So the decision Arsène had to make which I alluded to here yesterday morning was to stick with young Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone rather than pick Manuel Almunia who, it would appear given his place on the bench, is back to match fitness. Interesting, but given the form that our third choice keeper has shown it is understandable. There was also a start at right back for Eboue and Theo Walcott also got his first Premier League start of the season.
However Theo’s afternoon was short lived. A strong/robust/letting him know he was there challenge early in the game saw Theo on the ground and clearly in pain, he was treated on the sidelines for a while and my initial reaction was that he wouldn’t return. However he was soon back on and almost immediately had a chance for a fine goal but Birmingham keeper Joe Hart made a good save. Walcott was replaced however by Arshavin just after the half hour and Arsène later said he expects Theo to miss the Alkmaar game.
Our first goal came from Robin van Persie, that is now 4 in 4 for the Dutchman, a pass from the impressive Alex Song saw van Persie get in behind the defence. The ball seemed to get caught in his feet, but he was able to control it and fire a fine shot into the net. We had barely finished celebrating when our second goal came, a Rosicky ball across the 6 yard box was missed by van Persie and Walcott but Abou Diaby was there to fire it into the corner. 2-0 and time to relax?
Relax was what Arsenal seemed to do, Birmingham got more into the game at this point and there was a slight sense of frustration growing in the crowd. I suspect this is partly to do with our current free scoring ways, but as passes started to go astray there were the inevitable groans and concerns from the northern section of the stadium. Birmingham scored following a Mannone mistake, he came for a ball that was looped into the 6 yard box, failed to collect and it fell to Bowyer who scored. From our initial view it looked like he may have been fouled, but replays later showed it was more error than being impeded that resulted in the goal. We still look vulnerable in defence, this needs fixing, but the caveat to that is that none of the other top 4 teams are solid at the back yet either.
The second half started a bit flatter from our point of view, there were chances but none of them seemed to go our way. Birmingham were edging into the game and had a good chance for an equaliser had Mannone not scooped the ball away from two advancing players. Soon after this Mannone collected a ball in the area, he swiftly threw it to Cesc. At this point the crowd roared with encouragement, it was good to hear. Fabregas ran up the middle of the pitch and played the ball to Arshavin on his left. The Russian took the ball just inside the edge of the area, used the defender to partly block Hart’s view and slotted the winner home. Pure brilliant Arsenal counter attack, no team does this as well as us.
Another 3 points, against a team that we struggled with 2 seasons ago. Things continue to look good. We are on a great winning run, and are yet to draw a game this season, this momentum is building for us and hopefully we can keep that going.
Players of note yesterday were Kieran Gibbs who performed well at left back. Song and Diaby also looked good in midfield, there are those internet warriors who will say “they would look good against poor opposition” and yes they should do but they can only perform against what is in front of them and I feel these players deserve credit for their improvements. I really think we will miss Song when he is at the ACN. Mannone, whilst at fault for the goal, overall played well. You cannot say for certain that Almunia would not have made the same mistake, he has done similar things before. I still wonder if Arsène will reselect him or stick with Vito, Manuel did not look happy sat on the bench yesterday.
Tuesday sees us play at AZ Alkmaar in the third game of the Champions League group stage. More on that game in the next couple of days. Meanwhile we can bask in our league form and console ourselves that we did not concede a goal to a beach ball!
