One-nil to the Arsenal, and the relief is palpable. It was desperately close and not remotely good for the constitution, but we dragged ourselves over the line to fourth and into the final Champions League spot. That's the 16th time in a row we have qualified for it.
There were no surprises in Arsene Wenger's team selection and, thankfully, there were none on the pitch either. It wasn't a perfect game from the Gunners but an eight minute spell of exceptional efficiency and clinical finishing settled the game midway through the second half.
It followed patterns that we've seen in many recent games so I won't dwell on them.
Arsenal have been starting games well off late but this was something special. If I'm not mistaken, QPR only had one touch after kick-off before Walcott slotted the ball home. That was a bad one though, and a big part of the problem for the hosts, as Traore headed a ball straight across the face of his penalty area.
A win against a team that has proven hard to beat in the last four meetings spread over more than two and a half years is definitely worth cherishing. In some ways this win over the Cottagers showed why Wenger's team has kept on securing one of the top four spots over the last four seasons despite being written off on a constant basis.
A win against a team that has proven hard to beat in the last four meetings spread over more than two and a half years is definitely worth cherishing. In some ways this win over the Cottagers showed why Wenger's team has kept on securing one of the top four spots over the last four seasons despite being written off on a constant basis.
In the preview I'd mentioned that no team apart from United has won five games in a row in the Premier League. Add that to Everton's form and the fact that they'd drawn away to City and Tottenham and the odds for a stalemate at the Emirates seemed favourable. That said, if I had to put money, it'd have been on a score draw.
In the preview I'd mentioned that no team apart from United has won five games in a row in the Premier League. Add that to Everton's form and the fact that they'd drawn away to City and Tottenham and the odds for a stalemate at the Emirates seemed favourable. That said, if I had to put money, it'd have been on a score draw.
The Gunners picked up three vital points after a dramatic late comeback. It was a strange sort of game partly enjoyable with great team work and combination play, partly frustrating with terrible individual moments and defensive lapses.
Wenger made three changes. A couple of them were forced Wilshere for Rosicky, and Vermaelen for Mertesacker while the other seemed like a good use of squad depth Gibbs for Monreal.
The Gunners picked up three vital points after a dramatic late comeback. It was a strange sort of game partly enjoyable with great team work and combination play, partly frustrating with terrible individual moments and defensive lapses.
Wenger made three changes. A couple of them were forced Wilshere for Rosicky, and Vermaelen for Mertesacker while the other seemed like a good use of squad depth Gibbs for Monreal.
House hunting is taking up a lot of our time during weekends and I'm not getting the chance to watch the games live or write about them on the same day. This time some other work also kept me busy and thus the extra delay in this post. Apologies to those who have been waiting and thanks to everyone who still clicked through to read this.
House hunting is taking up a lot of our time during weekends and I'm not getting the chance to watch the games live or write about them on the same day. This time some other work also kept me busy and thus the extra delay in this post. Apologies to those who have been waiting and thanks to everyone who still clicked through to read this.
A few days from it all does wonders for your soul and it transpires that Arsenal haven't done so badly in my absence either, with an I'm-away record of P2 W2 F6 A2. Perhaps I should leave the metropolis more often.
In fact, we've now won five out of six league games, a very decent and needed run of form ruined only by a time-honoured Defence-o-Wobble up at our friendly neighbours.
That was probably the most one-sided game I've seen Arsenal involved in this season.
Wenger went with Gervinho on the right and Cazorla on the left with Rosicky taking up the attacking midfield berth. It was a well-balanced line-up that combined fluently and destroyed a tactically disjointed opponent.
That was probably the most one-sided game I've seen Arsenal involved in this season.
Wenger went with Gervinho on the right and Cazorla on the left with Rosicky taking up the attacking midfield berth. It was a well-balanced line-up that combined fluently and destroyed a tactically disjointed opponent.
Pride is the key word tonight. Wenger said he was proud of the team. Ramsey thought the players did themselves proud. It was probably one of the most, if not the most, spontaneous thoughts that occurred to many Gooners after the game including this blogger,
Pride is the key word tonight. Wenger said he was proud of the team. Ramsey thought the players did themselves proud. It was probably one of the most, if not the most, spontaneous thoughts that occurred to many Gooners after the game including this blogger,
Liverpool 3 Spurs 2 Premier League - 10th March 2013 A frustrating loss that one. Got ourselves in a position to take all three points and then threw it away with some highly cretinous play. I can accept defeat, it's part of sport, it's hard to accept the nature of the defeat, butultimatelyit gets put down to "a bad day at the office".
Before going ahead with my views of the game I want to share a link to Gary Neville's analysis of the high line and off side tactics employed by both Arsenal and Spurs. I found it very interesting. Although I don't fully agree with the opinion offered, there is much to learn from what Neville said.
A selection of the Spurs player tweets following the 2-1 win against Arsenal... Kyle Walker - Worth the 2 days in bed with sickness just for those precious 3 points today....back to bed so I'm 100% for Inter Milan Thursday #COYS
Jan Vertonghen - Celebrating in the dressing room!
If things go according to plan we will be moving to a small town called Rolla in July. This Saturday was spent visiting the place and looking at houses. So I wasn't able to catch the game live and only got around to watching it today.
It was an interesting game. Seemed to me like a typical end-to-end Premier League game, high on entertainment value but not a particularly engrossing tactical contest.
The single big question was Can Arsenal cover their structural weaknesses and avoid unforced individual mistakes over 180 minutes of football? By the seventh minute a resounding 'No' was ringing around the Emirates, audible to those who were listening for it. In the 21st minute the tie was over as a contest.
So I voiced my inner fears in yesterday's preview with these words:
"The effects of a disjointed performance and a cup exit on the players, the fans, on pretty much everyone, do not bear thinking about."
Well we're now having to bear thinking about it, because a disjointed performance is exactly what we got, utterly blunt and operating at about 60% of the required urgency until it was too late.
No, that wasn't Jamie Carragher's testimonial. That happened a few years ago. Although, for all of QPR's threat, it might as well have been. He leaves with yet another clean sheet, and his 398th win in 737 appearances for Liverpool.
An unfamiliar formation, lined up in a 3-6-1, and an end-of-season tempo led to Liverpool passing and possession without reward for the first half an hour, an unwelcome reminder of the toothlessness which was all too frequent at the start of the season.
I guess it's somewhat fitting that defenses ruled the day in Carragher's last derby. Everton blocked all of Liverpool's best opportunities, whether through a couple of crucial first-half tackles from Jagielka, Howard standing tall when Coutinho put Sturridge through soon after the interval, or Distin cutting out Gerrard's shot after the captain rounded the keeper in the 74th.
Sturridge was very, very good yesterday, but Liverpool will need that sort of performance with even more output, plus vastly improved performances from Downing, Coutinho, and Henderson.
Goals: Oscar 26' Sturridge 52' Hazard 57' (pen) Suarez 90+7'
The Luis Suarez show. And not in the good way. Well, some in the good way –an assist for Liverpool's first equalizer, and a goal for the second equalizer with the last touch of the game –but much, much more in the bad way.
Let's get it out of the way early. Yes, Liverpool's attack was not good enough, but sometimes you can't help feel that there's a referee conspiracy. I'm well aware that's the much-mocked stereotype, but you're not paranoid if they're really out to get you.
Eight Liverpool fouls to just four for West Ham despite Liverpool's overbearing edge in possession, with three of those four West Ham fouls coming in the last 10 minutes.
The 15 minutes after halftime were the difference between a win today and the loss in the reverse fixture. The first half was all too similar to December's meeting: Liverpool possession and a couple of decent opportunities, mostly resulting in blocked shots by Villa's deep defense, but the opposition also created chances thanks to their direct football and Liverpool's all-too-worrying defense, especially when dealing with long balls and crosses.
I'll readily admit it. I lost faith after Vertonghen's second, with Tottenham all too easily overhauling an early deficit after Liverpool's strong opening 30 minutes. Two soft free kicks leading to two cheaply conceded goals.
Despite what you'd infer from the scoreline, Wigan actually out-shot Liverpool today. They out-passed and out-possessed Liverpool too, but more meaningful were the shots: the home side had 14 attempts to Liverpool's eight. Seven of Wigan's shots came in the penalty box; Reina saved five, two were blocked.
One goal from 22 shots in the first half. Three goals from five shots in the first 10 minutes of the second half. I think that pretty much sums up this season's inconsistency, and the biggest cause of it.
What will posterity tell us about this game? Not, I suspect, that it was a curiously below-par performance despite an 80-minute numerical advantage. History will record it as a win. Three potentially crucial points for supremacy among the title unchallengers.
The 2:05 kick off caught out plenty of people who ended up missing our first goal after just 35 seconds. Vertonghen whipped in the perfect cross from the left. Close enough to the goal that it evaded the clearances of the Everton defence yet far enough away that it was too far out for Howard to be expected to come out and claim it.
Optimism is not an emotion I have much associated with this stuttering season, during which all our weaknesses have been laid bare on far too many occasions, but I have been in a curiously upbeat mood since our ultimately futile win in Bavaria.
I thought we'd win in Swansea – based on nothing but the clutching of straws, probably but my bullishness had started to fizzle out by the middle of the second half.
Well well well. Inter are obviously not quite the force they were when we last faced them during their reign as Champions League holders. A top performance from every Spurs player gave us a 3-0 lead going into the second leg.
We were one up very early on as Sigurdsson jinked his way out of trouble on the left, swung in a cross which was met by the head of Bale and the ball was sent into the far side of the net 1-0.
