Almost Draw, but It's a Win

Arsenal almost got a 0-0 draw, but a late goal scored by Alexandr Song Billong made them earn three points in the match against West Ham United

Arsenal was dominating the game, having possession, making passes, and creating chances. But West Ham was defending very well, and Robert Green was playing like possessed. He denying chances, not only once, twice, or three times, but nine times!

When everyone was thinking it would be a 0-0 draw, Gael Clichy cut inside through the left flank and gave a lovely pass to Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner. It was Alex Song who headed the ball and scored the goal. A priceless goal, which keep Arsenal in the title race. It wasn't an easy game, even could be said it was a very tough game. But, in the end Arsenal could overcome it.

In other place, Chelsea won 2 goals by one goal against Blackburn. So it's still 5 points between Arsenal and Chelsea.

City - Arsenal 0-3

In the beginning Arsenal was under pressure. City dominated the game, and David Silva had a chance to score, but Fabianski denied it.Deryck Boyata sent off by Mark Clattenburg, after a professional foul, brought Chamakh down. Even Manchester City is playing with ten man, the game was still even. Both team made some inaccurate passes. But it was Arsenal who opened the score. One-two play by Nasri and Arshavin, nicely finished by Nasri, 1-0 for Arsenal. Arsenal would've leading 2-0 on first half, if Joe Hart hadn't saved Fabregas' penalty. So first half ended 0-1.

On the second half, Man. City had some chances to equalize, but Fabianski brilliantly denied it. Alex Song doubled Arsenal's lead, and since that time, Arsenal comfortably controlling the game. Finally, Nicklas Bendtner made it 0-3 after few minutes coming in.

It was a good game by the gunners, they played well, offensively and defensively, even they helped with the red card. But at least, Arsenal has answered the critics for them. Should this form continues, Arsenal will be real contenders for Chelsea.

Real Test

Arsenal is now on the third position in English Premier League with 14 points from 8 games, 3 points behind Manchester City and also 5 points behind defending champions Chelsea.

Arsenal will face Manchester City this week on City of Manchester Stadium, this weekend. This match is an undoubtedly tough match. City has bunch of quality players, such as Nigel de Jong, Carlos Tevez, and Arsenal's hatred Emmanuel Adebayor. Roughly, City, like Chelsea, is physically stronger than Arsenal, but Arsenal technically better.

While Fabregas and Walcott are back, Vermaelen and van Persie are still on the sidelines, facing injuries they got during international games. Jack Wilshere is also absent because of red card he got during the match against Birmingham City.

Arsenal did lose 2-4 in City of Manchester Stadium last season, but they still has chance to win this game. What Arsenal has to do is to score an early goal. This season, Arsenal never lose any game after scoring first. So, I predicted, the team who score an early goal will win this game.

Fabianski could replace Almunia?

Manuel Rivero Almunia took Arsenal's regular position in Goalkeeper in 2007/2008, when he filled Jens Lehmann's position, when Lehmann was injured, and played fairly well, and since then, Manuel Almunia has been no 1 for Arsenal, which also resulting Jens Lehmann to be freely released to VfB Stuttgart.

Almunia is rather inconsistent, sometimes, he could play very well, stopping penalties, like he did against Tottenham, which ended 2-1, or against West Ham, which ended 2-0.

But he also could play badly, like he did against Birmingham, when he slipped Kevin Phillip's shot into his own net, or recently, like he did against West Brom.


This season, before the season started, Arsene Wenger reported want to sign a goalkeeper to replace Manuel Almunia. From Shay Given, Marteen Stekelenburg, and also Mark Schwarzer; but until the end of transfer window, Arsene Wenger didn't sign any goalkeeper, and Manuel Almunia still became Arsenal's no 1, because his deputies, Lukasz FabianskI and Vito Mannone, made several mistakes when Arsene Wenger believed them to stand in front of goal.



Manuel Almunia

Well, Manuel Almunia is injured now, and Fabianski have to fill his position. Fabianski was highly doubted he could play well, but in the match against Partizan, he showed who he really is. He stopped one penalty, and made strings of fine save.

If Fabianski continue playing like that, Manuel Almunia could be switched to the bench, and he gains first team football regularly. Could Fabianski continue his brilliance? The first test is today, facing Chelsea!

Arsenal - Liverpool 1-1..

Arsenal were held 1-1 by Liverpool on the Anfield. N'Gog capitalized Arsenal's poor defending, while Pepe Reina's own goal saved Arsenal from the defeat on Arsenal's first match.

