exciting if my nerves weren’t completely wrecked and I hadn’t chewed through half my fingernails. Arsenal had a handful of chances but couldn’t convert.

I’d being thinking to myself that if we came through the 4 games with Villa, Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool with 10 points I would be a happy Gooner. It looks then that the Gunners will just have to go and beat Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool to satisfy me then.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Aston Villa 0 – 0 Arsenal match report

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Aston Villa 0 – 0 Arsenal match report

Van Persie battles in the air

Here’s how Arsenal lined up :

Fabianski,

Sagna, Toure, Song, Gibbs,

Nasri, Denilson, Diaby, Fabregas,

Arshavin, Van Persie

Adebayor was apparently absent with a groin injury, read into that what you will.

Arsenal gave a good account of themselves in the first half, while not threatening the Manchester Utd goal greatly, they made up for a slightly shaky first 5 minutes by taking control of the game.

Down she goes...

Arsenal kept the ball well and were making Manchester Utd chase them. Manchester Utd showed plenty of signs of frustration and gave away multiple free kicks. Rooney was finding himself spending a lot of time tracking back deep into his own half to help defend against a commanding Arsenal midfield, while Ronaldo did he usual routine of falling over and rolling about on the floor as soon as someone so much as breathed on him.

Arshavin showed maturity again when he didn’t complain when given a yellow card by the referee. Arshavin made no contact whatsoever before the dive of Carrick but let’s face it there is no point in arguing with a ref once he’s made his mind up.

Arsenal came out battling in the second half, Van Persie and Fabregas and Nasri all putting hard challenges in on Evra, Fabregas and Nasri both picking up yellow cards for their challenges.

Shortly after Ferguson replaced Tevez with Park, a moment which saw the fire-engine faced Scot booed by his own fans whilst on the verge of winning the Premiership title and the Argentinian blowing kisses and what seemed like farewell waves to the home fans, Walcott and Bendtner replaced Arshavin and Nasri in the 69th minute. 8 minutes later Eboue replaced Gibbs.

Arsenal had a few efforts at goal but couldn’t convert. Overall Manchester Utd seemed happy to settle for the draw that meant they would claim the title.

It was a better team performance from the Gunners in a game that didn’t really mean anything to them but pride. The defence looked more solid than recent performances, but were not put under any sustained pressure by Manchester.

Fabianski had a decent game in goal though, coming out quickly to sponge up balls behind the defence and making a couple of confident claims from crosses.

Alexandre Song continued in his improvement and had a pretty solid game in the centre of defence. Van Persie had a couple of decent headed efforts but couldn’t find the back of the net.

With only next Sunday’s game at home to Stoke left of Arsenal’s season, the speculation has already started. More on that soon.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Manchester Utd claim title with goalless draw.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Manchester Utd claim title with goalless draw.

Well, I am here to tell you that there is no disgrace in the way Arsenal have performed with an injury depleted squad this season, and certainly reaching 2 semi-finals and securing Champions League football for next season is nothing to be ashamed of.

Yes, defeat to Manchester United the other evening was a crushing blow for all of us but Arsenal have much to be proud of and Arsenal fans have much to look forward to.
The two early goals that Man Utd scored were a sucker punch, a hammer blow. The first goal was caused by an unfortunate and forgiveable slip from youngster Gibbs and the second was an unstoppable Ronaldo thunderbolt. Arsenal had shown early promise, but once the goals went in Man Utd had a huge advantage and did not need to take any risks and could concentrate on defending their position; making a comeback for Arsenal difficult at best.

Many people are calling for a complete overhaul in the summer with signings to seemingly replace the whole squad. While I agree that the squad could do with some strengthening, I think the calls for a mass upheaval are short-sighted.

Whilst our rivals have spent themselves into massive debt to compete, Wenger has built a strong young team for a tiny percentage of the cash spent by other clubs, and Arsenal have been competing at the highest level but just fell short of the standard this season.

Many fans would seemingly have Arsenal spending themselves into debt to get themselves to the very highest level, but this is a blatantly unsustainable trend. I for one would rather see the team spend within their means and safeguard the future of the club rather than bankrupt themselves – it is only a matter of time before our competitors find themselves in this sort of monetary trouble.

I would also remind people who say that Wenger is scared to reach for his cheque book that he spent a good deal of money on Nasri in the summer (another player who has yet to reach his potential) and broke the club transfer record for Arshavin during (or slightly after ) the transfer window.

