Arsenal 2
Adebayor, Gilberto Silva

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In a pressure free match, Arsenal dominated proceedings against relegation haunted Reading at the Emirates. The 2-0 scoreline could have been bigger but the woodwork seemed to favour the visiting side more.

It was nearly a vintage Arsenal performance with crisp passing were all over the pitch. The decision to start with Theo Walcott also augured well as the England youngster had put on several impressive performances over the last few weeks.


The scoreline did not matter much but the way Arsenal played was really the way of proving the point that a total overhaul of the squad is not necessary. Most players in the current squad are off high quality despite many of them are still at a very young age.

For me, at most we just need three more players, that is after considering the total number of injured players right now. Had all the player been fit, Arsene Wenger would definitely have a bit of a problem in keeping everybody happy.

One thing for sure is that I am hoping very much that Matthieu Flamini would put pen on paper as soon as possible on a new contract with us. After finally cementing his place in the side after a number of seasons being used as a 'utility' player, it would be so strange for him to pack his bags and leave.

If there is one player that I really would like to see scoring goals for Arsenal is Ajax's Klaas Jan Huntelaar who already notched 33 goals for the Amsterdam side this season. Ironically, he was the first player to score at the Emirates when he opened the scoring for Ajax during the Dennis Bergkamp Testimonial match last season.

Now, wouldn't it be nice if he is scoring week in week out for Arsenal at the Emirates?

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Man United 2
Cristiano Ronaldo, Hargreaves

Arsenal 1
Adebayor

It is confirmed. Arsenal is without a trophy this season, again.

Does that mean a switch of allegiance to another team? Not in mad redo1's case. It is true that we have not won anything of worthy since 2004-05 season when the FA Cup came back to Highbury after a penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester United.

It was the same opponent again that confirmed the reality that many Gooners are trying to defer from accepting. The defeat could be considered as a bit unlucky but in truth, the way Arsene Wenger's men have coped with all the trials and tribulations that befallen them this season has been nothing short from admirable.

We came back strongly after being unluckily eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday to show our interest in the league has not wavered. Perhaps the chances created should have been put away but after a long hard season it was asking a bit too much from the one who has contributed quite significantly to the campaign.

But we kept plugging away and finally the break came when hesitation in the United's defence allowed Manu Adebayor to turn a Robin Van Persie cross over the goal-line.

Unless we take the lead in the 94th minute of a match, I would not be comfortable with our ability to preserve the scoreline. True enough, it did not.

Skipper William Gallas handled the ball inside the box and Cristiano Ronaldo tucked home the equaliser despite Jens Lehmann going the right way on both occasions. Lehmann who was recalled after injury to Manuel Almunia made a few significant saves and a few more similar performances would see him as the number one goalkeeper for Germany for the upcoming EURO 2008.


The winner came from another dead-ball situation when Gilberto Silva was adjudged to foul Patrice Evra just outside the box. Owen Hargreaves' effort flew into the goal with nothing much could be done by the Arsenal defence. It was certainly a wonderful effort.

Despite trying their best, scoring another couple of goals proved to be a mountain too high for the visitors to climb and at the final whistle Alex Ferguson was seen offering consoling words to Arsene Wenger, knowing that Arsenal had lost the race rather than his side winning them.

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Quarter-Final, Leg 2

Liverpool 4
Hyppia, Torres, Gerrard (penalty), Babel

Arsenal 2
Abou Diaby, Adebayor

Liverpool won 5-3 on aggregate

The April Trilogy ended in favour of Liverpool after an outstanding acting performance by Ryan Babel fooled the referee into thinking that Kolo Toure's attempt to get out of the way as a foul on the Dutchman.

With the score level at 2-2, Arsenal were holding the advantage on away goals rule but Steven Gerrard dispatched the penalty with great confidence past Manuel Almunia. This prompted an all out attack by the visitors which left space for Babel to score the fourth after getting past Cesc Fabregas and slotting the ball wide from the out of position Almunia.

The match began with Arsenal holding sway and Abou Diaby erased any advantage Liverpool had from the first leg with a stiff shot that came off Pepe Reina's knee into the net. The visitors managed to hold on for quite a while but Sami Hyppia equalised when he managed to shake off Phillipe Senderos to head home.


Then Fernando Torres showed his class when his control after receiving a knock-down from Peter Crouch enabled him to find the extra space against Senderos before unleashing a powerful shot past Almunia.

A moment of magic worthy to grace and winning an European tie unfolded with six minutes to go when substitute Theo Walcott embarked on a 60 metre run past four Liverpool players before cutting back the ball for Manu Adebayor to slot home past Reina.


Advantage Arsenal.

But the joy was cut short after the acting began, and Arsenal were left ruing the big decisions that went against them over the two legs.

