So, we left two points at Anfield. I’m not terribly upset about it, though. I think the team played a fantastic game, although a bit shaky in some places. You can’t complain when your side plays that kind of beautiful football and manages the lion share of possession against a side like Liverpool. They did a pretty decent job of frustrating us up the middle, although it did seem like we were just knocking at the door all match.

Man of the Match has to go to Cesc Fabregas, for just finessing that ball past Reina (80′). Well done, and yet another awesome performance and beautiful pass from Alexandre Hleb to make it happen. I am most definitely getting a #13 shirt this year. Although, without having looked at the replay, I have a feeling that it was the void Cesc left behind that Gerrard put his free kick through at 8′. Things seemed a bit confused between the wall and keeper. I hope this doesn’t indicate that our little “Who’s #1?” drama hasn’t given rise to an authority issue between Almunia and the outfield. When the keeper tells the wall to do something, the wall had better damn well do it. It’s his job to line things up as he needs them in a set piece. He seemed to be yelling up a storm just prior to the shot. Despite that blunder, Manuel did a damn fine job between the sticks. He got stretched several times and made a couple of world class saves that would have sailed past a lesser man.

Another thing that sort of took me by surprise: I expected a physical game from Liverpool, but not a dirty game. Don’t get me wrong, they played well… it wasn’t all hijinks. Just the occasional shirt pull, elbow to the face, etc. Particularly (but not limited to) Mascherano and Carragher. Now, every game has its moments like this. It’s expected. I just didn’t expect that much of it from a team like Liverpool. I guess I thought they were above that. And by that I mean, a side like them shouldn’t have to resort to those sorts of things to play a side like Arsenal. They’ll give them a good run any day of the week. When we play a team like Blackburn or Bolton or Le Scum, you expect to get hikinks and you’re all ready to hate them for it. But I look forward to playing teams like Liverpool or Man U or Chelsea. Why? Because it’s going to be a great football match, not a brawl. Disappointing.

Free for all. With all due respect, I don’t think anyone expected a tough time against Slavia Prague, but I was thinking more along the lines of 3-0, not 7-0. An absolutely drubbing at the Emirates. Theo Walcott was the star of the show as he opened his Arsenal account with a brace. His first (41′) was a fine example of being able to keep his head and take advantage. When the Prague keeper, Liam Neeson, mishandled… Theo pounced, skipped past, and slotted home between defenders. His second (54′) was just gorgeous football. After yet another perfectly placed feeder up from Hleb on the left, Theo expertly threw off the defenders and threaded one through the press to clang off the right post and bounce in. From that point on, it seemed like pretty much everyone on the team was trying to feed Theo and get him a hat trick. He came close a few times, but it wasn’t to be.

Alexandre Hleb also had himself a terrific night. His first (25′) went in the books as an Own Goal on Hubacek, but I think it was heading for net whether anyone got in the way or not, so he put in a brace in my book. His second (50′) was brilliant, taking a perfect feed over from Cesc, throwing off defenders and then slotting perfectly into the left side. And when he’s not scoring goals, he’s creating them. Alex really has a knack for dropping a ball right where it needs to be.

Cesc Fabregas played like, well… Cesc Fabregas. If anyone was beginning to wonder if his scoring streak was cooling down, they’re not wondering anymore. He put in for a brace as well. After Hleb out-footed two Prague defenders in the corner, he passed back out to Cesc (5′), who delivered a stinger from just inside the left corner of the 18 yard box to the top right. His second (58′) came after a nice charge up the left by Hleb, who knocked it over to Ade, who let it dribble by to throw off a defender, then he went right to Walcott, who set it up perfectly for Cesc to put straight in from 10 yards out. And like Hleb and the rest of the Arsenal midfield, if he’s not scoring, he’s creating… all match long.

Tomas Rosicky nearly put our 7th in when he clanged off the top right corner. But Nicklas Bendtner saw to it (88′) by basically walking it in… and mowing over two defenders at the same time. I’m not sure just how big Nick is, but he looks like Ivan Drago when standing next to Walcott.

Overall, the Gunners basically put on a clinic. Slavia Prague is a good side, but their particular brand of football just wasn’t well suited to fend off the Arsenal this time around. So now we sit comfortably atop Group H. Next stop… Anfield. Can’t wait.

Happy Birthday, Le Boss! If AW wanted to stay at the top of the Premiership for his 58th birthday, then I suppose he got his wish. The Gunners turned in a somewhat shaky, but nice performance to beat the Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at home.

It seemed as if we were doing a pretty decent job of handling the Wanderers for the most part, despite the 0-0 score at half. As expected with Anelka out, Bolton clogged up the midfield, playing a 4-5-1. This kept things pretty congested trying to get through the middle. Play got a bit tense here and there, and there were some rough tackles flying back and forth… yellow cards began to appear. And, there were a few moments where it looked as if Bolton might even sneak one in. Arsène has said in the past to expect these types of games. When you play a side who doesn’t expect to beat you outright, they’re going to play more physically and try to get that one goal off of a corner or set piece and win or draw ugly. It happens. For a while it felt like we were playing Rovers again.

