4 trophies? More like 4th place.

The Gunners were slow to start and after 11 minutes they were punished. Arsenal were pushing up after a corner but Darren Bent, who was on the shoulder of Squillaci, controlled brilliantly then put Villa 1-0 up.
4 minutes later, the same player doubled the away sides lead in similar fashion. It was Sagna this time trying to play offside but Bent was there again to slot it underneath Szczesny. This was Aston Villas second shot, both resulting in goals.
On the half-hour mark, Arsenal had a definite penalty turned down. Wilshere with a superb ball to Ramsey who went to pull the trigger, only for Dunne to stop him making contact with the ball. The defender didn't make any contact with the ball yet Michael Oliver gave a goal kick. Had it been given Dunne would have seen red and you'd count on Van Persie to score for 12 yards out. This sparked a come back for Arsenal who were having all the attempts. The post kept it 2-0, Van Persie denied what would've been a fantastic goal.
Referee howler number two came on the stroke of half-time. Van Persie turned Dunne who had tried to get to the ball before him. The Dutchman then passed to Ramsey who was halted by the whistle as Oliver felt Van Persie had fouled Dunne. Shock for everyone with this decision as the Villa centre half ran into Van Persie.
Haft-time and the boos began from frustrated fans. Arsene Wenger's side should have had at least a goal but their poor start and terrible refereeing meant they went into the break trailing by 2 goals to nil.
Arsene's answer to this was Chamakh on for Squillaci. 4-4-2 was adopted and Song dropped into defence.
The second half was all the Gunners however they failed to really test Friedel so on came Bendtner for the once again disappointing Arshavin.
Arsenal continued to dominate the possession but made little with it. A rare attack from Villa needed two saves from Szczesny and two minutes later, the ball was in the net. Chamakh had scored his first goal since March only for mistake number three by the official who claimed the Moroccan pushed the defender to reach the ball.
Shot after shot after shot, none managed to cross the line until the 89th minute when Van Persie scored his 21st goal of a season limited by injury. What a player he is but his goal was a mere consolation as it finished 2-1 to Aston Villa. Arsenal's third defeat in four games.

The final home game of the campaign is usually a day of celebration. Not this year. All players did a lap of the pitch for those supporters that remained after the game. All fans know that should Man City win on Tuesday, they will go above us with one game left. 4th obviously isn't a disaster, it just means two extra games in August to qualify for the Champions League. Yes, it would be an inconvenience to qualify for the Champions League but you'd expect them to win without too much trouble against a Benfica side or Rubin Kazan which could await us. Still, we can always hope that Man City lose 1 of their final games so we go straight into the group stage. Yet I cannot see this.
No comments:
Post a Comment