There is change underfoot in the Arsenal board room and I expect Wenger to make a signing or two in the summer; but we do not need to get ourselves into that sort of debt.

The key for Wenger’s strategy is to keep the squad he has built together as it matures, something I agree he failed in doing last summer and which has cost us this season. But next year the team will mature further and will feature a Champions League squad bolstered by Andrei Arshavin, something I am really looking forward to – look at the impact he has already made in the Premiership.

Even Adebayor was quoted yesterday as calling for signings, a position I find ironic because all that Arsenal really lack apart from another steady central defender is a top-class goal-scorer – which I would have no problem with Arsenal financing through the sale of Adebayor.

Furthermore, whilst Arsenal were humbled by the master-class Manchester Utd gave them, they did not disgrace themselves in the sort of way the Chelsea players did yesterday evening with their shameful and petulant display at the end of the defeat to Barcelona. There are indeed more important things than football results, and I happen to believe that grace and sportsmanship are but two of those things.

I’m not saying that Arsenal are necessarily going to magically transition into the best team in the world next season, nor am I saying that Arsenal’s season has been a disaster or that the team are useless. In other words, football (and indeed life) is not black and white like a Newcastle shirt but a palette of greys like Liverpool’s awfully hideous away kit.

Unlike the ageing Chelsea squad, the Arsenal team have time on their side, these players all have long careers ahead of them and I truly believe that in time they will deliver triumph and deliver that elusive Champions League trophy.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Keep the faith – All is not lost for Arsenal

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Keep the faith – All is not lost for Arsenal

Van Persie scored his penalty well

An inspired Arsenal performance saw the Gunners breeze past their Spanish opposition to book their place in an all English Semi Final against Manchester UTD.

Walcott chips Lopez

Arsenal got off to a great start to the game and had Villarreal on the back foot right from the kick off.

Walcott, who gave the Villarreal left back Capdevila problems with his pace all evening, charged onto a through-ball from Fabregas on the edge of the box and chipped sublimely over Lopez in the Villarreal goal to open the scoring for Arsenal in the 10th minute.

Arsenal were in the driving seat and with the exception of a few nervous moments at the start of the second half, continued to dominate the game – Villarreal were out-played and showed little signs of the excellent passing, attacking football they showed in the first leg in Spain last week.

Adebayor with a good finish

The Arsenal players gave excellent performances all over the pitch, except for the notably poor performance of Adebayor. We won the game and Ade took his goal well so I do not wish to nit-pick too much, but that really seem to me like it was the only thing he did right all night. He is so inconsistent, regularly giving the ball away or getting offside, which of course has the same effect. Very frustrating.

Score Adebayor did though, when Van Persie picked a great pass to Ade in space, and the Togolese striker made no mistake in slotting past the keeper with outside of his right boot.

Arsenal’s next goal came in contentious circumstances when Walcott was adjudged to have been fouled by Godin within the Villarreal area and Arsenal were awarded a penalty. The Villareal players were incensed and surrounded the referee, only making the matter worse for them when Eguren was booked a second time and sent off for his complaints.

Lopez remonstrates with the ref.

Van Persie stepped up and kept a cool head after all the drama and remonstrations, slotting a strong left foot shot to the keeper’s left. 3 – 0 Arsenal and game over.

10 man Villarreal offered little further threat and appeared resigned to their fate.

Here’s what Wenger had to say at his post-match news conference :

“We used our passing well and gave them a lot of problems. We were explosive on the counter-attack, We sent out a very offensive team and we played in a convincing way. I was impressed with our quality and speed.

Villarreal have a good technical level but we gave them problems they didn’t like.”

As I mentioned earlier, I thought with the exception of Adebayor all the Gunners played excellently, and played great attacking football which protected a depleted back four very well. In particular Walcott and the rest of the midfield all had excellent games, and Arsenal’s quick and incisive passing kept Villarreal out of the game.

Van Persie slots the penalty home

Altogether it was a highly satisfactory performance that will have left Gunners fans very pleased with a team that on the form shown last night should have nothing to fear against Manchester Utd in the next round.

Arsenal have a busy fixture list in front of them before that, taking on Chelsea in the F.A. Cup Semi Final this weekend and facing off against Liverpool in the Premier League next week.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal book place in Champions League semi

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal book place in Champions League semi

The Wenger Dance

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal 3 – 0 Villareal (4-1 agg.) – The Wenger Dance

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal 3 – 0 Villareal (4-1 agg.) – The Wenger Dance

Van Persie celebrates his goal

Here’s how the Gunners lined up at the start :

Almunia

Sagna,Toure, Gallas, Clichy

Eboue, Denilson, Diaby, Nasri

Van Persie, Bendtner.