Meanwhile, Campo was dropping bombs into the box from the touchline at every opportunity, but we handled them all. Diouf was perpetually appealing to Mike Riley every time he cut someone down, particularly the newly re-coiffed Bacary Sagna. Ade looked ok, but decided to handle twice in the box, although he was only caught once. At 67′, there was a short comedy routine between Fabregas and Flamini, who then decided to set the free kick up. Recently unburdened from the extra weight of the armband, Kolo Toure fired a low shot under the wall and past Jaaskelainen in the bottom left from 25 yards out.

This meant Bolton couldn’t lay back and clog the box hoping for a point from 0-0. They now had to come forward… and Arsenal were ready. Well, once they dropped Eduardo and Eboue, who looked good despite being frustrated by the traffic, and put on Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott. At one point, Walcott came up the right and put on a show of blazing speed past three defenders. The boy is looking better and better. Then at 81′, after a beautiful feeder into the 18 yard box from Alexandre Hleb, Theo picked it up and showed terrific poise to thread his way past the remaining defenders, crossed it in front of the goal, and Rosicky was there to direct it in. 2-0 at 9 minutes from time, match over.

We’ve got some difficult games coming up over the next few weeks. Let’s hope we can keep this momentum going.

This just goes to show, that you can never underestimate an opponent in the Premiership. Sunderland left Ashburton Grove without any points, but that was not from lack of effort.

After the first twenty minutes, I thought the Arsenal were getting ready to put on a clinic for ol’ Roy. Ade waited all of 20 seconds from the whistle to slam one over the crossbar… and the assault was on. Robin van Persie positively hammered a spot kick right over Gordon’s head at 7′. And Phillipe Senderos headed one home at 14′. It was at this point that I kicked back with a nice glass of Shiraz and waited for the next 7 or so goals to materialize. Can you blame me? We had less goals on Derby this far into the match. But then… something changed. The Brood-a-meter on Roy’s furrowed brow went full tilt… and his boys responded. They began frustrating our midfielders almost as well as I’ve seen any other team do it. They interrupted our beautiful passing game. They scored! <gasp> And then had the stones to equalize four minutes past the half. We were still getting past their back line well enough, but just tell me you weren’t getting a bit worried at this point. We had troubles with matches like this last year. But a little voice in the back of my head kept saying, “It’s Ok… we’ve got these guys“. When RvP took us up at 81′, the pressure was relieved, and the little voice said, “See? Chill.”

There were a few more scary moments in the last fifteen minutes, and the final whistle just couldn’t come fast enough for me with only one goal up. Despite the teeth clenching moments, this was a darn good game to watch; tons of action, and I can’t imagine Sunderland fans are too upset with the Black Cats’ performance. After a rough start, they fought back nicely. Perhaps they were a bit unnerved by Don Cheadle’s Bacary Sagna’s new hair-do. Either way, I’m looking forward to our trip to the Stadium of Light on the last day of the season. It may very well be the site where we hoist some silverware, if we keep things progressing as they are.

I know outward appearances don’t count for much. But I was all set to dislike Roy Keane at the beginning of this match, although I didn’t know much about him. Apart from his career at Old Trafford, that is. He’s always got this brooding expression as if he’s got gas, and the constant chewing makes me wonder if he’s not related to Cookie Coleman somehow. This all changed the moment I heard him speak after the match. Despite the loss, he was quite forthright and magnanimous in every respect. He even admitted that his view of the incident was pretty good, when Paul McShane trampled Alexandre Hleb and was shown the red card. Any other manager would have skirted the question, but Roy stepped right up when questioned. I hope he can keep his side up this year, because we need more managers like him in the top flight.

Nelson Dida needs to be indefinitely removed from professional football. The sort of bullshit antics this guy displayed last night should not be tolerated under any circumstances whatsoever. It was embarrassing to the viewer, AC Milan, Celtic, all the fans, and the sport itself. What he did is nothing short of outright cheating, and it is my fondest wish that he be penalized to the fullest extent. In the meantime, you’ve earned yourself a Pink Card, you disgrace.

That being said, that fan had absolutely no right to be on the pitch, security failures aside. Now, I don’t think there was anyone (excepting AC Milan and its fans) who weren’t completely thrilled for Celtic last night. They fought hard, played terrific, and won a nice revenge match against a rival. Who wouldn’t be tempted to run out and celebrate with their side? So, you really can’t blame the fans there for going absolutely batshit after the winner was put in. But… stay off the pitch, boys. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that an insignificant bitchslap like the one delivered to Dida could have cost your team the game if the wrong ref were in there. Not to mention, it will cost your team in fines, most likely. If a pitch invasion is unavoidable, wait until time to do it or wait until you’re back at the pub to commence slapping (or throw a flare… no don’t do that). But, even as harmless a celebration as that fan was having himself, it doesn’t excuse Nelson Dida from trying to leverage that to gain for his side. When I saw him go down, I thought maybe the fan had cut him with something and it took a few steps for Dida to realize it. But, no… it just took him a few steps to realize he’s a cheating fuck and he’d better get horizontal tout de suite. You be the judge:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejhup40KtGA]