Arshavin 36, 67, 70, 90 – Divers: Kuyt

Now that… that was a proper game of football. I’m as gutted as the next gooner that we didn’t leave Anfield with all three points. But that was a proper game of football. It can’t be said any other way.

I can’t remember the last time I witnessed such an open match. It was pure attack football, with desparate defending on both sides of the pitch. Despite letting four go by him, Lukasz Fabianski put in one hell of a performance, should you ask me. The rest of the defense, although struggling at times, did pretty well I thought. They were under pure siege for the duration, and should be commended.

But the glory must all go to Andrey Arshavin,  who becomes one of only a handful of players to score four goals away from home. They were all nicely done, but his third was exceptional. Stealing the ball off the Scouse defense, he positively blasted an outside curling shot past the fully stretched Pepe Reina.

The match started fast and furous and ended the same way. Even after we went level at 4-4 and the dying seconds ebbed away, still… I sat with my mouth open and wondering if we hadn’t seen the last of the scoring. It could have come from either side, and at any time.  It was just that sort of match.

So, our unbeaten run extends to 19. I’m sorry for all the late posts these days, but I’ve been travelling quite a bit for work lately. In fact, I’ll probably have to settle for watching the Middlesborough match on the laptop as I jet towards Heathrow this Sunday night. I’m spending the week in Cambridge. Unfortunately, the Gunners will be up in Manchester for the champions league. Anyone know where Gooners gathe in Cambridge to watch an away match?

I haven’t seen the match, as I’m on the road in the south of the U.S. with family. But, I heard the result and I saw the highlights… and I’m pretty disappointed, to say the very least. We can whine all day about how many injuries we have, which is a ridonkulous amount by any measure, no doubt… but our back up players should be good enough, and they just weren’t this time. Eboue and Fabianksi were both pretty much worked. I’m sure they  all put in their best efforts… but the end product just wasn’t enough to deal with the likes of Terry and his slovenly bunch. How sweet would it have been if we won 1-0 on a goal that went in off Assley Hole’s right hand? Sweet, indeed. But instead… it’s him that will return to Wembley for the final. The football gods are truly a cruel crew.

The Champions League was always more important than the FA Cup for me, but I still wanted to see the boys make it all the way to the Finals. They must be gutted. I know I am. But that’s neither here nor there now. We still have our place in the league to defend and perhaps improve, and there’s the small matter of potentially meeting the chavs again for the Champions League Finals in Rome. Of course, that tasty morsel lies past the road through Old Trafford, but a man can dream, yeah?

You know the saying “Down to the wire”? Well, this must be the wire. Actually, it’s probably one of several wires that we’ll be down to in the coming weeks. The perfect storm has brewed us up one hell of a wicked schedule for this Spring.

We have a minimum of six matches against the other three of the Top Four coming, and in fairly rapid succession. If things go well, that count could go to eight. Not to mention a few other tasty League matches to fill in the gaps between all the awesomeness. And next up, we have a Semi Final clash at Wembley against Chelsea. I’m going to quit screwing around and give you the down-low on this match right now: Chelsea are playing well lately, but I think they’re going to be cautious with us. That might play to our advantage, and I’m hoping it translates to a late match win for us. I’m expecting a low score for the first 70 minutes, and then all hell will probably need to be broken loose. How sweet it would be to get over on those bluish pricks.

Max? Maaax? Look down there. What do you see?

Someone running. Yes. But we’ll soon put a stop to that. Won’t we, Glovey? Sorry… channeling the Blue Meaney there for a second. He’s bluish. All Bluuey.

Unfortunately, the Injury Faeries are out in full force to get us, yet again. For most of the season it was our midfield they hampered. Now, the little bastards are after our defense. Bacary Sagna has been  ruled out for the match, as has Gael Clichy. The Clichy news sounds dire. A stress-fractured vertebrae. I’m not sure how serious that truly is, but it doesn’t sound like something you bounce back from in just a few weeks. I wish him a quick comfy recovery. With Gallas out for the remainder of the season and Djourou still not in sight, that leaves us pretty thin at the back. It’s likely we’ll see Song & Eboue at the back again. They did pretty well against Villareal I thought. They’ll have their work cut out for them against Hiddink’s boys, though. No matter… I’m thoroughly looking forward to this match, and I truly believe we could find ourselves heading to another FA Cup Final come tomorrow night.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Walcott 10, Adebayor 60, Van Persie 69 (PK)

Well, that was certainly not the match I expected. Despite the posession being pretty evenly divided, Villareal never seemed to threaten. There was one Pires strike early on that I thought might be a spark of life, but it never materialized.

Our first was a gorgeous little chip in over the keeper by Theo Walcott. Beautiful technique and poise in his finish to compeltely stump the keeper and put us ahead. Very well done. The second came nearly an hour later when Robin van Persie found Emmanuel Adebayor coming up the left who did a lovely little flick with the outside of his right foot around the keeper, 2-0. It has to be said… Adebayor is incredibly frustrating to watch. One minute I find myself wondering how someone so clumsy has made it into an Arsenal shirt, the next minute I’m marvelling at his ability to come up with another spectacular goal. Perhaps he’s the root of our bipolar disorder?

The last goal came in the form of a PK when the officials completely got a call wrong in the area. It looked to the official on the touchline that Theo was taken down, but he wasn’t. Then one of trh Villareal players (Gurgen?) managed to talk himself into a second yellow and bring his side down to 10 men. Match done.

So, we’re on to meet the loathsome Red Devils in the semifinals. Should be nothing short of amazing. It’s a good thing we know how to beat them in Old Trafford.

Walcott 60, Silvestre 71, Arshavin 90, Song 90 – Divers: none

Sorry for the late post on this one. I’ve been wrapped up securing new employment. That’s done, so back on with the football.

We went to the JJB the other day, and beat the tar out of the Latics. That’s pretty much it. The first half we looked like shit, the second half we knocked in four goals. How many times have we seen the bipolar Gunners this year? Too many to count.

Good enough… I’ve got a Villareal win to write up.