Saturday, January 26, 2008

Arsenal 3 - Newcastle 0 (Adebayor 51', 83', Butt o.g. 89')

"Move along, everybody, nothing to see here"

Well, well, well... Once again, the rumours of this team's demise have once again been proven to be greatly exaggerated. Although it took us a while to take full control of the game, the outcome was never in doubt. Newcaste huffed and puffed occasionally (most dangerously when Clichy had to clear the ball from the goal mouth) but two goals from Adebayor and an own goal from Nicky Butt settled the matter.

Quick ratings:

Lehmann - 7. Rather untroubled overall, seemed very much in control.
Hoyte - 6. A bit shaky at times.
Gallas - 8. The captain led by example again by putting the sub-par performance in the Carling Cup semifinal behind him.
Senderos - 7. Solid.
Clichy - 7. His incursions in the Newcastle half have wreaked panic over and over again - a shame that his partnership with Diaby is not quite there yet.
Rosicky (Eduardo - 7) Eduardo had another confident performance. His largely unnoticed "block" to help Adebayor penetrate for the second goal was priceless.
Diaby - 5 (Gilberto) Unconvincing, off pace with the rest of the midfield and striking force.
Flamini - 7.
Fabregas - 7. He was back to effectively marshaling the midfield and being the dispatcher of superb, unpredictable passes. His best game in a good while.
Adebayor - 8. Undisputed man of the match.
Walcott - 6 (Hleb) He started very poorly, but gained more confidence as the game progressed. Little chemistry between him and Hoyte - or the strikers, for that matter.

Now, it's on to the repeat of the same fixture, only with more serious league title implication. Let's hope for a similar performance - and result. It would do our goal differential a world of good.