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| Blackpool vs Arsenal |
32 min: Eboue concedes a needless free-kick on the left touchline, giving Adam another chance to put Arsenal under pressure. It's a great ball in too, but Clichy does superbly to flick a header clear with Taylor-Fletcher making a nuisance of himself on the edge of the six-yard box.
31 min: Adam knocks a delightful pass down the inside-left channel for Crainey, whose chipped cross is blocked behind by Squillaci for a corner. Adam's delivery is poor though.
29 min: What a difference a goal makes, eh? Arsenal had looked the more likely to concede until they took the lead. Then again, Blackpool should remember that it's never over against Arsenal, even when you're 2-0 down.
28 min: Blackpool have had the stuffing knocked out of them, although their fans are still giving them terrific backing. "Arsene Wenger failed to mention that Abou Diaby and Emmanuel Eboue would be spearheading his dynamic revolution at Arsenal during his epic press conference the other day," parps Scott Stricker. I'm not sure Diaby will be at Arsenal next season.
27 min: Fabregas nearly plays Van Persie through again but this time Cathcart cuts out the pass.
24 min: As I say, this could get ugly. Blackpool have stopped running and are giving Arsenal the freedom of the park. No one's going with their runners an twice in the space of a minute, Arsenal have got in behind Crainey on the left. However neither Diaby nor Nasri could find a yellow shirt from the right byline. Crainey needs some help from his midfield. At the moment, Arsenal are making him look very, very foolish. "Now is the time that I brace myself for the sinking feeling, the insecurity, the knowledge that at any moment Arsenal can be Newcastled," says Linda Howard. "I think I need a drink."
23 min: This could get ugly.
GOAL! Blackpool 0-2 Arsenal (Eboue, 21 min): This is another storming goal and surely not even Arsenal can lose this match from here. Right? Well, never say never. Anyway after a rocky start, they've taken a firm grip on this match. With Blackpool still mulling over the first goal, Arshavin was able to slip a fine pass inside Crainey for the onrushing Eboue, who took one touch with his right and then crashed an unstoppable shot into the top left corner from 12 yards out. What a brilliant finish. From Eboue!
GOAL! Blackpool 0-1 Arsenal (Diaby, 18 min): This is an exceptional team goal, although the tracking and pressure from Blackpool was non-existent. Arsenal have been second to most of the loose balls so far, but finally Diaby earns them a foothold in midfield, breaking away from a challenge and offloading the ball to Fabregas. Fabregas had been unable to exert any influence on the match so far, but granted too much time on the halfway line, he was able to pick out the run of Van Persie, who had peeled off his marker again. This time the control on his chest was perfect and with an age to make up his mind, he unselfishly rolled the ball across the area from the left and Diaby was on hand to finish the move off at the far post from close range. No one went with him and that's why Blackpool are struggling. Against the run of play, Arsenal lead.
15 min: The sprightly Puncheon drops the shoulder on the edge of the area to fool Koscielny and work space for a shot with his left foot. His curler is heading for the left-hand corner, but unfortunately for Blackpool it doesn't quite have enough pace on it and Squillaci manages to deflect it behind with his back. From Adam's corner from the left, the ball is nutted over the bar by Cathcart from around 12 yards out. "Might I contest the caption from the article's photo?" asks Duncan Smith. "Rather than contesting the ball, Walcott has run much faster than his opponent, who has pulled up partly because he can't catch him, but also because he knows that at that pace the ball is coming straight off Theo's shin for a goal kick? Admittedly, it lacks brevity and punch." Do people really pay attention to these things?
14 min: Taylor-Fletcher nips a loose ball away from Koscielny in the area and goes down, but Mason waves away his appeal for a penalty. On second viewing, Koscielny did catch the striker and Arsenal are extremely lucky to have got away with that one. Presumably Wenger will note this after the match.
11 min: What a chance for Arsenal. From the right touchline, Nasri lofts a delightful pass over the Blackpool defence, catching out a woeful offside trap. Van Persie is well onside and clear on goal, but as he takes the pass down on his chest, the ball skips off the surface and runs away from the Dutchman, allowing Kingson to smother the opportunity. It's fair to say there are goals in this match.
10 min: How I've missed this. Varney tries to reach Taylor-Fletcher's cross from the right, but Lehmann gets there first. Varney goes sliding in and catches the goalkepper, who reacts angrily. Age has not mellowed him.
9 min: Adam concedes a free-kick with a late tackle 25 yards from goal. It's made for the left foot of Van Persie but he wafts his effort harmlessly over the bar. "Of course Arsenal key players are plagued with injury," says Linda Howard. "They've been playing the grueling Premier League schedule since before their little boy bones and sinews even had a chance to fully develop. That can't be good."
6 min: Both defences are an absolute shower here. A harmless long ball into the Blackpool area should be handled easily by Cathcart. But for no apparent reason, Kingson comes charging off his line to put his defender off, who can only head the ball straight to Arshavin on the edge of the area. With the goal vacant, hearts are in mouths as the Russian shapes for the volley, but he gets it all wrong, shanking his effort miles wide. For a player with such brilliant technique that's a poor miss.
5 min: Clichy heads the ball down the left flank for Van Persie, who's made a clever run. He zips a wonderful low cross into the six-yard box but no Arsenal player has bothered making a run forward for what would have been a simple finish and Crainey is on hand to concede a corner, which is dealt with comfortably.
