This is proving to be a very strange season. We've lost embarrassingly to Chelsea and Man Utd twice and yet, we've struggled past average sides and somehow, we're still in with a shout at winning the title. And this was a laboured victory against a very poor side if ever there was one, largely due to a hat-trick of I-could've-scored-them-misses from Nicklas Bendtner. The first half was a dull affair, lit only by Walcott's over reaction to a strong tackle (good to see in all honesty) and a great goal, fashioned by the excellent Nasri, who chipped over a crowded defence to find a perfect Fabregas run, which he duly dispatched with a neat volley through the legs of Brian Jensen. We started the second half on fire, with Walcott making mincemeat of his marker time and again. It's just a shame his work was met by profligacy on a massive scale by Bendtner, who left the field to applause, not in irony but in appreciation of his hard work and maybe an acknowledgement that it simply wasn't his day. We were made to pay for those misses when Nugent sprung a creaky Arsenal defensive pairing (any pairing that involves the name Sylvestre is by definition creaky) to loop the ball over Almunia. Fortunately, Walcott capped a fine performance by putting in a fine effort. The final 10 minutes were torture as we wafted around not knowing whether to sit on the lead or try and nick another. Eventually we did, with Arshavin scoring right at the end. Unconvincing but it's the 3 points that keeps us in touch with the title that's important.
I feel I must mention the Emirates crowd. I came to this match expecting a good atmosphere after the week we've had, which has involved criticism from most quarters after one of our players had his leg snapped in two by a player who's already broken 3 legs in his short career. But no, it was lifeless inside the stadium. I guess the match didn't help, but still. The fact that the ground was 3/4 full with 5 minutes to go and the match finely poised at 2-1 is absolutely baffling. Who goes to a football match and doesn't care about the result? Madness. Will they leave to beat the crowds if we win the league, I wonder?
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