Rovers Hit For Six
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Arsenal came back from 1-0 down to smash six goals past Blackburn Rovers and secure all the points with a 6-2 win.
Arsene Wenger's men were stunned on two minutes when former young Gunner David Bentley was controversially adjudged to have been hauled down in the box by Kolo Toure. Despite Arsenal's vehement objections, referee Howard Webb pointed to the spot.
After winning the argument with Bentley as to who was to take the kick, Shabani Nonda stepped up to face Jens Lehmann. With a deliberate stutter to his run he fired the ball low into the left side of the net just beyond the outstretched arm of the Gunners keeper.
Arsenal were immediately back on the attack to level the scores. Kolo Toure almost made amends for his penalty concession when on ten minutes he headed fit again Tomas Rosicky's corner on to the top of the bar, although the ball must have touched a Rovers player on the way as the referee awarded a corner.
It was taken on the right side by Robin van Persie who swung in a left-foot effort which Gilberto met with a towering header that flew powerfully beyond Brad Friedel for 1-1.
Arsenal took the lead on 23 minutes with a superb move started and finished by Alex Hleb. The Belarus midfielder found Cesc Fabregas and continued his run towards goal. The young Spaniard in turn slipped a ball to Emmanuel Adebayor who laid off an intelligent ball for Hleb to run on to.
There was still work for the midfield dynamo to do, but he comfortably beat two Rovers defenders before picking his spot to slip the ball past the oncoming Friedel.
Arsenal went further ahead just five minutes later when a fine Gunners move culminated in van Persie being upended by Lucas Neill. After some deliberation with his linesman, Mr Webb pointed to the spot and Adebayor coolly despatched the penalty.
The Gunners continued in the ascendancy after the interval and van Persie should have added a fourth on 67 minutes when the home side broke through Rosicky.
The Czech midfielder sent van Persie through on the left side of the area and with just Friedel to beat he shot tamely with his right foot straight at the Blackburn keeper.
The visitors struck back on 70 minutes with a goal against the run of play. Brett Emerton got the better of Gael Clichy to deliver a cross to the far post. The ball was met by substitute Matt Derbyshire, but his acrobatic effort came back off the underside of the bar.
Fortunately for the visitors Nonda reacted first to fire the rebound into the back of the net with an overhead kick from two yards out.
The goal encouraged Blackburn who seemed to begin to play with more energy and purpose. They almost grabbed an equaliser in the 81st minute but another superb save by Lehmann from a fierce Robbie Savage shot saved the Gunners.
The resultant corner was well defended by the Gunners and Wenger's side broke forward with Fabregas finding Justin Hoyte on the left flank. The Gunners right-back then delivered a ball to the feet of van Persie who again fired wide.
Just as Wenger may have been thinking it was not his striker's day, the Dutchman netted a wonder goal. He received a pass on the right side of the penalty area, sent international colleague Andre Ooijer one way and then another before curling a left-foot shot around Friedel.
Van Persie made it 5-2 on 87 minutes when he was picked out on the penalty spot by midfield master Fabregas and the misery for Friedel didn't end there as substitute Matthieu Flamini was on hand to fire into the net after the Blackburn goalie had saved a Fabregas shot.
Wenger said afterwards: "I'm very happy with the result, it was a spirited performance and you can accuse me of many things, but you can never accuse my team of being boring.
"I think Blackburn played well and I think they were punished a bit too much by the result, but I must say we played some amazing football and I really do believe that this team can achieve something this season but its all down to consistency.
"I think we have had a good run of results and performances of late which has helped team spirit and this team just loves to play. I think it is one of the best teams I have had from a technical point of view, they move the ball so well and I think some of their play is breathtaking.
"The win gives us a good start to the Christmas games and Watford will give us a big challenge. We have to be prepared mentally as there will be many direct balls and physical challenges, but I believe my players will be up for the challenge."
Rovers boss Mark Hughes added: "I think the scoreline of 6-2 is a difficult one to accept, especially as five minutes before the end of the game we were just 3-2 down and still in the match.
"The records will show that we lost 6-2 and that is difficult to take, but we have to get on with it. I am just looking at the positives.
"When we came out in the second half and were 3-1 down we could have tried to keep the score down to 3-1, but instead we tried to make a game of it and achieve at least a draw.
"There were a lot of positives for me to take out of the game and I think if we had been a bit cleverer in the way we had played, we could have got more out of the game.
"Our main problem was we were engaging Arsenal on the edge of our penalty area whereas we should have been meeting them on the halfway line." -
Go Arsenal!!!
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Blackburn kenna six in a row.
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no christmas bonus for the black-burn players....
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i wonder what the odds were for 8 goals.
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Got......Originally posted by hmsg:no christmas bonus for the black-burn players....
Being burned by another club lor. -
This Gunners team is going to be a very good side in 2 to 3 yrs time... And to think they did it without henry... Robin Van Persie is going to be the next great gunner's striker.
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miss out one, Theo Walcott.Originally posted by zocoss:This Gunners team is going to be a very good side in 2 to 3 yrs time... And to think they did it without henry... Robin Van Persie is going to be the next great gunner's striker. -
i agree van persie will prove to be one of the best players in the future.Originally posted by zocoss:This Gunners team is going to be a very good side in 2 to 3 yrs time... And to think they did it without henry... Robin Van Persie is going to be the next great gunner's striker.
i am impressed with wenger's ability to recognise talents. -
All the midfielder can score, only the defend is abit weak.
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so far walcott has not leave up to his reputation.Originally posted by bryanseb:miss out one, Theo Walcott.
maybe he should play more in the first team. -
True,the gunners has strong midfielders. the problem with their defence is that their awareness.... not tt good. Adebayor too,has improved.Originally posted by T.Ryousuke:All the midfielder can score, only the defend is abit weak.