First half was Arsenal's game, they were controlling the match, passing well, even they didn't have much chances, it would probably the matter of time, until Arsenal score a goal.

Joe Cole was red carded for tackling Laurent Koscielny in the end of first half, and it means 11 against 10 for Arsenal. But on the beginning of second half, it was not Arsenal who took the lead, but Liverpool. Arsenal defended very poorly, Nasri giving the ball to Liverpool's side.

Well, after leading 1-0, Arsenal didn't respond well, they even showed their weak mentality, they were giving chance for Liverpool to expand their creativity, and Liverpool had some great chances - fortunately, the scoreline remained 1-0.

Arsenal then recovered, but Liverpool had gained some confidence, and they defended very strong. Honestly, Arsenal were quite lucky to get equalizer, even they had some chances to equalize. Pepe Reina was unstable while trying to catch the ball, and - as everyone knows - it's in. 1-1 for Arsenal

Well, It wasn't Arsenal's best performance, but it wasn't bad either. It was Liverpool who defended very well

The point of this game is Arsenal need to improve their defending, they were really vulnerable on the defence, and better teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Internazionale, and Chelsea could punish Arsenal with heavy defeat, IF they continue defending like that. There's still time for Arsenal to improve, before it's too late.

Tomas Rosicky should start from the beginning in the next match, and Wilshere could be dropped on to the bench, while Van Persie should play in front with Chamakh.

Hopefully, Arsenal could be better next match and win the EPL..

Attacking isn't a problem, but Defensive is a problem

Arsenal win the Emirates Cup, again, after beating Celtic 3-2. They finished the group with 8 points, from one draw (1 points ), one win (3 points), and four goals (4 points).

They played well, offensively. But, again, Arsenal wasn't very good on defense. On the first half they were very strong, with Manuel Almunia didn't do much in that match.

Then disasters came on 67th minutes. Jack Wilshere unintentionally fouled Marc-Antonio Fortune, and the referee gives Celtic a penalty, which Samaras failed to convert into a goal. But then, Arsenal looked to lost focus again, giving Celtic chance to dominate the game. And Celtic were able to score two goals, giving Arsenal unease condition, if Celtic had scored again, Arsenal would slipped into second place and lost the Emirates Cup.

Fortunately, Arsenal slowly regained their focus and concentration, and took the control of the game again.

They were playing at home, already conceding three goals from two match, that's not good. How could they survive against Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Internazionale??

Hopefully Arsenal could improve again, and they will win major trophy this season!

Post Arsenal-Milan comment

1-1 is the final score for Arsenal and Milan. It was a really entertaining match. Despite it's only a friendly match, both teams showed great determination to win the match. Arsenal took lead by new-striker Marouane Chamakh, before AC Milan equalized by Alexandre Pato's header goal. Both teams also had great chances, but not-so-good finishing letting them to waste their chancess

THE POSITIVES
Youngsters and Newcomers has been pretty impressive. Laurent Koscielny stopped Alexandre Pato well, and Marouane Chamakh scored a goal. While Jack Wilshere took Fabregas' role in the midfield and eventually did well, Emmanuel Frimpong was also impressive, he was so determined in the midfield. Kieran Gibbs was very lively on the left back, giving some good croses, which unfortunately none of them leading to a goal. Second-half substitute Mark Randall was also quite good, had two chances but failed to convert it. Prone-error goalkeeper, Lukasz Fabianski also didn't do anything wrong even he was underpressure sometimes. That's good sign for the Polish goalkeeper

Arsenal's attacking face wasn't too different from last season, still playing feet-to-feet ball, one two pass, and short pass. Arsenal created many chances, more than Milan did last night, and also all defenders could play with the ball and had some chances, even they are the centre backs.


THE NEGATIVES
Arsenal lost concentration for a while and Milan maximized it. There's gap between the midfield and the defence, although in overall they still defended well.

But the main problem in match against Milan was final touch. Besides Chamakh's goal, Arsenal's players are lacking of finishing touch, they had many chances, and only one goals scored, that's a problem. There's an argument than Cristian Abbiati has been brilliant, it's true, Abbiati played well yesterday, but some of the clear chances, which Abbiati wouldn't have saved, if they hit it on target, the result could've been different.

Another negative side is Arsenal were losing focus after conceding one goal, that's a problem, when you lost focus after conceded. Arsenal almost conceded again two times after Pato's goal, and they need to improve their mentality, not to down after conceded one goal.

In Overall, Arsenal was quite good. Draw isn't the best result Arsenal could get, but hopefully it brings experience for youngsters.