Arsenal 3 Aston Villa 2
Oh boy!
Really a game of two halves.
Arsenal didn\’t turn up in the first half.
Why not? Because every football match contains the previous match. This first half contained the three defeats against Fulham, Swansea and Manchester United.
That made the first 45 ropey, tentative, a Cup tie without fire or tempo, as Villa’s marking and hard work nullified the home team.
Against Swansea there was a 40-yard hole where Arteta used to be, and now there was a 60-yard hole where Arteta used to be.
He has nous, experience, old school skills.
Without Arteta, Song has been rubbish and here he was isolated, clueless, playing deeper, so that Arsenal wouldn’t concede the first goal.
As Villa hustled and tackled, they made it look as if nobody wanted the ball from Song. Arsenal tried to use Walcott, tried to release his pace, but that didn’t work.
Then they got mugged by a left wing corner.
Robbie Keane won a corner off Koscielny, Petrov took it short to Keane. He played a schoolboy one-two with Petrov to beat Ramsey easily and hit a lovely cross with his weaker foot. And Richard Dunne headed in from three yards at the far post.
Ramsey’s silent gesture was audible to anyone with eyes. His arms said : What the fuck are you dong?
Two old Irishmen had taken the Arsenal defence apart.
When Oxlade hit a very promising cross to the far post, left back Warnock was well positioned to head it to Robbie Keane, who touched the ball back to Agbonlahor just outside his own penalty area. Agbonlahor hit a raking pass forward to Petrov in the centre circle, Ireland broke to support, his simple pass forward allowed Darren Bent to shoot first time. When Fabianski parried, Bent slotted for 2-0.
An excellent counter-attack, the centre forward scored.
Second half, Arsenal were much livelier without creating much in open play. Ireland kicked a Mertesacker header off the line, from Van Persie’s corner.
After that Villa’s two goalscorers each gave away a stupid penalty.
How\’s that for an FA Cup Pub Quiz question: Which two players scored against Arsenal in the first half and then gave away penalties in the second half?
When Ramsey made a great tackle to win the ball off Ireland near the halfway line, Song broke on the left and played in Ramsey, who was flattened by an agricultural challenge from Richard Dunn.
Ramsey had touched the ball past him into the hand of Shay Given when Dunn hit him, so head no chance to scoring. Van Persie, the penalty king, converted beautifully from the spot.
When Walcott cut in from the right, he tried to nick a shot past Given from close range and the ball bounced across the goalmouth and Hutton kicked the ball against Walcott\’s arm and it went in for 2-2.
Then the bold Koscielny broke upfield with the ball, showing the kind of warrior spirit we love to see, and the panicking Darren Bent mistimed his tackle in the box.
Carlos Cuellar had the situation covered, so Kos would have had to go round Cuellar on the outside, away from the goal. But Bent gave Van Persie another penalty and he converted the second one by shooting the other way for 3-2.
The good news was that Arteta and Sagna came on as subs.
And Oxlade-Chamberlain now looks is if he could be the best England winger since Darren Anderton (30 caps, 7 goals).
As I say, a strange, patchy game notable mainly for gross mistakes by two mediocre teams.
Arsenal were less mediocre, improving after a first half where they just fiddled around, making five-yard passes in their own half So they won 3-2.
SUMMARY : Arsenal conceded two goals in the last 12 minutes of the first half. And then they raised the tempo and scored three goals in the first 16 minutes of the second half.
The game was poised at 2-2 for only four minutes before Darren Bent made that a stupendously stupid lunge in the box, bringing down Koscielny, who had outpaced him with a cavalier run up the left flank. If I remember anything about this match, I’ll remember Koscielny’s run and the supercool penalties by RVP.
FA Cup Fifth Round: Arsenal away to Middlesbrough or Sunderland.
Stevenage v Spurs is an easy FA Cup R5 draw, say Gooners. When I lived in Stevenage they fought their way up into the Southern League.
Stevenage Town v Tottenham Hotspur?
I’d love to be at Broadhall Way for that one.
Last week Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool had a good few days. And Suarez will be back after games 9 and 10 of his ban are completed.
Liverpool v Cardiff will be a memorable Carling Cup Final for Craig Bellamy. He comes from Cardiff and has never played at Wembley.
That Carling Cup Final is on February 26. Same day as Arsenal play Spurs.