SIR ALEX said Arsenal would be top four and better without Henry.
He will have noted their new competitive edge, their late goals against Ajax, Fulham and Sparta Prague.
Fergie will be thinking, “If they beat Blackburn, they’ll beat Man City. And if they beat Man City, they’ll be doing me a favour.”
In Prague, the first half was boring with a lot of fouls and Sparta hit the post in 9 minutes. Or, to be more accurate, Lehmann turned a Rezek shot onto the post with his foot.
Second half, Arsenal played far better, Gallas was tremendous, Sagna looks a helluva player, the defence was solid, and, as the Czechs began to tire, Fabregas scored in 72 and Hleb scored in 92.
This was the kind of team perfomance coaches want away in the Third Qualifying Round : graft hard and improve as the game goes on, keep a clean sheet, score twice in the last half hour, don’t get anybody sent off despite provocation. And enjoy a little bit of luck. Arsene admitted 1-0 might have been a fairer result.
A good aproach is : graft in August and September, sparkle in October. If Arsenal keep playing like this, they’ll win a game 4-0 in October. And if they prove me wrong by winning a game 4-0 in September, I won’t be too upset. Neither will you.
Both goals came from breakaways by the fullbacks, with Cliche zooming down the middle to set up Fabregas, and Sagna zooming down the left to set up Hleb for a one-on-one which he deftly converted.
This 2-0 win in Prague justifies Arsene Wenger’s faith in his side and his recent comments. Last Friday he said, “It looks to me that there are more doubts from outside the club than ever before but we have a strong belief, a great desire for success, a great togetherness and we are very hungry. And the fact that everyone doubts about us reinforces that.”
William Gallas has captained Arsenal to three victories by late goals against Ajax, Fulham and Sparta Prague. Gallas knows that Blackburn are a lot better than Fulham but he will be loving this consistency, this professionalism, this Chelsea-like sequence of wins. As he says, we’ve changed. If the manager has Adebayor, Gilberto and Eduardo fit for Ewood Park, Sunday will be very interesting indeed.
So far, so good. It’s a beginning, yes. But we are seeing a consistency of attitude, a real spirit and desire, a side that is improving from game to game, a team that believes in itself.
If I’ve learned anything about football in the last 40 years, it’s that players believe results. Belief builds sequences and football is a game of sequences.
One of my favourite mantras in July and August is : This season is not last season.
And so far it’s nothing like last season because last season Man City didn’t have Sven and Thaksin’s dubious millions, Tevez and Hargreaves were not at United, Everton were never top of the league, Arsenal were stuttering to 1-1 draws at the Emirates, and Sunderland were not fourth in the Premier League.
And last year Roy Keane wasn’t slaughtering shopaholic WAG’s with comments like “We have had one or two players this year and their wives are clearly part of the package. We had one player this summer who didn’t even have the courtesy to call us back because his wife wanted to move to London – and shopping was mentioned.”
Last season Niall Quinn made me smile and Roy Keane made me laugh, and that continues.
One other thing is the same this season : Didier Drogba is still the best centre forward in world football.
SPARTA PRAGUE (4-4-2): Postulka; Pospech, Kadlec, Repka, Kladrubsky; Abraham, Husek, Horvath (Limbersky, 87), Rezek (Matusovic, 59); Kulic, Dosek.
Subs not used: Kozacyk (gk), Slepicka, Kisel, Brezinsky, Zofcak.
ARSENAL (4-4-1-1): Lehmann; Sagna, Gallas, Touré, Clichy; Eboué, Flamini, Fabregas, Rosicky (Song, 80); Hleb; Van Persie.
Subs not used: Almunia (gk), Senderos, Bendtner, Traoré, Hoyte, Walcott.
Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain).