Arsenal 3 Everton 1
Was spared the first half frustrations due to North London roadworks and a major traffic diversion.
But not the rantings of supporters and regulars at half-time.
A woman behind in the drinks queue shouted down her mobile: “Arsenal are playing s*** – real s***.”
A sentiment echoed by the regulars:
“Didn’t miss much.”
“The goal was Song and Silvestre’s fault.”
“The side is unbalanced.”
“Song doesn’t have a clue at right back.”
“Why isn’t Eboue playing there?”
“And why isn’t Walcott in right midfield.”
The last time I got in at half-time for a first team Arsenal match was working on a building site in Finsbury Park – Arsenal v Leeds in the Seventies. Knocking off around 3.45, they sometimes used to let you in free after half-time. It was freezing on the North bank – and to make matters worse – Terry Connor scored a late goal to give the Northerners a 0-1 win.
The Emirates is worlds’ away from the North Bank of the Seventies but the scuffles breaking out in the Everton quadrant were reminder of that era.
So too Hibbert’s aggressive tackle which had the effect of galvanising a sense of Arsenal togetherness.
The first half highlights showed Robin van Persie taking a ball on his chest turning past his man – but as so often, firing straight at the goalkeeper, on this occasion Howard, instead of placing it either side. Van Persie really has to step up to the plate this season.
Adebayor leapt high but sent the ball higher still over the bar and Fabregas had a goal-bound shot tipped round by Howard.
If the highlights were anything to go by, Arsenal were lucky to be 1-0 down at half-time, after Osman lost Denilson pushed it out left – with Pienaar delivering a neat ball into space and Osman nipping in before Silvestre to poke home past Almunia.
Clichy scrambled a goal-bound header away from the line – after the Arsenal defence were sloppy with corner marking with Almunia blocked legally by Yakubu. And Silvestre got a touch to a goalbound shot which could have crept in.
You could see the point people were making at the start of the second when Fellaini won a header and Yakubu was first to the second ball – a common feature – and only brave keeping by Almunia saved the day.
But then was like a parallel universe as Arsenal sped out of the traps, with the jet heeled Walcott in his rightful position, on for Toure, gaining a free kick in a dangerous area.
The tempo was high and a quick interchange between Silvestre and Nasri saw the midfielder hit low and hard past Howard, and was what the Arsenal burst deserved.
More pressure saw more quick pinging before the massed blue ranks – with a Fabregas shot bouncing up from Howard for Van Persie to place into the corner.
Saha and Neville came on – but it made little difference.
A neat break-away in injury time saw Diaby, on for Nasri, cut back for Walcott who drilled it under Howard and into the far corner.
The game showed Arsenal have some defensive improving to do. Denilson in particular and at times Song were the wrong side of Everton attackers. And some players were not aware enough on set pieces.
But is Wenger taking a leaf out of Capello’s book by making wholesale positional changes at half-time? Or was his hand forced by Toure‘s injury? Or both?
Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Emmanuel Eboue, Gael Clichy, Mikael Silvestre, Kolo Toure(45), Denilson, Alexandre Song, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri (82), Robin Van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor. Substitutes Abou Diaby(82), Carlos Vela, Theo Walcott (45), Aaron Ramsey, Lukasz Fabianski, Kieran Gibbs,Gavin Hoyte
Everton: Tim Howard, Tony Hibbert(79), Leighton Baines, Joleon Lescott, Phil Jagielka, Mikel Arteta, Jack Rodwell, Leon Osman, Marouane Fellaini (74), Steven Pienaar, Yakubu Ayegbeni (79) Substitutes: Carlo Nash, Louis Saha (74) James Vaughan (79) Dan Gosling, Jorge Nuno Valente, James Wallace, Phil Neville (79)
Referee: Peter Walton