4 min: Arsenal can't get out, with Blackpool keeping the pressure on. From the previous corner, Arsenal were penned back once again, Puncheon winning another corner on the right. Adam fizzed it in towards the near post again, and Evatt charged towards the cross to slam a header into the crowd from a difficult angle. Koscielny did well to put him off there. Arsenal want to wake up here.
3 min: Adam whips the corner beautifully towards the near post. Van Persie lets it past him but it's volleyed clear with Lehmann rooted to his line.
2 min: This has been a bright start from Blackpool, with Arsenal looking nervy at the back. Baptiste crosses from the right, and it's deflected behind for a corner.
1 min: We're off at a sunny and bouncing Bloomfield Road. Blackpool, in their orange strip, get us going. Arsenal are in their yellow away kit. A long ball runs through to Lehmann and he deals with his first task easily enough. "You could also make the same point that United shouldn't have lost to Wolves, or drawn with Fulham, Bolton, Everton, Sunderland, WBA at home, and lost to Liverpool away," says Aidan Gibson. Well isn't that the point? United were there for the taking.
In the tunnel, Lehmann told Lee Mason that "you have to protect pensioners in the box". This script writes itself.
In the tunnel, Lehmann shares a handshake with his opposite number, Richard Kingson. Maybe he's mellowed. Or not.
An email. "I'm not an Arsenal fan, but does Arsene not have a point?" says Ryan Dunne. "The everyone-is-bad-so-the-winnner-is-devalued quality of this year's season has been overplayed. I'm sure we can all remember worse Man U teams than this in even the last ten years (featuring Kleberson, Djemba-Djemba and - even though he played in a league title winning side, and was one of the best passers in the world at this peak -Veron). That said, the continual injuries of key players at Arsenal is strange. But surely it's more likely that he's "encouraged" (by the board) to buy players who aren't in the top price bracket due to past medical problems? Arsene might love five foot mercurial playmakers, but I seriously doubt he'd rather sign a dodgy centre back over a good one. And what were the odds, after Howling Mad Jens, that Almunia would turn out to be crazy too?"
Sunderland, Blackburn, Newcastle. Three games which Arsenal should have won, and there are plenty more of those. If they had they'd be four points behind United with two games in hand. They've only got themselves to blame.Just so we're all clear, this has unmitigated disaster daubed all over it, right?Jens Lehmann does indeed start for Arsenal. Almunia has in fact suffered a knee injury in the warm-up and is on the bench as Arsenal didn't bring another goalkeeper with them.
Aaron Lennon MKII: There's a rumour floating about that Jens Lehmann will now start for Arsenal as Manuel Almunia has been taken ill. Mad Jens, we've missed you.
The Carling Cup's gone, the FA Cup's no more, they're fairly free this Tuesday and Wednesday and Manchester United are 10 points ahead in the title 'race'.From the quadruple to this for Arsenal. Still, second place would be nice. Arsenal are clinging on to the faintest of hopes that they can still reel United in, but it's looking like a forlorn task now. For starters, only four teams have managed to relinquish from this position since football was first invented by Sky in 1992 and anyway, did you see Arsenal against Blackburn last week? Lethargic doesn't even begin to cover it. Earlier on in the day, United had recovered from 2-0 down at West Ham to go eight points ahead. Arsenal knew what they had to do, and they followed it up with that rubbish, much to the displeasure of their supporters, who let their feelings be known in no uncertain terms. Arsene Wenger's not happy though. Journalists who have covered Arsenal for ages said they'd never seen him so angry in his Friday press conference, hitting out at his critics in the press and in the stands. "After everything I've done for you, this is how you repay me?" Wenger seemed to be saying.
While it's true that coming second would represent Arsenal's best finish since 2005, the feeling remains that this season promised so much more. On 16 February, Arsenal beat Barcelona and everything was lookier rosier than Fernando Torres's cheeks. But since then, their all-too-familiar collapse has been a thing to behold. They lost the Carling Cup final in farcical circumstances, they drew with Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, they lost to United's reserves, Nicklas Bendtner did his Nicklas Bendtner thing at Camp Nou, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie have all suffered injuries and they haven't won a single game of football since February. In the seasons that Arsenal have won the title under Wenger, they have tended to bulldoze their way through the second half of the season. Not any more.Blackpool have problems of their own though. One point above the bottom three, this is the first of four home games in a row. It's also the most difficult - the next three are against Wigan, Newcastle and Stoke. They've only won four at home this season though, their defensive slackness too often proving the difference. After an exceptional first half of the season, they seem to have run out of puff, and have only won twice in the league in 2011 (strangely enough against Liverpool and Tottenham). So maybe Wenger's right; second is somewhere after all.
Blackpool (4-3-3): Kingson; Baptiste, Evatt, Cathcart, Crainey; Adam, Southern, Puncheon; Taylor-Fletcher, Campbell, Varney. Subs:Rachubka, Eardley, Ormerod, Phillips, Kornilenko, Reid, Beattie.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Lehmann; Eboue, Squillaci, Koscielny, Clichy; Diaby, Wilshere; Nasri, Fabregas, Arshavin; Van Persie. Subs: Almunia, Rosicky, Walcott, Ramsey, Gibbs, Chamakh, Bendtner.
Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk
