A scrappy game at Aston Villa but Arsenal scrambled a 1-0 win with a jammy goal by Abou Diaby.
Baptista’s 23-yard shot was going wide as Diaby ran into the box on the left side looking for a pass.And the shot hit Diaby’s right foot and deflected into the other side of the goal.
A COMPLETE FLUKE !!!!
A complete fluke gave Arsenal three points against a Midlands side who have only won two of their last 20 games including this one.
Aston Villa centreback Gary Cahill was the best player on the pitch but spoiled it with an ugly kick on Aliadiere in 82.
John Carew terrorised Arsenal at times but somehow they got away with it. Freddie headed one off the line.
ROSICKY came on for half an hour and fired a couple of shots over the bar.
Arsene switched his back four around after starting with Hoyte-Gilberto-Djourou-Gallas.
GALLAS was wasted at left back.
So Gallas was moved to centreback and Hoyte went to left back.
Djourou went to right back and took two foul throws. He took two foul throws !Quite amazing. A Swiss international took two foul throws !!!
This was Arsene Wenger’s 400th Premiership game and he saw one of his players take two foul throws. I hope he is proud of that. It was the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen since Pires tried to pass a penalty kick to Henry.
The Man City – Chelsea game was dull so I watched the Arsenal game on ESPN Star.
A third-rate game, very scrappy.
But the win puts Arsenal two points above Liverpool with a game in hand.
Standings P W D L F A Pts
1 Man United 29 23 3 3 66 19 72
2 Chelsea 29 20 6 3 51 19 66
3 Arsenal 28 16 7 5 51 23 55
4 Liverpool 29 16 5 8 44 20 53
5 Bolton 29 14 5 10 34 34 47
6 Everton 29 11 10 8 37 26 43
7 Reading 29 13 4 12 43 38 43
MY REPORTER at the FA Youth Cup semi-final said Arsenal won 1-0 in their first leg against Manchester United .
The second leg is at Old Trafford on Monday April 2.
Traore was by far Arsenal’s best player but youth manager Steve Bould said Traore finds it difficult to step down to this level, as he finds it too easy after being with the first team.
Kieran Gibbs took a pass from Traore and scored with a turn and shot into the top corner.
Hoyte’s brother Gavin looked quite good at centreback.
Merida has the same build as Fabregas and plays much the same way.
FA YOUTH CUP update, Thursday morning.
Having seen the Kieran Gibbs goal on Sky Sports News, I feel less grumpy than I did last night. I hope the first team see the Gibbs goal because it seems like years since any of them scored a goal like that.
Kieran Gibbs is about 12 yards out on the left side of the box when Armand Traore’s pass comes to him. He is not tightly marked.The nearest defender is about three yards away. Gibbs must be left-footed: he spins suddenly to his left and hits the ball early and hard and just inside the near post. He was more than three yards wide of the near post when he took the shot. An explosive shot by a kid who looks like a natural predator.Arsenal need a bit more of that at Old Trafford.
The second leg could be a tough night but it would be a great place to win the FA Youth Cup.If you can’t win it at the Emirates, win it at Old Trafford ! A trophy for Arsenal ? It could happen !
ARSENAL (4-4-2): L Butcher – A Ogogo, P Rodgers, G Hoyte, A Traore – J Dunne, M Randall (sub: H Lansbury 82min), F Merida, K Gibbs – J Simpson (sub: R Steer, 88), N Barazite (sub: C Parisio, 66). Subs not used: W Szczesny, R Murphy.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): B Amos – R Eckersley, J Chester, C Cathcart, T Cleverley – D Welbeck, D Drinkwater, S Hewson, D Galbraith – C Fagan, F Brandy. Subs not used: C Evans, R Zieler, A Bryan, J Derbyshire, C McCormack.
PS : MY OTHER REPORTER ADDS : One goal may not be enough but Bouldy said afterwards they would go to Old Trafford to try and win the game. And 5, 000 more people watched Arsenal’s kids than were at WHL for Spurs in the Uefa Cup !!
PPS Rhys Murphy DID play, although some thought he didn’t.
There was a mistake on the teamsheet.
(This correspondence is now closed !)