Arsenal slip up as Chelsea & United cash in

It was at this very ground last year where Arsenal’s title challenge seemed to stall and peter out, not in the least down to ‘that’ injury to Eduardo. Over a year on and Arsene Wenger’s face tells the story as he sees his side concede an injury time equalizer at St. Andrews. Kevin Phillips was the man, hitting his 250th career league goal, and sending the Blues fans into raptures as they celebrate a truly remarkable year in the top flight.
Whilst Arsene and his boys were dropping points in the Midlands, Messrs. Ferguson and Ancelotti were enjoying their respective sides rip apart Bolton and Villa, the latter challengers for that 4th Champions League spot which has seemed so unbreakable in recent years.

A Wayne Rooneyless Manchester United faced a potentially tricky trip, albeit short trip, to the Reebok Stadium where Owen Coyle had turned his Wanderers side into a resilient, competitive outfit. Bolton have played United’s nemesis in recent years, but with so much at stake for the visitors, they weren’t going to let their Lancashire rivals spoil the party. Jlloyd Samuel gave the Red Devils a helping left foot as he calmly, coolly, and collectively placed the ball into Jussi Jaaskelainen’s bottom right corner to give the visitors a lead. Rooney would have been proud. Dimitar Berbatov doubled the lead after Darren Fletcher’s shot was pushed out by the Finland number 1, and shortly afterwards made it 3-0, before Darren Gibson rounded off the victory with a smart finish late on.

Meanwhile, Frank Lampard was enjoying himself at Stamford Bridge, as he scored 4 in a 7-1 demolition of Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa. Florent Malouda (2), and Salomon Kalou also got themselves on the scoresheet, with John Carew netting Villa’s solitary goal.

So with such strong messages sent out by United and Chelsea, and with Arsenal dropping points at St. Andrews, the title race takes another turn. For me, and as much as it pains me to say it, United have taken another step towards lifting the trophy for a record 19th time, thus leapfrogging Liverpool as the most successful top division team in history. Even without Wayne Rooney, and missing Rio Ferdinand at the back, United look a side who are unbeatable, and their fantastic record against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea in recent times means that they surely have to be favourites. Chelsea have certainly got themselves back in the mix after so many people had written them off at Ewood Park a week or so ago. 12 goals in their last 2 games is impressive reading, but they still have some tough obstacles to come and I can’t see them finishing above United at the end of the season.

Of course, next weekend is the ‘big one’. Chelsea go to Old Trafford in a match that they will feel is a must win if they are to gain advantage over United in the race for the title. They then face tough trips to Spurs and Liverpool plus home games against Stoke, Wigan, and Bolton, which they will feel is 9 points in the bag. With United still in the Champions League, there could be grounds to argue that fatigue may play a part, and the distraction of winning Europe’s most illustrious competition is also possible. Also, looking at United’s run-in, the job is far from done. Other than that oh-so-important fixture against Chelsea, Ferguson’s side face visits from Spurs and Stoke, as well as trips to Blackburn, Sunderland, and The City of Manchester Stadium, where Roberto Mancini’s boys will be playing for a Champions League spot. It’s anybody’s guess.

I may be being a little too conclusive in writing Arsenal out of the race, but I just feel they lack conviction when it comes down to the last few matches of the season. They don’t seem to possess that extra ‘oomph’ that will get them over the line ahead of Manchester United and Chelsea. Their run-in includes a trip to London rivals Spurs, as well as home matches against Fulham and Manchester City, and if they are to bring home the glory to the supporters who haven’t witnessed such a thing since 2005, you have to feel that they need to win all 6 of their final games.

I hope United don’t win the trophy, and similarly I hope Arsenal do, but the realist inside me says that won’t be the case, and it’ll be Giggs and co. celebrating yet another Premier League title come 9th May.

Ramsey injury sparks debate

Aaron Ramsey lies in agony after breaking his leg against Stoke

Arsenal FC have confirmed that 19-year-old Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey will miss the remainder of the season after fracturing his right fibula and tibia in the Premier League match at Stoke last night.

The injury, which brought back horrible memories of Eduardo’s career-threatening injury at Birmingham two years ago, was caused as a result of Ryan Shawcross’ challenge – an incident that resulted in Shawcross receiving a straight red card. The defender, who was later confirmed in Fabio Capello’s England squad for the friendly against Egypt on Wednesday, left the field in tears at the horror of the injury.

