Arsenal 1 Liverpool 0
Diaby 71
Maybe Wenger’s not bonkers.
Maybe it could develop into a title race.
Suddenly, Chelsea and Man United look a bit vulnerable.
Six games last night, involving eight of the top ten clubs, produced some interesting results.
Manchester United could only draw 1-1 at Aston Villa after having Nani sent off in 30 minutes.
Malouda scored the first goal at Goodison but Everton beat Chelsea 2-1. That was David Moyes’s first win over Chelsea as a manager and Everton’s first win over a Big Four team in 24 attempts in the Premier League.
Louis Saha took John Terry apart, scoring twice from balls JT would normally head away. Saha also missed a penalty and another chance from a Terry error on a high ball down the middle.
The most imaginative signing of the transfer window was Moyes’s capture of Landon Donovan, an experienced player who hit the ground running. Donovan provided the corner from which Saha scored the first goal, and won the penalty by swerving inside Carvalho.
Rafa should have attacked Arsenal when they were wobbly in the first half hour. But he doesn’t know how to attack. A master of attrition, he has created a very, very average Liverpool side. He blew it by looking to nullify Arsenal and maybe nick a goal late on, so the game was very scrappy, lacking rhythm and goalmouth action.
Arsenal’s first half hour contained high anxiety and bad memories, signalling their defeats by Manchester United and Chelsea.
If they lost this game it would have been one point from four games. Wenger knew he had a free week to prepare for Porto but that’s no good if you have lost three games in a row.
Liverpool were organised but created very little and, as usual, David Ngog was powderpuff, easily contained.
Fabregas had a poor game but Bendtner was half-decent game, feeling his way back into competitive action. It was his reverse pass to Rosicky that set up the goal in 71 minutes.
The first 15 minutes, Arsenal were poor, Reina was unemployed, and I couldn’t see Liverpool conceding a goal. After 21, I was watching a different kind of mediocrity to the mediocrity on offer lately.
Then Bendtner blasted a chance over the bar and Nasri had a shot blocked after a Reina punch, Arshavin hit a 22-yarder over the bar, Rosicky replaced Nasri, who went off with a head injury. Fabregas had a bold dribble run and a low shot saved. I figured it would be 0-0 at half-time because that was what Rafa had planned. Lucas went into the box and fired over the bar. He is not a goalscorer, no real scare there. When Ngog broke into the box, Gallas made a textbook tackle. Then Rosicky darted onto a super little pass from Arshavin but miscontrolled in a shooting position on the left.
After 58, with right back Carragher having gone off and Degen having come on, I thought, for the first time, that Arsenal could get a goal.
Bendnter got a yellow card for a dive as Agger seemed to tread on his toe when NB was looking to go over.
Walcott came on for Arshavin, whose hamstring had gone.
Then Bendtner played a ball wide, Rosicky crossed from the right. He could have crossed behind Diaby, or beyond him, but he hit the ball hard and flat to the far post and Diaby scored with a diving header from five yards. It was the first Liverpool had conceded in five Premier league matches. An old-fashioned way of scoring a goal and not one Arsenal use often enough. Sagna for Bendtner seemed to surrender the initiative and then sub Ryan Babel hit a rocket shot which Almunia tipped onto the bar and over.
Another good save came from Fabregas when he handled a free-kick by Gerrard. Fabregas was on the end of the wall, defending a soft free-kick after Kuyt fell over, and he put his arm up.The ball, which was going in, hit his left arm above his head. Good goalkeeping!
Cesc said the ball would have hit his head if it hadn’t hit his arm. No, it wouldn’t. That ball would have gone into the net. Pro players in a wall should be prepared to head free-kicks like that.
A massive win by Arsenal.
A good header by a Frenchman, two good saves by the Spaniards.