Stoke City 1 – Arsenal 3: Horror Injury Mars Victory as Arsenal Step Back into Title Race (Updated with Player Ratings)

Well, frankly, it feels a little trivial to be writing about the footballing implications of this one given what happened to Ramsey. While we don’t have any official word on the severity of the injury, it was clearly a compound fracture, reminiscent of Eduardo’s injury against Birmingham two seasons ago. There is no chance he plays again this season, and I think the best we can hope for is that it doesn’t have any long-term negative impact on his career, and maybe he could be back for the start of next season — Eduardo was out of action for a full calendar year, and that’s probably our best baseline for this one, unfortunately. I know you’ll join me in keeping Aaron in your thoughts and prayers, because no matter which team you support, I’m sure we can all agree that seeing an 18 year-old who is one of Britain’s brightest young footballing talents suffer a career-threatening injury is a terrible, terrible thing.

Unfortunately, though, these things are probably going to keep happening. Fans of other clubs like to laugh at how “soft” Arsenal is, and no one bats an eye when the manager of another club comes out and says the way to play Arsenal is to “rough them up” and “kick them up in the air a bit.” Then when it actually happens on the field, the English commentators enjoy a jolly little chuckle and say, “Oy, Arsene Wenger woon’t like ‘at one bit, will ‘e?”

Well, news flash: that enabling mentality and this kind of injury are directly related. When it’s allowed, and encouraged, to come after Arsenal that way, players are going to keep getting seriously hurt. Legs are going to be broken, tendons are going to be torn, and careers are going to be threatened. I’m not going to get too much into this “Aaron Ramsey died for our sins” drama, but frankly, if you’re one of the people who have taken that attitude towards Arsenal, I am 0% interested in hearing your condolences on the injury, because this has been coming, we’ve been warning everyone that it’s been coming, no one has shown the slightest bit of concern, and now it’s here. Again.

Disclaimer: I saw the tackle live, but they didn’t show a replay and I still haven’t seen it again, so my opinion is only based upon that, and I reserve the right to change my mind upon seeing a replay of it. But I don’t think it was as bad as the Martin Taylor challenge, which I still believe was a malicious attempt to hurt Eduardo. For one thing, Shawcross and Rambo were both going for the ball and no one had clear possession. Shawcross was just very, very reckless in having his studs up. I think his reaction after the tackle was telling — he was clearly weeping as he walked off the pitch. It could have been because he was red-carded, but I honestly think it was because he was pretty shocked and upset about what he had done. And for what its worth, fair play to the Stoke fans for the ovation they gave Ramsey as he was carried off.

So that’s all we know at this point. I really, really hope he’s going to be okay in the long run. And that’s obviously the most important thing. But the fixtures don’t stop, we still have matches to play, and I’m sure that nothing would make Ramsey happier than trying to figure out how to put down his crutches for a second to lift the Premiership trophy at the Emirates on May 9. So that’s all we can worry about at this point.

Just as Eduardo is our best baseline for Ramsey’s injury, the Birmingham match in February 2008 (almost exactly 2 years ago) is the closest comparison for this match. And if you squint hard enough, maybe we saw today the difference between this Arsenal club and the past few editions. In that match, Arsenal were clearly shell shocked after the Eduardo injury, and mentally could not stay in the match, conceding a late penalty for a 2-2 draw. The 2 points dropped really signaled the beginning of the end for Arsenal’s title bid that season, and who could forget the image of Gallas sitting on the pitch crying at the end of the match.

By contrast, while the guys were clearly distraught over the injury to Ramsey today (Vermaelen especially), they didn’t check out of the match. They fought. And fought. And got forward and created chances. Time and again Stoke managed to parry the Arsenal attacks, most notably when Eduardo blew a great chance from point blank range.

It looked destined to be a draw, until, just into extra time, Bendtner’s shot glanced off the outstretched hand of a Stoke defender in the penalty area, and the referee rightly pointed to the spot. Cesc converted the penalty (although just barely — Sorensen got a hand on it but couldn’t push it wide of the post), and Arsenal were up 2-1. But because of the long injury delay, they still had 6 minutes to hang onto the lead. Not only did they hang on, though, but they really grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck, and capped it off with a beautiful move which resulted in Vermaelen being able to tap the ball in from point blank range for the 3-1 win.

And you’d have to say it was deserved. Stoke’s initial goal was maddeningly predictable. Song kicked the ball out under pressure, which, as I wrote in my preview, you can’t really afford to do against Stoke. And then Delap took his customary 30 seconds to towel off the ball, then rub it on his shirt, make a quick text to his friend about post-match plans, chat up a few fans, do a bit of transcendental meditation, and then finally got around to actually throwing in the damn ball. It was a rocket, headed onto the far post, where Pugh finished easily. Now. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again — why in the world wouldn’t you defend those throw-ins in the exact same way you defend corner kicks? Functionally, it’s exactly the same as a corner kick. And if you’re defending it that way, shouldn’t you have someone on the far post? Exasperating.