However, this defeat should not take their focus away from another big task waiting for them on Sunday at Old Trafford where a win is paramount to ensure our title dreams would not be over when Monday comes along.

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Arsenal 1
Bendtner

Liverpool 1
Crouch

The second part of the April trilogy between Arsenal and Liverpool failed to separate them again with the score similar to the one on Wednesday. The visitors looked more fired up for this match with Peter Crouch leading the line, a rare start for the bean-pole striker.

Perhaps it was his hat-tick against us that prompted Rafa Benitez to use him again but his presence certainly unsettled our defence. It was our failure to deal with one of his lay-off that opened the scoring.

Youssi Benayoun was quicker to latch onto it and Crouch's touch enabled him to control the ball and unleashed a low shot past Manuel Almunia. It was totally against the run of play, after Nicklas Bendtner tested Pepe Reina with a low shot which lacked power to cause any harm to the Liverpool's cause.

But it was the goalkeeper's reluctance in coming in for a long ball into the box that gave the big Danish youngster the time and space to bring Arsenal to par again with the visitors. It was from a free-kick taken by Cesc Fabregas after former Arsenal player, Jermaine Pennant had fouled Armand Traore on the left.


The home side went for the kill afterwards, needing all the three points on board to ensure the gap with them and leaders manure would remain manageable. Unfortunately the front line lacked the killer instinct and putting Bendtner on the left did not put any pressure on the Liverpool defence who only had Manu Adebayor to content with.

In the end, a point each for both sides seemed like a fair result but for the Gunners, the title aspirations have become something of an unattainable, at least for this season.

But of course we would not give up until the end, would we?

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Quarter-Final, Leg 1

Arsenal 1
Adebayor

Liverpool 1
Kuyt

The first part of the April trilogy between these two giants in English football ended in a stalemate, a result which suited the visitors more.

The Gunners were denied from taking a lead to Anfield in a week time when the referee failed to award a clear penalty when Dirk Kuyt tugged Alex Hleb down in the box with the score at 1-1. On a night where team-mates seemed to conspire against one another from scoring, it was quite a fair result.


Manu Adebayor made the most of the confusion in the Liverpool penalty area to head Arsenal ahead. If this has happened under the George Graham era most probably we would shut up shop and chorus of 1-0 to the Arsenal would have reverbrated around the Emirates.

However, defence is not the Gunners' strongest point this season with just two clean sheets in our last seven matches. The lapse of concentration enabled Steven Gerrard to provide the telling ball for Kuyt to bundle home just two minutes after Adebayor's goal.

Robin Van Persie looked lively but he did not return for the second half due to an injury. His presence has been sorely miss though he might have some crucial role to play in the next few weeks to ensure Arsenal's season does not end trophyless, again.

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Bolton Wanderers 2 Taylor 2
Arsenal 3 Gallas, Van Persie (pen), Samuels (OG)

I was thinking why all the luck in the world has deserted us since the last couple of months when the second goal by Matthew Taylor went in after a deflection off William Gallas took it beyond Manu Almunia's despairing dive.

The Reebok does not hold much happy memories for me and when we trooped off the pitch two goals down at the interval, headlines like "Arsenal crumbled at Bolton", "It's a Two Horse race now" kept playing in my head.

Even when the second half began I felt there was no way that we could salvage the match, especially with just ten men. Abou Diaby continued to depress me lately and somewhere deep in my heart I wished we had retained the services of Lassana Diarra who would be tough yet skillful enough to play on either flanks.

Almunia pulled a brilliant save from Gary Cahill's header though the referee should have awarded a free-kick after the defender gained his advantage after climbing off an Arsenal player.

Then Arsene Wenger took a big risk by taking off Phillipe Senderos to be replaced by Theo Walcott. Arsenal has had problems playing with four at the back against Bolton before, now they are playing with just three and none of them is tall enough to counter the high balls into the box.

Manu Adebayor came on for Nicklas Bendtner who was a bit unlucky with his shots during the match. The changes seemed to rejunevate the visitors and they came streaming forward in a 3-4-2 formation.

From a corner, Ivan Campo misjudged a corner by Cesc Fabregas and Gallas lost his marker at the far past to divert the ball into the net. Arsenal continued to pressure Bolton and a beautiful flick by Adebayor opened up the space for Matthieu Flamini to shot but the goalkeeper went down wll to stop it.

Alex Hleb reached the loose ball first leaving Cahill with no option but to bring the Belarussian down in the box. A penalty was awarded and Robin Van Persie converted to level the score.

I dared not dream of all three points but the fightback was tremendous. Van Persie showed that he is nearly there in terms of sharpness with a number of chances that came close to give joy to Arsenal fans throughout the world.

Then, Fabregas cleverly ran into space to connect with a Hleb's cutback. His effort hit Andy O'Brien and Jlloyd Samuel before softly hitting the back of the net.


