What a dirty load of stampers?
Does Alex Mcleish instruct his players to stamp, even after Eduardo? And hit the Arsenal players AND the ball?
Such fouling wasn’t as much in evidence in the United match.
Take Roger Johnson’s red card offence lunge on Fabregas’s ankle, going in with one foot off the ground, landing on an ankle; or Jermome perpetrating a deliberate stamp on Fabianski;
Or Bowyer stamping on on Sagna twice; or Ridgewell coming in knee first on Walcott and Gardner with a typical ball-but-man-as-well tackle on Wiltshere to name just some some.
Bowyer should be done retrospectively for three games.
Does the Premiership want Birmingham if they go out with the intention of damaging fellow professionals?
It’s a physical game. Hard but fair is OK. But this was hard but unfair.
Arsenal players withstood the test and the provocation. And responded in the best way possible.
Some Arsenal fans think the team has moved on without van Persie. Chamack makes the machine move more slickly. The Dutchman does tend to slow the game down slightly even allowing for his one-footedness. And he holds it up less.
But he creates, he’s incident prone, does the unexpected and hits the best free kick in the team.
He needed three free kicks to set his sights. But on the third on 13, with Fabregas moving cleverly away from the wall, his effort hit Bowyer’s arm, and wrong-footed Foster.
The first goal is important in Premiership games.
Van Persie who was pretty clumsy, missing two one on ones, carelessly handled when going for a clearing header in his own area, but got away with it.
Was the Zigic handball goal in the previous match influencing the referee here?
Hit and miss Walcott made Birmingham play deeper than normal, giving space for Wilshere, Nasri, Fabregas and Song to dominate with intricate passing patterns.
Birmingham’s deep lying defence held the key to the second goal, as Nasri exchanged passes with Fabregas and clamly picked his spot past Foster.
And the third was a Fabregas-Nasri show with the Frenchman laying on a ball to meet the run of the Spaniard, who fired it hard at Foster which resulted in the Birmingham defence becoming a pin-ball wizzard with ball nestling in the net.
After Wigan, a lot of Arsenal fans would have feared Birmingham nicking a goal back, particularly with the 6.7ft Zigic on the bench, who scored a good header at the Emirates.
In the first half, from a Larsson free kick, Djourou failed to head the first ball and from Jerome’s knock on, Johnson clear on the six-yard line, fired it over. Identical geometry to Chelsea’s goal which Ivanovic buried, and similar to Spurs, although that was one-touch off Kaboul’s head.
Is there a hint that Arsene may be cracking in his policy of not buying anyone in the window?
We are always looking, with 20 scouts reporting on players, said the Frenchman in a televised interview today.
Gary Cahill, a good reader of the game, a good interceptor, and good at putting strikers off, and English to boot, could be available. Christopher Samba with height and presence needed to clear those first aerial balls and second balls for that matter could also be available for less. Both have defensive leadership and organisational capability. But can they learn French fast enough to make a difference to the destiny of the title?
Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Fabregas, Nasri, Wilshere(78), Song, Walcott(78), van Persie
Substitutes: Szczesny, Eboue, Squillaci, Arshavin (78),Denilson (78), Rosicky, Bendtner
Birmingham City:Foster, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Beausejour (60), Bowyer (69),Gardner, Ferguson, Larsson, Jerome (79)
Substitutes: Taylor, Jiranek, Fahey, Hleb (60), Phillips (79), Zigic (69)Derbyshire
Referee: Peter Walton