Ramsey is the 3rd Arsenal player to be on the receiving end of dangerous tackles in the last 5 years. Abou Diaby broke his ankle against Sunderland in 2005, before Eduardo’s horrendous leg break in early 2008. It’s something that Arsene Wenger believes is not a coincidence.

"I’m not very happy with the tackle. We know what we are expecting, a battle everywhere, but we have now lost three players on horrendous tackles and I refuse to believe it is always coincidence."

Wenger’s words, understandably said with anger and sadness, has sparked a debate over team’s over-aggressive approach to playing Arsenal. Cesc Fabregas felt that incidents like this have no place in football.

"In five years I’ve seen three of them. Abou (Diaby), Eduardo, and now Aaron. What can I say. It’s difficult. You could say we are not protected enough. We are victims… There are things that are a little too much but three times in five years is a little bit too much."

So are Arsenal victims of their own gameplan? Many pundits have suggested that the pace in which Arsenal play their football is one of the reasons that three horrifying injuries have occurred in a short space of time. People like Martin Taylor (the Birmingham defender responsible for breaking Eduardo’s leg) and Ryan Shawcross are certainly not as quick as their Arsenal counterparts, and this may play a role in the timing of their challenges.

Certainly there was no malice on Shawcross’ part. Tony Pulis claimed that Shawcross “left the field crying his eyes out”, and the pictures clearly prove that. He was distraught, and highly apologetic after the match, and I’m sure will be visiting Aaron Ramsey in hospital in the near future.

Wenger surely has a point though. This can’t be coincidence. It’s been suggested that the only way to stop Arsenal playing their enterprising style of football is to be ultra-physical against them, as they can’t handle a battle. Now this isn’t to say that professional players go out there to deliberately injure fellow professionals, but when a team partakes in a more aggressive style against the Gunners, the risk that someone is going to get seriously hurt is obviously higher. It’s just very unfortunate that Aaron Ramsey has become a victim of such play.

Could referees offer Arsenal more protection? I’m not sure there’s much they can do, apart from send players off for bad challenges, and make sure that they diffuse any potentially dangerous situations. Football is a competitive game, and things like this are always going to happen. Arsenal receive as much protection from officials as any other club in the League, so I’m not sure that Cesc Fabregas has any ground for argument.

It’s obviously a horrible feeling for the players at Arsenal, who have had to witness at least 2 horrendous injuries in recent times. The reaction of both sets of players underlined how much events like this effect players, and one only hopes that it doesn’t happen to them.

Many say that Eduardo’s injury was the turning point in Arsenal’s season back in 2008. They were top of the table, 5 points clear of Manchester United and 3 points at St. Andrews would have made them sure fire favourites to run away with the title. However, the injury to the Croatian international, who is still feeling his way back into the Arsenal first team, had a massive effect on his teammates. William Gallas was resigned to sitting on the pitch at the end of the 2-2 draw, almost in tears, and ended up losing the captaincy over his actions that day. Arsenal never regained their composure, and ended up finishing 3rd, 4 points behind the eventual winners Manchester United.

It seems the experience of the final few months of that season played an important part in last night’s 3-1 victory. For a few minutes after Ramsey was carried off the pitch on a stretcher, very few tackles were made, and there was a certain lull in the game. However, in the last 7 or 8 minutes, Arsenal stepped up a gear and managed to find two goals to put them firmly back in the title race. A Fabregas penalty, and Thomas Vermaelen’s 8th goal of the season sealed a precious 3 points for Arsene Wenger, and gave Arsenal something positive to take to the bedside of Welsh football’s next big thing.

From all of us here at WDKF, we wish Aaron Ramsey a very speedy recovery to full fitness, and we wish to see him back in action as soon as possible.

Calamitous refereeing leaves Wenger fuming

Controversy was the flavour of the night in Lisbon, as Arsenal went down 2-1 to a mediocre Porto side in the Estadio do Dragao. Perhaps fortunate for Arsenal, the match won’t be remembered for the Football but for a series of blunders from both referee Martin Hansen and from Gunners’ goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

Fabianski played a major hand in Porto’s opener as he spilled a Varela cross into his net after placing himself in a rather dubious position. However, the lead and Fabianski’s red face didn’t last long, as Sol Campbell headed the equalizer from a corner which was headed back across goal by Tomas Rosicky. 1-1 after 20 minutes.