Perhaps, the luck is returning and hopefully this time they will stay for good.

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Chelski 2 Dogba2
Arsenal 1 Sagna


It is really heartbreaking to lose in the manner Arsenal did at Stamford Bridge just now. Two route-one balls and two goals much to the delights of those who prefer crap football as long as it won them trophies.

Though, I used to accept these crap football when Arsenal were winning matches 1-0 and won the league and cups under George Graham. However, since the arrival of Arsene Wenger I have been spoilt by the finer aspects of the way football should be played.

One thing about Wenger is his reluctance to employ the route one football if he can help it and it clearly showed again just now. Knowing the opponents have been vulnerable when dealing in high balls and set-pieces, especially after the 4-4 draw at the Lane, he still refused to employ them despite having Manu Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner at his disposal.

Instead, he started with the Togolese and Robin Van Persie in front and Alex Hleb and Manu Eboue on the flanks. If he had started with the tall guys in front, Van Persie and Hleb could benefit from the second ball that might come their way, as much as Dogba benefited from the lay off from Lardpard and Nic Anelka in scoring those two goals.

The usual answer would be that it would be against his principle to win ugly, though I wish he would accept it as part of football. Variety is the key to winning nowadays and perhaps if Wenger was willing to go against his principle a few times this season, we would have been so far ahead instead of dropping to third place behind the Bâtards and the engrais.

There will be advocates for the kind of football the Bâtards dans le bleu play. And when Arsenal broke in a swift counter attack from a corner, Joe Cole stayed down on the pitch clutching his knees. With the crowd whistling, Eboue kicked the ball out just near the centre line.

The soonest the physio touched him, Cole got up and walked gingerly as if nothing happened to him. Would not he deserved to be named a Bâtard? From the throw in to restart the match, instead of kicking it to Manu Almunia, the Bâtard John Terry kicked the ball to the touchline, just a few metres from the corner flag, deep inside Arsenal's half, immediately putting the Gunners under pressure.

I dare anybody to call those two incidents sportsmanship. A behaviour of Bâtards is more likely.

It would not be so hard to take if we lost to goals like the equaliser scored by Michael Essien during last season's encounter.

Well, I am not throwing away the towels as yet being the positive person that I am though it will not take a genius to figure out that the odds against us finishing top in May will be very, very long now.

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Arsenal 1 Toure
Middlesborough 1 Aliadiere

Jeremie Aliadiere came back to the Emirates with a reminder that he could do the business in the Premier League by putting his new employer ahead after twenty five minutes. However, his mute celebration certainly showed he still remember what the club has done for him in the past.

It was another two points dropped which meant we have lost the lead of the Premier League to manure. This time around there was no cabbage patch to blame but referee Mark Halsey certainly bore the brunt of my disappointment.

His decision to disallow Manu Adebayor's goal in the opening minutes certainly did not sit well with me, especially when he explained later that the pass was intended for an Arsenal player in an offside position when it hit George Boateng and fell to the Togolese striker.

However, replays showed that none other Arsenal player was in an offside position apart from Adebayor, the pass was not intended for him thus the deflection should not render him off-side at all.

If Arsenal was to be denied by an offside decision, Middlesborough benefited from the benefit of the doubt showed by the other linesman and Aliadiere made the most from a cross by Turkish player Tuncay.

The home side worked hard for the equaliser and forced Mark Schwarzer in the Boro's goal to work hard throughout the match. Robin Van Persie's first start clearly showed how much we have been missing him but on this occassion he could not conjure that piece of magic that is usually associated with his game.

Cesc Fabregas came close with a header but one thing for certain was the lack of spark in the creativity department since the last few weeks. Thus, to say that Middlesborough deserved this point could be justified for the defensive performance though Arsenal should be a more deserved winner for the amount of chances they created.

When Kolo Toure's header eventually found its way over the goal-line, once again it was the sigh of relief rather than a sight of joy that I gave out.

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Wigan 0
Arsenal 0

It did not take long for Arsenal to realise that their season did not end in San Siro. Where on the pitch in Milan, Arsenal were able to put up their best display of pressing and passing game, the same thing could not be applied on Wigan's JJB Stadium pitch.

But the matter of a cabbage patch for a pitch would not have arisen if Manu Adebayor had converted the chance that came his way in the opening seconds of the match.

Cesc Fabregas found him with a superb ball and he should have done what he did a couple of seasons ago when he was in similar position towards the end of the match and the Togolese international just flicked the ball over the rushing goalkeeper.

This time around he chose to try and stroke it past Chris Kirkland who made a wonderful save.

Wigan never really threaten but Arsenal could NOT adapt to the condition and seemed a few gears slower than usual. In the end, a goalless draw seemed the most appropriate result even though Arsenal came closest through Fabregas whose goal-bound header was pushed away by Kirkland.

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