Arsenal 3-Birmingham 1

By: Martin | October 17th, 2009

Watch Arsenal v Birmingham City in Sports Online | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.comWell, 3 more points, and we’re back into the top 4, with 18 points from 8 games. And functionally, you could make the argument that we’re in 2nd place, since we’re only 3 points behind 2nd place Chelsea, with a home match against Bolton in hand, and a goal differential advantage over the Blues (and everyone else in the Premiership, for that matter).

From the first whistle we dominated this match, creating a number of chances and taking a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes off of a fine finish by van Persie and a good cherry-picking goal by Diaby. It looked like it was going to be a walk of a game. But then, as this Arsenal team has done so many times, it seemed like we let our foot off the gas a little bit, and Lee Bowyer scored a scrappy goal when Mannone couldn’t hold on to a high ball into the box and no red shirts were around to clear or block the rebound. The second half was one of those “nervy” halves of Arsenal football, where we always seemed in control of the match but couldn’t get the 3rd goal to put the game out of reach. Until Arshavin got the ball outside of his box, did his thing, and put a fine finish past Joe Hart for the goal that sealed it in the 84th minute.

There isn’t really too much to say about this match. We came out strong and took the early advantage, then sagged a little bit, gave up kind of a fluky goal, and then except for a few scary moments controlled the second half. This game also featured a very rare free kick IN the box–it wasn’t a penalty kick, but Arsenal got to take a direct free kick from inside the box. It was pretty much like a penalty kick where the defenders were allowed to form a wall on the goal line. Unfortunately, Robbie’s kick was just inches too high and ricocheted off the cross bar. I certainly wouldn’t say this was an easy way, but I couldn’t say it was too difficult, either. The other big story was that Theo Walcott had to leave injured after being on the wrong end of a rough tackle. It appeared to be a leg injury of some sort–he stayed in for a little while after the initial tackle, but always looked tentative putting weight on the leg and was replaced by Arshavin.

On to the ratings:

Mannone 6 Not terrible, but a subpar performance from the Godfather. His positioning and shot stopping was good, but it looked like he had dunked his hands in melted butter before the match, because he couldn’t hang on to anything. Gave up a rebound on several shots he should have held, and then was at fault for the goal, when he should have snatched and held the ball, but instead just deflected it to Bowyer who was able to finish.

Eboue 7.5. Looked good at right-back–covered his back well and joined in the attack. After Sagna came in he moved up to the front, where he was less effective. But with his versatility, I get the feeling he’s going to get a lot of playing time this season. If you had told me that this time last year, I would have been distraught, but as it is, I’m quite happy he’s around.

Gibbs 7.Not spectacular, and had a couple of bad giveaways, but generally looked comfortable and competent at left-back. Not bad for a guy who hasn’t had much game action lately.

Vermaelen 8 Very comfortable. I know he’s only played in 8 league games, but honestly, given his age and the fact that he’s going to get better, how many defenders in the Premiership would you rather have than TV5? I think that’s a very, very short list at the moment.

Gallas 7. Not bad, not great. Meh.

Song 8.5. Man of the match. Was a beast in midfield winning the ball, and his great through ball created van Persie’s goal. It was too bad that he picked up his 4th yellow card on what I think was a pretty questionable call, as it points him one yellow away from an automatic one-match suspension.

Diaby 8. Best game of the season from Diaby. Put a nice finish on the 2nd goal, and generally used his athleticism to both get forward in the attack and get back and cover the backline. On occasion, he shows us exactly why Wenger has so much faith in him–today was one of those occasions.

Cesc 7.5. Not nearly as dominant as he was in the past couple of matches, but still put in a strong performance. Even more impressive give all the personal issues he’s been going through the past week.

Walcott 6.5. Used his pace to create some chances, but had to come off very early due to injury. Here’s hoping it’s nothing too serious.

Rosicky 6.5. Looked okay, but didn’t show the creativity I know he’s capable of, and squandered a couple of golden chances early.

van Persie 8. Beautiful finish off his non-chocolate leg, inches away from a second on the free kick, and continues to get better as a target-man/hold-up type. Quality performance.

Arshavin 8. Troubled the Birmingham defense, created a couple chances, and took his goal very well to seal the 3 points.

Sagna 6.5. Looked pretty good at right-back in limited action.

Wenger’s Tie 7 Solid, in every sense of the word.

Will post highlights when available, as well as any update on Theo’s injury once anything comes out. We’ve got a quick turnaround, too, since we’ll be traveling to Holland within a couple days to play AZ in a very important Champions League match-up on Tuesday. Hope everyone has an excellent weekend.