But after that, I have to say, I could not be any prouder of Arsenal. The injury casts a pall over what the storyline would have otherwise been, which is that Arsenal put in their best performance in some time. They looked aggressive, dangerous, and motivated. Stoke’s strategy was clearly just to sit back and hang onto the lead, and Arsenal showed real determination to ruin their plans. We capped it off on a throw-in, where the ball came to Cesc, who put a beautiful ball into the box. Bendtner rose up above two Stoke defenders, and, falling away from the goal, put an inch perfect header just inside the far post, catching Sorensen going the other way. It was a beautiful equalizing goal, and really showed what Bendtner can give us that guys like Arshavin and Eduardo cannot.

It was 1-1 at the break, and Arsenal were completely dominant after the break, completely controlling possession and getting into the Stoke box time and again but couldn’t capitalize. Sorensen made a couple of nice saves, they had some nice clearances, and we were a bit unlucky not to have a penalty given when Rambo was brought down in the box. But we finally got our just reward in injury time, as I described above.

So here we are. The Comeback Kids, still in this thing. We’ve been counted out over and over again — seriously, how many times have you heard a pundit or “expert” say, “Well, that’s it for Arsenal’s title chances”? But the fact is that we’re 3 points behind Chelsea, 2 points behind United, with an easier run-in that either of them. Of course, there’s no certainties and no easy matches at this level, but we’ve really only got 3 matches left that I’d say are really tough — home to Manchester City, and away to Spurs and Birmingham.

If we could win one of those, draw one, and lose the other one, and take care of business in our remaining 7 matches, that would put us at 83 points, which could very well be enough to take the league this year. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves — if this season has taught us anything, it’s that we struggle under the weight of expectations, but are capable of greatness when we only look as far as the next game. So that’s what we should do. We’ve got Burnley at home on Saturday — let’s win it.

Player ratings to follow:

Almunia 7 Didn’t have much to do, but did everything asked. After the last couple of matches, we may be seeing the Almunia of old again — never spectacular, but always reliable. And that could be exactly what we need over the next two months.

Sagna 6.5 As reliable as Old Faithful. Decent in attack, solid in defense.

Clichy 7.5 Is Clichy back? He looked like he was back to me out there today. Aggressive and marauding going forward, pacy and tough getting back. Granted, it was Stoke, who don’t get wide that much, but he looked up for it today more than he has at any point during the season. If he can recapture anything approaching his 2007-2008 form, that will be a huge boost to Arsenal’s title hopes.

Slo 7.5 It wasn’t a typical Wenger transaction, but based on what I saw out there today, Slo may be one of the best buys Wenger has made recently. Against Stoke, his lack of pace wasn’t a problem, and he cleared a ton of balls away, sumo wrestled with Fuller all day long, and just never ever seemed to be an inch away from where he was supposed to be. He really is a great addition to the club, and he and Vermaelen work very well together now that they’ve gotten used to one another.

Vermaelen 8 Quickly becoming one of my very favorite Gunners, I have to say. Has to be one of the best teammates in the league — was clearly shaken by the injury to Rambo, but overcame it to put in a superb second-half performance, capped off with a goal. Love that guy — tenacious performance all match.

Song 6.5 Really didn’t have one of his better performances today. Gave the ball away a few times and got caught out of position. Booking was very, very harsh, but it’s his 8th of the season — 2 more and he’s looking at a suspension, I believe, which we absolutely cannot afford in our run-in.

Ramsey 7 Poor first half, but really could have been a penalty when he was tackled from behind in the box. Looked to just really be coming on strong when his involvement was ended by Shawcross’s tackle.

Cesc 9 Man of the Match. 1 goal, 2 assists. And the way he dealt with the Ramsey injury, contrasted with the way Gallas dealt with the Eduardo injury 2 seasons ago, show just what a great choice he was as captain. And one other thing — when you watch how much passion he has, how much he wants to win with Arsenal, and how much he loves his teammates, it’s a pretty stinging rebuke of all the inevitable transfer rumors fabricated by the media. It’s plain to see he loves the club and wants to win trophies here.

Eboue 7 Earned the start with his recent good play, and didn’t let Wenger down. Wasn’t spectacular by any means, but was aggressive and involved. Will play a vital role in the run-in.

Bendtner 8 Still drifting out wide far too much, but his header was a thing of beauty, and it was his shot that drew the penalty on the handball which led to the winner. At this point, you have to say he’s in the starting XI so long as he’s healthy, as the team just looks so much more dangerous with him than without him.

Nasri 5.5 Arsenal’s least effective player by some way. Gave the ball away a lot and has no end product whatsoever. Watching him closely this match, I think he may just not be very well suited to the forward-wing role. He’s very good and competent at controlling the ball and helping to move it up the pitch, but he tends to be pretty worthless in the final third. With Ramsey injured, I think we could do a lot worse than moving Nasri back into the midfield, and let Rosicky, Eboue, Walcott, Eduardo, and Vela handle the forward-wing role.

Rosicky 7 Good appearance — his shot forced Sorensen into a difficult save which led to the third goal.

Walcott 6 No real impact on the match.

Eduardo 6 I’m sure I’m not the only one who was instantly reminded of the Eduardo injury and Birmingham match, and when Eddie came on, I thought “wouldn’t it be poetic justice if Eduardo were to score the winner in this one?” Alas, it wasn’t to be, but not for lack of a chance — Eduardo really should have done better when put through on goal in the box very late in the match. His finishing has still been very, very poor recently.

Some Related Stories:

Category: Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal News, Fixtures, Premiership, Stoke City