It was the second half that brought about the most controversial and bizarre moment of the match. On 50 minutes Lukasz Fabianksi picked up a very unnecessary and perhaps not entirely purposeful back-pass from Sol Campbell, and Porto were awarded an indirect free-kick inside the penalty area. In an attempt to hold up play and allow his defenders to get back and form a wall, Fabianski kept hold of the ball whilst protesting with the Swedish referee. However, Fabianski forgot one of the most fundamental rules of being a goalkeeper; get back on your line as quickly as possible.

The Polish International then obliged to the referee’s demands to throw the ball back, before turning to the linesman some 50 yards away on the touchline to partake in yet more protesting. Whilst his back was turned, Ruben Michael took a quick free kick to his teammate Falcao who duly slotted the ball into an open net. 2-1 Porto.

The referee’s performance has been subject to a lot of criticism since the incident last night, the majority of which has come from the mouth of Arsene Wenger, who isn’t shy to voice his displeasures when he feels his side are hard done by.

"What can you do about the second goal? The back-pass was accidental, whenever do you see the defender kick the ball with his toe? The ball hits Sol, it was not on purpose and it has to be intentional to be a free kick. It is difficult to understand how the referee can interpret that."

For me, if the referee sees that Campbell has hit the ball back at Fabianski with any part of his foot, it has to be a back-pass. Campbell’s reaction (pictured) is perhaps a giveaway, as he goes straight to hold his head in his hands before rising to place his hands on his hips as if to say ‘what have I done?’. It’s a clear back-pass in my opinion and the referee got that bit exactly right. Wenger went on to say:

"I have never seen that and I have been in the game a long time. It is difficult to understand. It is completely inappropriate that he allows that in such a situation. When the referee gives the free-kick he has to allow us a chance to defend it, otherwise it is better to give a goal straight away."

Once again, I believe that Wenger is wrong here. It is completely within Porto’s rights to take a quick free kick, and the referee is 100% entitled to allow them to do just that. I’m sure had the incident been given at the other end, and Arsenal had been disallowed a goal because they’d taken a quick free kick, Mr. Wenger would be equally as angry. It’s clever thinking, and quick-minded play from the two Porto players.

The one area of the incident which hasn’t received any coverage, and comes as a surprise to me, is the referee’s position as Porto take the free kick. Mr. Hansen is stood directly in front of Sol Campbell, blocking his attempt to stop the taking of the free kick.  Surely had the referee not been stood blocking Campbell’s way then Campbell would have been able to prevent the goal. He may have been booked for doing that, but Arsenal would not have conceded. Can there be any blame pointed at the referee for that?

Martin Hansen has been involved in his fair share of controversial moments in the last 6 months or so, none more so than Thierry Henry’s infamous handball that knocked Ireland out of the World Cup. But I feel he handled the situation as well as he could have done on this occasion.

Hansen’s performance obviously left Arsene Wenger fuming, but even with a Fabianski own goal and a controversial Falcao goal, Arsenal didn’t deserve to win the match. Their performance was nothing short of woeful, and they were lucky to  lose by just the one goal. Fabregas, Diaby, and Nasri were all way short of top form, and constantly gave possession back to the home side with sloppy short-range passes and a willingness to keep hold of the ball for far too long. The Gunners didn’t look at all threatening in the final 3rd of the pitch either, and it was only when Theo Walcott came on that they started to attack Porto. Even then, they didn’t get the ball to the tricky winger often enough.

Sol Campbell looked unfit and nervy at the back and Denilson was an ineffective foil in front of the back four. As for the goalkeeper’s performance, this will be a match that Lukasz Fabianski will want to forget rapidly. Arsene Wenger refused to criticise the Pole, however:

"I do not want to come out individually on Lukasz’s performance, and judge him in front of everybody. You have to accept you lose as a team and win as a team. Any individual performance is not to be analysed publicly."

So after such a poor performance and result for Arsenal, it can only get better at the Emirates in 3 weeks time. The one positive they can take is they have the vital away goal heading into the second leg. They may even have Andrey Arshavin, Alex Song, and Manuel Almunia all fit again, leaving them with a thin silver lining to a thick cloud from Lisbon.