Blackburn Review

My apologies for not posting in a while, i have been hugely busy and away from my computer. Since i have been away though, we have done rather well and destroyed a pretty dire looking Blackburn team. If we had got anything other than a win, i would have truly worried for our confidence for the games ahead. Instead we got a massive 7-1 win, with Van Persie netting a hat trick, Ox getting 2 and Henry & Arteta picking picking up one each. A nice mixture of players scoring, although i was surprised Wenger left Van Persie on for the whole game. The players now have a weeks rest before what will be a big week for the club this season, when we face three tough away trips to Sunderland, Milan and i would guess Sunderland again in the FA Cup.

I thought Walcott and the Ox where terrific on the wings and always had the full backs in confusion about whether they should get close or stand back. It will be great when Gervinho returns, as he can also take a ball past the full back and will provide us with options. I would personally choose Gervinho and Chamberlain and have Walcott on the bench but i imagine it would be Chamberlain to make way once Gervinho returns in a months time. It was good that we could rest Song and Koscielny as they have played a lot of minutes and are vital to our team.

Chelsea falling apart from 3-0 was amusing to watch and they could have easily lost the game in the end. It might just be me, but i feel there was not enough made out of the fact they lost a 3-0 lead at home. If that was us and it has been on a number of occasions unfortunately, i feel the media would be jumping on the band wagon and laying into Arsenal. Instead a lot more was made of Man Utd's great performance than Chelsea throwing it away. Why he left on Malouda and took off Sturridge i shall never know. It has put 4th place in the balance and i could see any of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Newcastle ending up there. None of the teams seem willing to really go for it. If Arsenal progress in Europe, i don't think it will actually do us any good in getting 4th, purely because i don't think we have the strength in depth to play 3 games a week, but then you also have the thing of losing confidence if you crash out of Europe. It really is one of those catch 22 situations.

I would like a Liverpool win tonight even though they are one of our closest challengers for 4th spot. If Spurs can be reeled in and join our 4th spot battle, it will make it really interesting, especially if they actually got some injuries to key players.

I am going to leave the post at that for today as still lots of stuff to do with my day, i shall be back tomorrow to look at all things Arsenal