Hopefully the first goal (although heavily deflected) will help Eduardo’s confidence. Nasri’s initial work on his goal was great. Typical Arsenal goal, tons of passing and an exquisite finish.
Convincing win. Villareal didn’t test us as I thought they would. The game was wide open to start and after Adebayor missed a chance set up by Fabregas, I thought we had missed a great opportunity. Walcott’s composure on the first goal was sublime, almost Velaesque. Villareal didn’t create enough chances and their attack was fairly benign. Adebayor’s goal came minutes after he was caught offside on an Arsenal counter-attack. He’s unbelievably crappy and equally brilliant within moments of each other, his missed header in the first half should’ve made it 2-0 (see first half highlights below) but still, I’m happy with his overall game. His goal reminded me of the Henry goal against Spurs. The foul which led to the penalty wasn’t a penalty at all and it resulted in Villareal losing their discipline and the match.
I thought Song was especially good in the middle, he had some great fights for possession which he won. Our back four of Eboue, Gibbs, Toure and Silvestre weren’t tested so that was good. Gibbs picked up an injury late which could be big for the FA Cup semi-final this weekend.
Enjoy the goals and the win. That dance has to go, there’s even a clip of Arsene Wenger doing it after the Adebayor goal. It’s Manchester United in the semi-final. Don’t forget to click on the sponsor, here’s the Match Report.
Good win today. I don’t think Martins’ penalty was that bad, Almunia stretched nicely and guessed right to make the save. This looked like it was going to end up 3-1 from the beginning, RVP missed two first half chances which would’ve blown this match wide open. The more I watch Arhsavin the more I love his game, he’s got the toughness of Flamini and the speed of Clichy, very gritty player that adds a lot to the mix. Too bad he’s cup-tied for the Champions League. The pressure’s on Aston Villa to beat Liverpool now. Man Utd and Chelsea have already lost today. Here’s the Match Report. Arsene Wenger’s very happy in his post-match interview and says that Theo Walcott could be back in 10-12 days and that Adebayor and Fabregas are “not far”. Rosicky though, is very far.
Before we get to the goals and the Almunia save, check out the MOTD Highlights which contains Taylor’s cheap-shot on Arhsavin: