Arsenal 1 – O Everton: An all too fitting victory

Prior to the match against Everton it was a slew of Arsenal legends like Henry, Ian WRIGHT WRIGHT WRIGHT, Andres Limpar, George Graham and others. And with Georgie Graham and Henry watching from the stands and the club celebrating it’s 125th Anniversary, it is only fitting and proper that it was a classic score line and a bit of magic that propelled Arsenal into their 7th win (from 8 matches) and 22 point out of 24 and for the first time this season back into the top 4.
First off, all credit to Everton. They are a team in flux. They are inconsistent and will likely finish mid-table. But the are managed well, and even with a lack of investment they have some of the brightest young talent and some quality in the first team. They played the game compact and organized and while Arsenal had their chances in the first half in the second Everton held their defensive shape. That shape frustrated Arsenal for much of the match and frankly gave the blue side of merseyside a chance to nip something from this match.
In the end though missed chances by Gervinho in the first half and Theo Walcott in the second half would matter none as it was won by a wonder strike by none other than Robin Van Persie.
“We needed something special to score and in the end Robin got it. – Wenger said in his post match interview. “I have to give credit to Alex Song who gave him a great ball, but it’s never easy to score this kind of goal. You have to get the timing right. It is an art, but Robin masters it well. We seem to be very Van Persie-dependent at the moment. He delivered something special. It was exceptional, but even he said it was not his best of days.”
And on a day or a match where nothing is working according to your plan you need a player like Robin Van Persie to get it done. Even visiting manager, David Moyes was full of praise for our in-form striker.
‘It was a terrific finish,’ acknowledged Moyes.
Matches like this frustrate at times because so much was hanging on a precipice. Like I referenced in the match preview, the win propelled us back into the top four for the first time this season. A loss or a draw would’ve cast some doubt on the progress we’ve made. Especially if either of those happened at home. Had Everton had a little more in the second half then we’d likely be talking about all of that, but they didn’t and thanks to a sublime pass by Alex Song and Van Persie’s form – we are talking about a strike we should be talking about in the next 125 years.
The buildup to the goal was classic Arsenal that resulted in 8 players touching the ball before Van Persie locked a 63 mph rocket past Tim Howard (who had no chance on the shot). It is the fifth goal Robin Van Persie has scored in eight games against the blues. And with 4 matches left in the year it looks like Van Persie could be set to join the likes of Alan Shearer and Henry in the record books for most goals in a calendar year.
About the match in general, I’d say that for the most part, Everton were lucky to not be down by at least 2 or 3 in the first half as Arsenal had a myriad of opportunities but Howard’s foot and some wastefulness by the home side set us up for some necessary frustration in the second half.
Overall while I thought our back line did well, we were missing the fact that our fullbacks weren’t joining the play as much as say a Santos or Sagna would. Vermaelen and Djourou played well but as CB’s it’s almost ingrained on their brains to stay back. It is something to look out for in the coming games. Still the two fill ins did well and I saw some nice crossing from Vermaelen. Djourou needs to work on his overlapping runs with Theo. He wasn’t all together there on a couple of them. Ignassi Miquel who came on when Vermaelen looked to get a finger in the eye also did well and looks more natural and fluid as a full back then Vermaelen did. (just saying).
In the end it was a win classic in fashion. It was a win I rate this as one we needed, especially with the traditional logjam that is the holiday fixture schedule. Also with our last big match of the season coming up next Sunday, away to Manchester City, going in to it with anything other than a win would’ve been a problem. As it is now Arsenal go on the road and as I will discuss later this week, with a good chance of taking something from the league’s leaders.
Until then I say we all revel in the goal of the season. I say we revel in 125 years of history and success and look forward to more. It is coming. It is more of a case of when.