With a double helping from officials, Arsenal have clawed their way just a little closer to the Premier League summit. It took an offside Mikel Arteta to get the better of Julio Cesar, who picked the most inconvenient time to have such a worldie of a game, which was matched by more refereeing incompetence after Hernandez's goal completed a shambles of a game at the Bridge.
A draw between the top two would have been ideal, but we now have just 7 points separating us from the top, which feels so much better than a very distant 10. I, personally, would much rather be just a point behind United with the meeting at Old Trafford awaiting, but you can't win 'em all.
Saturday saw a more familiar Arsenal performance - lots and lots of frustration, followed by jubilation, followed by a nerve-jangling, heart-stopping finale.
Of course, it started incredibly positive, with the long-awaited returns of Wilshere and Sagna. Jack reminded us of what we were missing these past 17 months. He didn't look rusty at all; it was as if he'd never been away. The way he sprays it left, right, over the top - it's world class. And he makes it look completely effortless. A 94% passing success rate says it all. Since we switched to a 4-3-3, the trio of Jack, Santi and Arteta is easily the strongest combination of them all, and that means the likes of The Ox and Rosicky on the bench. Scary or what?
I can't believe I'd forgotten how good Sagna actually is on the right - which is no thanks to Carl Jenkinson - I wouldn't mind him all season on the right - but Sagna is just something else. His deliveries are top drawer. They beg for a head to be placed upon them. As good as Jenkinson has been the past the last couple of months, Sagna is streets ahead of him. I'm so glad he's back. Both Jack and Bacary inject some much needed urgency and fluidity into our play.
The game was headed for a mundane goalless draw - which would have been the last thing we needed after the past week - and Arteta popped up in the right place at the wrong time (but it didn't matter anyway) to send all Gooners berserk. All nerves had been flushed out in a kick of the ball. After seeing Julio Cesar pull off a couple of worldies to deny us, it didn't look good. It says something about the team at the moment that we need to break the rules to scrape past QPR with a squad as strong as ours. Still not good enough.
With six minutes to go, it seemed simple to see out. Especially after Ramsey and Cazorla both went close as we entered stoppage time, but not even that stopped a late onslaught that gave almost every Arsenal fan a heart attack. When Andre Santos - looking as sloppy as hell - lets Jamie Mackie run past him in the final minute without any challenge whatsoever before Mannone saved us all from self-imploding with rage.
You have to feel for Vermaelen, really. He gets chopped down by one of their defenders after fouling them (WTF?) and then has to deal with a super dodgy one by his side. That's the thing being an Arsenal defender - you're always next to a crap player - unless you're Squillaci, of course, who by the way I do believe is still alive and well? (I'm not sure).
So somehow, we survived and we're 3 points (and places) better off, thanks to Mr. Taylor and Mr. Clattenburg. There's still work to be done, though. We need Gibbs back ASAP, a little more attacking confidence and not to mention a decent referee perhaps? Given that we're playing United at OT, it'll probably be this guy...
The fightback continues on Saturday. Come On You Reds!
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