Stoke 1 - Arsenal 3 reviews and ratings

Arsenal's visit to the brittania stadium was as expected difficult. But Arsenal managed to score 2 quick goals One by Cesc fabregas and other by Thomas vermaelen at the end of the game to win 3-1. The win was marred by horrific injury to Aaron Ramsey, through a tackle by Ryan shawcross. The injury was bad, Ramsey suffered a broken tibia (shin bone) by the looks of it. And by the looks on the faces of fellow teammates, the future of a talented footballer may be in jeopardy. This injury comes almost at the same time 2 years back, when Eduardo was injured in a similar way against Birmingham city. Still Arsenal have not confirmed the official status of Ramsey's injury. 
Earlier in the game, Danny Pugh put the home side ahead after seven minutes when he nodded home a long throw by Rory Delap. Arsenal got themselves back into the match after 32 minutes though when Nicklas Bendter beat Thomas Sorensen with a superb header.
The 1st half ended at 1-1. The match looked destined to be 1-1, but a late penalty by Fabregas and a stoppage time goal by Vermaelen sealed the game for Arsenal, which means they are just 3 points away from the league leaders chelsea. who earlier lost 4-2 to Man city .


Almunia - 6. did well but as usual had some nervous moments.


Clichy - 7 - quite better than previous games


Vermaelen - 8 - strong in defence, got a goal for himself too.. 


Campbell - 8 - formed a good partnership with Vermaelen at the back. very little mistakes


Sagna - 6 - good but wasn't at his best 


Fabregas - 9 - had his hand in all 3 goals. brilliant cross to bendtner for the 1st and a cool penalty and good assist to vermaelen for the third. as usual best player in the field.


Eboue - 6 - tried hard to get in the box. good performance


Alexander Song - 7.5 - very good performance


Nasri - 6 - wasn't at his best


Ramsey - 7 - good penalty shout at start of second half. Very much in the heart of the game until his terrible injury ruined his season.


Niklas Bendtner - 8 - A very good game for the dane. Got in a cool header to bring arsenal into the game. 

The Onus is on Arsenal !!

Abou Diaby scores. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

  After facing 2 successive humiliating defeats against ManYoo at home and Chelski away, Arsenal bounced back with a 1-0 win against pool at home. This win came with a gift package, with chelsea losing to everton or rather to louis saha. and Manyoo dropping points against villa, though they were lucky to grab a point. 

This means Arsenal are firm in 3rd place with 6 points separating them from league leaders chelsea and 5 points adrift of ManUtd. What this means that arsenal still have a good chance of winning the coveted EPL title. As andrey arshavin quoted 

We just have to win 12 more games and we can win the title.

Well its not easy but still possible, given the fact that we've already played all the major tough opponents except for Spurs and Man City. Its not a cake walk but we have a realistic shot at the title, with ManU and Chelsea dropping points. What we need now is a collective effort and motivation to go on and win the title.

Some talking points would be gallas and vermaelen partnership at the back, they've been really good this season, a few glitches here and there, but overall a commendable force at the back of defence. Clichy has to improve, hes been totally out of form after his return from injury. While Eboue and Sagna are doing well at right back. We need more striking force in the midfield as we don't have well established forwards at the moment. But niklas bendtner is back from injury and is looking good. Senior players like Fabregas, Rosicky, Nasri have to own up to responsibility and win games for Arsenal, and more importantly be injury free.

I have my fingers crossed for an early return from injury for Van persie in march. Lets hope he is back soon. 

Talking about our no.1 goalie Manuel Almunia, I don't hate him but hes been woeful in last few games. But hes improving and i want him to do well. Lets see if he lives up to hi No.1 tag. Fabianski and Manonne are not far either. 

So now the Onus is on the gunners, to live up to the expectations of fans all over the world and Im sure they'l very much make it happen.

10 conclusions from the Arsenal vs Man Utd

 In the event of the humiliating defeat inflicted by Manchester United on Arsenal at Emirates stadium on 31st january 2010, Arsene wenger by now should have understood these fallacies in our beloved Arsenal team.

1. Manuel Alumnia doesnt know how to stop the ball. Hes a useless keeper. He shouldnt have replaced Jens Lehmann at the first instance. Hes really woeful this season. Even teams fighting for relegation score easy goals against him. Vito manonne is a better keeper than him. Either buy a new keeper or give Vito a chance.

2. Our defence still has to improve. Gallas and vermaelen are good in patches. Gael Clichy, his comeback from injury hasnt been good. His marking is faulty, his defensive skills were horrible last night.

3. We need to have a tall and  strong striker like Adebayor, though a little mellowed down version of him cud help. Eduardo looks out of place everytime and arshavin even being a good player, hes easily out muscled in the box. One thing is sure, Arshavin cannot survive in a lone striker role. Please for god sakes Arsene wenger buy some good striker atleast in the summer.

4. Players like denilson, walcott and ramsey are only good in patches. We need more consistency from them. Or thats the best they could do? as we all say Arsene knows best. Whatever get them playing.

5. Manchester United were very good. They outclassed us totally. We need to have full proof plan against them, against each player. I guess we missed that part and they did their homework. Though i hate and probably choking myself for praising Man U, but they actually deserve it.

6. Cesc fabregas is not god. Don't expect him to do magic, when other team mates are just standing like a fool. Even though he wasnt at his best yest. He was better than everyone wearing the Arsenal jersey in the emirates stadium.

7. Thers still a lot of difference between the top 3 teams in the premier league. I hate to admit, Arsenal really struggle against Manyoo and Chelski, and both of them have comprehensively defeated us at emirates. Thers a conspicuous difference between their skills and ours.

8. Our weakness to counter counter attacks was very much evident yesterday. we failed miserably.

9. We need to convert the chances which we get. Time and again we fail to capitalise on the chances. In such big games, u can't expect 10-20 chances, u have to take what u get.

10. Finally it was a woeful game, and our emotions and expectations are all brought down to ground. And i know it must have hurt Arsene Wenger more than any other arsenal fan to suffer a humiliating defeat. But I would like to positive coz the season is still not over. I don't know whether we will win against Chelsea, but we will not stop trying. And we are so in the title race even after the loss.
So My fellow gooners, cheer up, thers so much more to look forward to. So put on ur Arsenal Jerseys and shout "ARSENAL ARSENAL "