Arsenal started the game very well and at a fast pace, zipping passes around the Emirates pitch.

Beast's got wind

Wenger had clearly decided to pack the midfield, and in an interesting experiment, Bendtner was spending much of his time wide on the left while Nasri played more through the middle and just behind Van Persie. This certainly seemed to have its desired effect of shaking up the Italians as Arsenal took command of the game from early on.

Nasri got free down the right on the 6th minute, and pulled a good pass back to Bendtner in acres of space in the box. Bendtner showed the first touch of an elephant though, and missed his chance to shoot as the ball rolled lamely away from him.

Arsenal were really on top of the game in the first half. Nasri and Diaby, who was returning from injury, were commanding through the middle of the park, while Eboue and Sagna were running amok down the right against Riise, who was frequently stranded.

One thing you couldn’t call Italian teams is sportsmanlike (diving, fouling, match fixing, bribery, Berlusconi – pick any!) and Roma showed plenty of this in the first half, putting in plenty of fouls as Arsenal ran rings around them.

It was this side of Roma’s game that lead to Arsenal’s goal. Mexes, who had already received a yellow card, bringing down Van Persie in the penalty area. Somehow Mexes was not given a second yellow card, but Van Persie stepped up to the penalty spot and drove a powerful shot into the bottom corner.

Van Persie took his penalty well

In an incredibly bizarre start to the second half, the referee started the game before Gallas and Toure had even come out of the tunnel. Toure was booked for belatedly running straight on the pitch, but I have more questions about this incident than answers. Why did the ref start the game without 22 players on the pitch? What was going on with Toure and Gallas; were they having another lovers tiff in the dressing room? Very strange indeed and a scrappy start to the half for Arsenal.

Arsenal didn’t seam to let the messy start to the half sit on their minds for too long though, and Arsenal were soon dominating again, attacking Roma with impressive pace and power, in particular Diaby and Eboue striding forward from midfield.

Bendtner had a chance to make amends for his earlier lack of finishing, but blasted a shot over the bar, after some neat Arsenal passing and a pass from Van Persie. Another missed chance as Eboue picked up on a defensive mistake, turned on to his right and shot wide from close range. He really should have scored.

Diaby had a good shot well saved by the keeper, turning on the edge of the box to hit a low left foot shot, which the keeper was stretched to get fingertips to.

Diaby was forced off by injury though, to be replaced by Song, and Arsenal almost immediately were missing the attacking edge that Diaby had provided.

Eboue battled well

Ramsey came on for Eboue late in the game, Eboue was given a good reception by an Emirates crowd in much better cheer than late.

Roma had a couple of long range efforts but really it wasn’t much of  a contest for large periods of the game. You will remember however that Roma showed a similar performance away to Chelsea in the group stages, and performed much better back in Rome.

The main worry for Arsenal fans after a match that saw Arsenal put in a much better performance than recently and created a lot of good chances to score,  was that Arsenal will travel to Rome with just that 1 goal lead, when it could have been much more and the tie should have been out of Roma’s reach. Still the main thing is that Arsenal did not concede, and there were much better performances all over the pitch.

There are still players to return for Arsenal, and tonight’s performance highlighted what a key player Diaby is in the absence of Fabregas in midfield. When he was forced off injured, Arsenal were showing the same lack of ideas going forward that we are all so familiar with,  Song only seems to ever look for a sideways pass.

Still a win is a win and it was a good performance. I’m sorry if recent events have made me pessimistic, but I hope Arsenal do not rue all those missed chances.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal 1 – 0 Roma – Match report

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal 1 – 0 Roma – Match report

Nasri

Another home game against struggling opposition and another dull and dreary draw for the Arsenal.

In a match that saw new signing Andrei Arshavin make his début, Arsenal again failed to get on the score sheet, making it 3 scoreless draws in a row and 4 successive draws in the league. Certainly not the form of champions, and enough to drive fans and this blogger to distraction.

Here’s how Arsenal lined up at the start :

Almunia,

Sagna, Gallas, Toure, Clichy,

Nasri, Denilson, Song, Arshavin,

Bendtner, Van Persie

Arsenal started off brightly enough, with Arshavin showing flashes of brilliance on his début and having a couple of shots at goal early on.

