Arsenal 2-0 Blackburn – 11/02/08 – (Premier League) 12 February, 2008

What a great result; 5 points clear at the top now and it’s our to throw away. I was told yesterday that ‘our season starts tonight’ and he was right. We could take a commanding position in the league with a win, which we did. Then it’s Man Utd in the FA Cup on Saturday and AC Milan after that. Exciting times to be an Arsenal fan but it’s in the Premier League where we look to be in the strongest position.

I was talking a lot about our team for last night and in the end Senderos and Flamini were declared fit and started the game. Mathieu partnered Gilberto in the middle and Fabregas played out on the right, Arsene revealed after the game that Cesc was a doubt for the game too as he’d been in bed ill for the past three days. I’m glad he didn’t fill us in though as I think I would’ve had a heart attack.

We started really well and you could tell we were really up for this one. We got a corner after about one minute, Fabregas took it but nothing came of it. However 2 minutes later Da Silva stepped up to take another corner from the right, I’ve never seen Eduardo take a corner before and it was a good one delivered perfectly into the six-yard box. Phillippe Senderos lost his marker and met the ball perfectly making it 1-0 to The Arsenal. The perfect start.

I thought after the early goal we could get at least a few more from the game. We dominated most of the first half, Blackburn couldn’t get anywhere near our goal. However the visitors did start to find their feet after about half an hour. Still, they didn’t cause us massive problems. Their best chance came when a ball was whipped in from the right to McCarthy and Santa Cruz in the middle. I think both of them got a touch but not enough to put it on target, it was a great chance missed though.

So we went in at half time 1-0 up. We were in a strong position but there was always that chance that Blackburn could nick an equaliser, so we had to be careful.

Early into the second half we had a great chance through Hleb just outside the area, the crowd screamed shoot and he did. The ball slammed against the foot of the post. I don’t think Alex would’ve shot if the crowd had kept silent but it was nearly a very good goal.

In the second half Blackburn did get a bit of the ball but we were still dominating them. We had some great chances but Friedel was equal to all of them and it looked like even after that early goal this game would end up one nil.

Towards the end of the game I was a bit nervous when Blackburn pushed forward but in the end it was us that had the last say.

In injury time Hleb forced his way into the area with some great skill and played a little ball to Adebayor. He took a great touch to send the defender the other way and with the second touch he tucked the ball right in the bottom corner out of Friedel’s reach. It was a great goal and it meant that Adebayor stayed on his fantastic goal scoring run.

So it ended up 2-0 to us and everybody’s happy. Well, Arsenal-wise they are…I doubt the Blackburn fans were too happy, but the majority of people were happy. Which is good.

As I said earlier, our next game is Man Utd away. I collected my tickets today but they weren’t for me; I decided I needed to save money for Milan. It was hard posting them off to my mate today This was made even worse when I have to work throughout the whole game. I will still be following the game though, not a lot stops me from watching Arsenal vs. Manchester United, build up to that one to come this week. Thanks for reading.