This was not your regular pre-season game, Robin van Persie punctuated a physical and intense tie by scoring in the 88th minute to give Arsenal their second trophy in a week. I’m not much for in-depth analysis of pre-season games but I know that Bakari Sagna looked weak and RVP will score a ton of goals for us. Please don’t hate Hleb, he’s going to be a big asset for us this season, yeah I know he completely disappears for long stretches of the game but he makes up for it with some nice and timely plays. Patience my dear, patience.

Anybody see that play where Eduardo had the ball, got tackled by two defenders, fell down and still managed to control the ball, and as he’s finally getting up they foul him hard. Eduardo’s a fighter. He’s obviously no Henry but the man plays every time he’s in there. I also think Flamini is made of molten lava and Denilson is underrated. Check out the match report, it’s written by professionals. Or if you prefer some really amateur but accurate analysis possibly written by a 6th grader check out post 157 by Grandizer on the Gunnerblog. There’s also some post-match interviews on the Sky Sports website.

Here’s the quote of the match and it comes from the beaten Dennis Rommedahl:

“I don’t see [Arsenal] as a candidate for the title”

Thoughts? No? Well, I have some. It’s going to be tough for us to win the title but we’re definitely a candidate for it. If our strikers stay healthy, our midfielders repeat their performance from last year and our defense gets a little tighter, we’ll be a shoe-in for Champions League play and quite possibly be in contention in April. Rommedahl used to play for Charlton and we’ve kicked their ass so consistently that he probably still has nightmares and just wanted to take a shot at us. Fucker.

I don’t speak a word of Arabic but goals sound better in it:

I was going to post a lot more highlights but both PPMate and Sopcast let me down.

Get the feed. It’s allright.

Not a particularly strong effort on the defensive side of things, those Lazio crosses came too close too often for my comfort. Rosicky was invisible, I even forgot he was playing halfway through the match. Eduardo looks to be a steal at £8 million, he’s a complete player and with Bendtner in there, we look to have a ground and aerial threat.

Senderos was captain today but more importantly he saved Almunia’s ass after he came out and was completely beaten, Senderos’ diving tackle prevented Lazio from going up 1-0. And yes, I’d rather have Sendros as captain than Gallas.

Those third shirts are very, very hideous. Check the match report.

Nicklas Bendtner 1-0 - Tough angle shot.

Goran Pandev 1-1 - Piss poor attempt at a clearance. Almunia should’ve still done better.

Eduardo da Silva 2-1 - Good strong downward header. His first goal at Arsenal.

Get the feed for the hardest working Arsenal blogger.