Arsenal did create chances on goal, but spurned them, Van Persie getting through 1 on 1 early on but curling his shot just past the post.

Bendtner also had a header saved by the keeper and Toure went close from a corner, but his header was cleared off the line by defender Andy Reid.

Arshavin was substituted by Vela on the hour mark, the Russian clearly not yet up to level of fitness required for the Premiership, having joined Arsenal during the Russian winter break.

Arshavin showed good signs of things to come

Vela had a bit of a nightmare once he came on, having twice got himself in to positions where he had a chance to shoot on goal, but scuffing his shots terribly on both occasions.

And that was it, bar a couple more chances from Gallas and Van Persie, not much else to say about this game. It was a game when lower league opposition came to the Emirates, played tough and packed the defence and midfield with bodies, as they are obliged to to try to get a point from a game against the likes of Arsenal, and Arsenal failed to dominate and break down their opponents and wasted what chances they had to score.

The Arsenal midfield is still a concern, while Arshavin showed a good insight of things to come, he is not close to the the fitness required. Denilson had an average game but is not the issue here, whereas Song was pretty woeful and the midfield lacked the creativity required to open up Sunderland.

Still, Arsenal have plenty of talent to return in the coming months, but at this point it looks like it will be almost certainly too late to get a Champions League spot for next season.

Tomorrow’s match with Roma could be a different prospect, it should hopefully be a more open game, which Arsenal seem more comfortable competing in.

Until then.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal 0 – 0 Sunderland – Match report

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal 0 – 0 Sunderland – Match report

The match saw the extremely welcome return from injury of Eduardo.

Here’s how Arsenal lined up at the start :

Fabianski

Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Gibbs

Nasri, Song, Denilson, Vela

Eduardo, Bendtner

Arsenal started brightly with Bendtner having a chance to head at goal, and Vela having a fierce shot saved by Cardiff keeper Heaton.

Arsenal, perhaps spurred on by the return of Eduardo, displayed the sort of passing and movement that has been missing from their game for quite some time. For the first time in a while it felt good to be a gooner again.

It was to be Eduardo’s night, he was quickly on the pace and showed the sort of piercing attacking threat Arsenal have missed in a lacklustre strike-force. He played with real purpose, and from his form and poise you could be forgiven for thinking he had never been away.

It wasn’t long before Eduardo created an opening, slipping the ball to Vela on the left and continuing in to the box, Vela chipped a cross back in to Eduardo, who met the ball with a powerful and well-placed header past the keeper and the Emirates crowd were rapturous in their praise of the striker.

Arsenal made it 2-0 when Bendtner rose to meet a Nasri corner at the near post, directing a glancing header past Heaton.

Arsenal were camped out in the Cardiff half and were creating plenty of chances on goal, Arsenal could have had a few more goals but for Cardiff keeper Heaton protecting his goal under the storm of shots. This was displayed when Vela brought the ball down excellently in the box, turned and shot, Heaton blocking off his shot. Bendtner met the rebound but shot on the post, met the rebound again off the post, but was denied again from very close range by Heaton.

Eduardo got a second goal when he was bundled over in the box by Gavin Rae for a penalty. Eduardo stepped up, placed the ball on the spot and slotted a side-footed shot in to the right of the keeper, as the keeper dived to his left. Eduardo turned away to the applause of every Arsenal fan on his feet, and went to be congratulated by those instrumental in his recupperation on the Arsenal team bench.

Eduardo was replaced by Van Persie around the 70th minute, and Ramsey also came on to replace Nasri.

Arsenal added a fourth goal at the end when Bendtner set Van Persie free, the Dutchman slotting the ball coolly through the keeper’s legs.

There were excellent performances all over the field from Arsenal; Eduardo, Nasri and Vela in particular having great games. Arsenal were given the sort of time and space on the ball that they will not be afforded by top-class opposition and will have to continue improving as they did last night if they are to grab that Champions League spot.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal 4 – 0 Cardiff City, Match report

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Arsenal 4 – 0 Cardiff City, Match report

Eboue got 2 yellow cards

10 man Arsenal fought hard to  see out a scoreless draw against Tottenham at White Hart Lane yesterday.

Here’s how Arsenal lined up at the start :

Almunia,

Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy

Eboue, Song, Denilson, Nasri

Van Persie, Adebayor

New signing Andrei Arshavin was an unused sub along with, in an encouraging sign of things soon to come, Eduardo for the first time since his horrific injury.

