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Gary Lewin was on the Arsenal bench for his 1000th. game and before he’d properly settled down Thierry had given us the lead. A tidy move had Cesc playing it wide and ball in to Henry was played back to Reyes who returned the favour by heading it back, leaving Henry to hit it with his left peg past Cech for a beautiful goal. The Arsenal crowd were up for it and so it seemed were the Arsenal team. 1-0 Arsenal and the Champions were hitting their stride early, very early.
Neither team was able to dominate the match for any decent length of time and Chelski were quite happy for any of their players to hack an Arsenal man if it meant stopping a quick break, it didn’t bother Graham Poll too much either. Fat Frankie was keen to axe down Henry in full flight and definitely should have been booked for a vicious tackle on Lauren. Chelsea played some neat passes at this stage but they were pretty well all in their own half. Almunia had an easy take to settle any nerves and didn’t react as Robben clattered into him quite deliberately. Cesc played controlled passes from the off and a great ball forward, one of many almost found Henry but Terry cut it out.
The men in blue were suckers for an offside, none more so than Gudjohnsen whose reaction to the flag being raised was very girly. Gudjohnsen and Henry were both caught offside again before Fat Frankie had a shot that was very well saved by Manuel. The head of Terry at our near post met Robben’s inswinging corner with Sol nowhere in sight. A crap defensive set piece play, no change there then. 1-1 and a pitiful waste once again of our previous good play. In open play Arsenal were at least as good as Chelski but for set plays the only Arsenal players or fans prepared were those wearing brown trousers. We responded almost immediately and Cole very nearly saw Henry latch onto his pass close to goal. Almunia meantime was called upon to save at the feet of Gudjohnsen, which he did well.
Gudjohnsen had another shot saved that we scrambled clear, fortunately the resulting corner came to nothing this time. Pires broke and was hacked down by Terry, which was quite ok because the prat Poll was refereeing, or not as the case may be. Arsenal played some good stuff as when Pires, Flamini and Dennis combined to win a corner. Arsenal continued to press but a Robben solo set up Taigo whose shot was well wide. Kolo axed Gudjohnsen who quite enjoys pushing players when he can’t beat them, which was pretty well all the time against Cole.
Henry was fouled on a run and an advantage was played which Pires took on but was brought down as he skated past his third opponent. It was a way outside their box and Cech was busy lining up his wall when Henry hit the ball into the opposite corner. I recall an infamous incident when Chelski did something similar with Poll actually standing over the ball so the defenders couldn’t see it. This was a great laugh but Robben clearly doesn’t know the rules and was so incensed that he talked his way into to Poll’s book. The mouthy feckwit continued to prattle at Poll even after being given his yellow card.
Arsenal maintained control and the Arsenal crowd were at full throttle alongside the team, lovely stuff. There followed a period where we seemed to win every tackle to thunderous applause, as when Lauren took the ball and Gallas with great gusto.
Chelski twitched a bit and skied a few balls at this point. When they did mount anything in the way of an attack there was no end product. A fast break had Henry down the left hitting a long far post ball to Rob whose shot was hit into the ground and saved on the first bounce. Duff and Robben switched wings to no effect and Dennis chased down their keeper whose partial clearance was fired back first time by the sprinting Reyes, well off target of the empty net unfortunately.
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Bridges and Drogba replaced Carvalho and Tiago at half time. With Gallas moving to centre back. Robben won a free kick wide left which Poll made him retake. An unfortunate decision. The ball in this time was met by Drogba at the far post, he headed it back, and the ball bounced up and Gudjohnsen headed home 2-2. Yet more poor defensive play from a set piece. Henry gave Pires a good chance almost immediately. Lauren was once more chopped on a run but only a free kick resulted. The Gooners were still stunned as Fat Frankie had a shot that won a corner.
A word or two about young Cesc and Mathieu is in order at this juncture, because they had both worked their rocks off. Cesc’s passing is classier than pretty well every player in the Premiership and given enough first team outings Flamini could probably cover as much ground as anyone you care to name, this was his best game to date and both of them put in stunning performances. Set plays remained our downfall and Lampard headed over from a deep corner with no one even thinking about marking him, no red shirt was even close. His pathetic header over was pitiful and our pathetic marking was truly awful. Adams and Graham must have been banging their heads on a wall if they watched this.
Gudjohnsen had a turn at chopping down Pires on a fast break, really cynical stuff this and a clear indication that Mourinho’s players were under instructions to prevent every fast break, if they could, by any means possible. Henry found Cesc with a neat pass but even his quick feet couldn’t set up a perfect shot. Makelele must be very closely related to Poll because his elbows had been especially sharpened for the match and I have no idea why he wasn’t booked. Makelele then hacked Henry and still no card from the tosser who used to known as the ‘Tring Trigger’. Dennis set up Reyes with a shot, shortly after our Spaniard was flagged offside when he quite clearly wasn’t.
A very well worked move as Arsenal began to flow again was shot wide from Henry, it may even have been deflected by Cole’s heel. Chelski had a spell of pressure but Arsenal held firm. A free kick against Sol was given wide left but Almunia caught the cross. Drogba chopped Pires on a break. A great run by Robben got the Chelski fans at it as they saw the net bulge, but it was only the side netting. Robben was clearly offside on another break but the bald prat in front of the West Stand was as inept as Poll. Another fine Arsenal move followed. Lauren was chopped by Fat Frankie who was finally given a yellow card.
The game was anyone’s now with Pires at one end and Robben at the other. Cesc and Pires did brilliantly to set up henry with a golden chance and how he missed it I have no idea. It had been a blinding move and very worthy of a goal. Cole was booked for not a lot on Robben just after Parker replaced Gudjohnsen to shore up their midfield. There was a corner to us followed almost instantly by a corner to them. Another brown trouser moment followed with a free header for Terry being headed clear over our bar by Makelele.
Van Persie and Clichy replaced Dennis and José with just eight minutes remaining. Robin was shoved twice before he’d even touched the ball and went very close indeed with a shot that whistled past the post after Cesc the wonderkid had played yet another perfect ball. Pires was shoved over in the box but no way was Poll giving us a penalty. It was a storming finish from Arsenal. But Chelski still won another corner, which Rob hoofed clear. Almunia was also out to hoof clear on another Chelski break down the middle. Flamini was still working his rocks off as the final whistle went, I’m fully convinced about his ability after this match.
Given the odd Chelski missed chance and Henry’s miss this match could have gone either way. Had we defended set plays even moderately well however we would have stuffed them.