Arsenal have qualified for the semifinals of the annual fourth place trophy in England. The Gunners huffed and puffed against the white swans but had nothing to show for it but near misses and “arghss”.

Riding on an invisible horse of unbeaten run which included a goalless draw with the Champions, Chelsea, the gunners were thrown flat to the ground no thanks to Gomis’ late header clawed out of the net by Ospina. Goal line technology smiled on the big forward who was introduced late on in the game.

It was a Monday evening and it was an opportunity to continue to match to 2nd place but Arsenal git a call from the guy called “Fourth Place” and instead of hitting the red reject button, we went on to pick the call and behold the negotiations for the Fourth Place Trophy is back.

When City were stuffing QPR over the weekend with Aguero’s goals, it was clear that Arsenal may lose 2nd place on goal difference if they finished with same points as Manchester City. Few days later, 2nd place seems like climbing to the tip of Mount Everest.

A poor first half void of any shot on target beget a second half full of chances not converted. It took the Gunners 58 minutes to register a shot on target, after which they went on to get 9 on target, all of which were direct to Fabianski who didn’t break a sweat. The ball was romanced at will but Swansea had a big Marco Polo bus at Ashburton Groove. How Arsenal failed to break down this bus is a thing to worry about. Arsenal had chances but the last time I checked FIFA has not added a metrics for winning games by just chances alone.

A simple cross, a simple header and Bafetembi Gomis has scored a winner with his 3rd touch of the game. Could Bellerin have done better? Could the defenders have prevented Gomis from nodding? Could Ospina have done better?

Wilshere came in and added drive and vigour. But anytime i see Coquelin leaving the the pitch, i always feel we may be undone, and last night we were undone. Walcott came in and seemed overwhelmed by the game. Sanchez even missed a close range attempt. Can’t we have Giroud and Walcott play together? I am no football coach but i see no reason why we keep crossing the ball into the box with no point man there. Giroud’ seems to have been jinxed by Henry’s comment. No goals yet since Henry made him look like a second class citizen of the Emirates kingdom of Arsenal.

The lost last night was bitter to swallow especially seeing that we travel to Manchester on Sunday. A defeat will spell doom for Arsenal. It will be the battle of the Fourth Place Trophy.

The game at the Jolly Ndame stadium was even more exciting than the near-misses at the Emirates. I also enjoyed the Ausburg victory in Munich, Madrid’s draw with Valencia.

Hopefully, Arsenal picks up the pieces of last night and hand over the Fourth Place Trophy to Van Pierse and the Red Devils.

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