It certainly wasn’t a boring game, despite the lack of goals, with plenty of action right from the start.

The game started at a fast pace, and Tottenham’s re-captured front-man Keane tried to argue for a penalty very early on.

Surprisingly, Arsenal’s early threat came thanks to an excellent start to the game from Eboue, who made a great surging run down the right flank, swapping a one-two with Van Persie and continuing into the box, before firing a low shot across Cudicini, although he would perhaps have been better served by pulling it back to Adebayor in the middle.

Arshavin and Eduardo were on the bench

Shortly after, Arsenal had the ball in the back of the Spurs net but the goal was disallowed by referee Mike Dean for a shove by Eboue.  Eboue had created the chance, picking up a loose ball on the edge of the Spurs box and dribbling to the byline before crossing back to Adebayor, whose shot was blocked by the keeper. Eboue collected the rebound and shot into the net, but play was called back for a push in the back of Woodgate by Eboue.

At this point, despite the goal being disallowed, I had been pleasantly surprised by the performance of Eboue, who had been the heart of Arsenal’s creativity. He was playing with a lot of passion and seemed to be getting all over the pitch at a pace that saw him leaving Spurs players flailing in his drift whenever he got on the ball.

This however was when it started to go wrong for Eboue. Sagna went in strongly for a header against Modric and the ref gave Tottenham a free-kick. There was probably not a lot wrong with the challenge, but Eboue got himself needlessly involved, remonstrating with the referee and earning himself a yellow card for dissent.

Following this Spurs started to get more of the ball and Modric and Lennon combined to test the Arsenal defence on a couple of occasions, Lennon shooting wide and Modric testing Almunia, who saved a shot well down low to his right.

Eboue sees red

Clichy’s tenacity created a chance when he chased a loose pass down to the Tottenham byline, robbed the ball from Corluka who was trying to shepherd it out for a goal kick and crossed low to Adebayor sliding in, who failed to get a toe on the end of it.

That was Adebayor’s last chance of the afternoon however, as he pulled up when chasing a long ball, with what looked to be a hamstring injury and was replaced by Bendtner.

Things got worse as the hot-headedness of Eboue proved to be his undoing. He was fouled by Modric, who earned a yellow card for the challenge, but kicked out in petulant Beckham style at the Spurs player, and after some delay was shown a second yellow and a red by referee Mike Dean, Arsenal left to fight for the rest of the game with 10 men.

Too often this season many Arsenal players could be criticised for playing with too little urgency and passion, but yesterday Eboue’s temperament ruined the game for Arsenal. Both of the yellow cards he picked up were completely pointless bookings; not recieved for hard but necessary tackles to stop the opponents from creating chances, but through needless niggling with the referee and petulantly kicking out at an opposition player. He let the occasion get the better of him and today will come in for much criticism from Arsenal fans for leaving his teammates to battle out the game a man down.

I was left thinking that if we could somehow cross-breed Adebayor, with his grossly indifferent performances of late (no criticism on yesterdays game and I wish him a swift recovery from injury) and Eboue, with his rash and hot-headed behaviour, we might meet somewhere in the middle and get a first-class player!

Van Persie

Arsenal wanted to win the game even with 10 men, and kept Van Persie and Bendtner upfront after Eboue’s departure, with Denilson, Song and Nasri left in midfield.

In the second half, Spurs with their man advantage saw more of the ball and had a couple of decent spurned chances on goal. Arsenal attempts on goal were rare until later in the second half, when they had some opportunities, mostly from corners and on the break. One of the best chances saw Song volley wide from Van Persie’s corner.

Gael Clichy sustained a nasty head injury challenging for a header, and was down on the ground with blood pouring from his head as the repugnant Spurs reprobates chanted “same old Arsenal, always cheating”. What scum.

Bendtner had a great chance near the end of the game when Van Persie set Bendtner free in space, who unleashed a vicious rising shot at the Spurs goal, but it was tipped over the bar well by Cudicini.

Spurs had one more chance on the break with Arsenal stretched, but Almunia came out speedily to block Modric’s shot well.

Arsenal fought bravely to win the point, there were pretty much equal chances for the two teams in the second half, and the game could have gone either way. Arsenal defended solidly though, and in the circumstances one has to be happy with the point.

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Tottenham 0 – 0 Arsenal – Match Report

This post is from: Arsenal Online

Tottenham 0 – 0 Arsenal – Match Report