van Persie 23 – Divers: van Persie, Arbeloa

Wow… where to begin with this mess, huh? First off, I’m pretty disappointed with the result but at the same time, pretty damn proud of the effort Arsenal put in to salvage that point with just 10 men on the field. At the same, time I feel gut-punched and fucking robbed by the miserable prick that is Howard Webb. But I’ll get to that later.

We started the match looking pretty sharp, I thought. Although, I didn’t get my wish in midfield. Once again, we saw Denilson and Song start, but unlike some past performances, they both did pretty well. Even more so once we went down a man. Samir Nasri was back and it made a big difference. At 23′ he launched a beautiful ball from left midfield into the center near the edge of the area and Robin van Persie scored one hell of a gorgeous goal. He took the ball on his chest between two defenders, brought it down to his left foot and immediately flicking it off to the right to create space and then pouncing on it with his right foot to smash it past Reina, who was really just getting his arm up when this shot was already rippling the nylon. The commentator invoked the name Bergkamp when describing the goal later on. Well put.

Near the half, Robbie Keane equalized with an admittedly nice shot after a long ball up from one his fellow twats caught our defenders off guard. You get the feeling Robbie’s not a very popular guy around The Grove, eh? This goal didn’t improve his standing. To make matters much worse, Cesc Fabregas joined his pals on the injury list after a collision with Xabi Alonso, of all fucking people. It was a fair tackle that either of them could have taken the knock from, but just our luck it was Cesc who came away with knee ligament damage. Scans will tell us more tomorrow. Get well soon, Cesc.

After the equalizer, Liverpool poured it on. They made attack after attack, and continued after the restart. Then at 62′ Emmanuel Adebayor was shown his second yellow card after a bullshit dive by Arbeloa. There was contact to be sure, but Arbeloa made as though Adebayor kung fu chopped him all Emma Peele style right in the fucking larynx and went down like a steaming sack of shit. Howard Webb, who was consistently shit all night, saw fit to throw Adebayor off the pitch. How this fuckhead still has a job officiating is beyond me. How many points has he cost various teams this year? Our total may be as much as 5 by Boxing Day. Think on that.

But, with all that, our remaining 10 men toughened up right quick. Denilson and Song played better than I think I’ve seen them play ever, and RvP was still threatening. Toward the end it looked as though we were pretty much on the back foot, but we hung in there tough. That can’t be ignored. If I were a Liverpool fan, I’m not sure what I’d think about my side not coming away with all three when a third of that match Arsenal were down a man and without their talisman. It’s definitely not league-leading stuff. I think their days in that spot are well and truly numbered.

So, now we’re off to Villa Park for Boxing Day in what is now a much more vital match for us than I would have thought yesterday. And it will not be easy. We’ll be limping in there, but if the 10 men show up who finished the match against Liverpool, it might just be all we need. COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Update: Most news outlets this morning are reporting that Cesc will be out for four months. FOUR. MONTHS. He’ll be back in time to help us fight back to the top half of the table, is how they’re making it seem. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Another Update: I forgot to mention this… I thought it was a great reception Emannuel Eboue received from the Emirates faithful at the end of the match. After The Ebooing, it was nice to hear them cheer him onto the field, even though he only played a few minutes. It was as if to say, “Yeah, you fucked up… but you still wear our shirt. All forgiven.” He did alright too… you could sense he felt the urgency of the side as well.