And we've got Bolton out of our system as well. 2-0 at the Reebok, now 4-2 at home. Both results, not without toil and determination, more so for the game at home.
Cesc Fabregas described his team as hungry, and boy did they show it.
Not from the start though. I said earlier that Bolton will come at us once more and they did, this time, they were rewarded with 2 goals. 2 early goals. The only difference was that we always looked like scoring and the second goal, was a gift from Denilson.
Then my Tomas scored a beautiful right-footed shot to pull one back just before half time and that was highly important to keep the momentum of the team going. You always knew that the lads were going to come back and win it. Going into the game, I think everyone in the team knew that they needed a 2-goal winning margin to go above Chelsea. At 2-0 down, you got to be able to summon incredible mental strength and belief to go for 4 goals. Regardless of opposition, pulling back 2 to level terms is difficult enough. Tonight, the lads did 4.
The common misconception about Arsenal is that the team is young and inexperienced. Yes, the team is young. But they've been playing with each other for a long long time and I wouldn't be surprised if part of their belief was built on coming back from 2-0 down at the Reebok 2 seasons ago to win 3-2.
Post match reactions are going to hinge on the Gallas foul on Mark Davis in the build up to Cesc's equaliser. It was a poor foul and shouldn't have happened, but if we're honest, even if we didn't get our equaliser then, it was all the more coming. If that goal was a difference between a Bolton win or draw then I guess it should be open to more debate but we won, hands down.
What teams need to know is that when you play Arsenal, the last thing you should do is to rest on your laurels. Even if you have a 2 goal lead. We'll come right back at you.
And Vermaelen ended his recent goal drought (heh) to make it 3-2 from a corner. He showed real determination to get that in and Arshavin made it 4-2 and sent us to the summit of the premier league. It was more than the icing on the cake. It was everything. Arsene Wenger's 2 signings who made a difference with their goals and their performance.
It's the FA Cup weekend coming up so we should be sitting at the top for a while longer. Heh.
Labels: Andrei Arshavin, Thomas Vermaelen, Tomas Rosicky
A Little Drunken Madness @ 5:49 AM