After a wet Tuesday night in the city of Lagos, the sun has risen to its utmost casting its shadows over the islands of Lagos and the metropolitan city thereof. It is a Wednesday afternoon a meeting point between the start of the week and the end of the week. This is the top of the mid-week and by night fall the wind of the weekend will begin to gather and in the footballing world, the weekend games will begin to gather momentum.
Last weekend at the Emirates, I had looked forward to couple of battles; I looked forward to Wenger’s quest to get a win over Mourinho in his 13th try. Unfortunately for the french professor, his lads were found wanting in the final third. Wenger had his game plan but the execution was not 100%. The introduction of Welbeck and Walcott may be questioned especially seeing that they added little or nothing to the final third.
The Back 4 held their lines but were caught wanting twice. Ospina had to send Oscar to the hospital after the Brazilian was sent through by returning Fabregas. Ospina had to deny Ramires a clear cut opportunity latter on.
It was a game of penalties not given and cards not shown. It was game where Fabregas went a diving yet expects to be in many good books. It was a game where the fans were divided over whether to applaud Fabregas for his previous services or to boo him for the way he left the club and even joined Chelsea after he swore never to. He was booed and applauded.
Sanchez failed to spark any fire, neither was Hazard able to get pass young Bellerin. Bellerin kept Hazard at bay and won the Man of the match award with a very good display. Would Debuchy have fared better? No. Sanchez although will need to take the easier routes for the good of the team. Sometimes he holds the ball too long and thus disrupts a certain turbulent flow.
This was a game of near misses and no direct danger to the Chelsea goalie. It was a game Coquelin enjoyed the tackle, had a yellow for his worries and was superb in the middle, snuffing off balls from Blue shirted rent boys and giving it to either of Cazorla or the pea-eyed Ozil.
Mourinho came – just like before – for a draw and he got what he desired – a 0-0 draw – to send his rent boys to jubilation with the knowledge that they still have a 10 points lead over the gunners. They will face Leicester City today, aiming to increase the gap to 13 points. Wenger will have to wait for the Community Shield at the beginning of next season to have another chance to face Mourinho. An FA Cup trophy and a 2nd place league finish will just be fine.
Forget Henry, he must be riding on the love the fans have for him. Gunnerblog can tell you more but this summarizes it:
“Arsenal do need to make additions if they are to challenge Chelsea next year. However, Henry’s appraisal is otherwise unduly negative. Arsenal are closer than he thinks, and that much was evident in the match with Chelsea. Since the turn of the year, Wenger’s side has faced both Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Chelsea without suffering defeat. His words sound like those of a pundit looking to make his mark on the broadcast world. In his desire to appear objective, Henry has gone too far.” – GunnerBlog
The weekend wasn’t as sweet as I had wanted but i took solace in Everton’s 3-0 bashing of Manchester United. The gunners will face Hull city coming weekend and they will hope to break the defence that have two consecutive clean sheets which includes a 1-0 win over Liverpool. The Reds seem to love the Europa so much. Will they ever return to the Champions League. They just came for this season’s UCL like a 1 year national service. Brendan Rodgers will have a lot of explanation to make.
If English football was all i looked forward to then i doubt i will be complete. The Nigerian Premier League added its twists and turns to my weekend with wins for Enyimba and Kano Pillars. There were no away wins like the penultimate weekend but there were goals and Mfom Udoh seems to have caught his groove. He is already back to the top of the scorers chart. He needs to be the face of Enyimba’s advertisement and deals.
Did you enjoy Barca’s 6-0 demolition of Getafe? or you preferred Dortmund’s victory over Bayern? How on earth did Bayern miss 4 consecutive spot kicks? I will be looking forward to two more games before the weekend proper: A. Bielefied vs Wolfsburg and Heartland vs Kano Pillars.
For now, it is time to have an African delicacy for lunch.
SoccerGunz 