Final Score : Arsenal 0 - 0 Blackburn

By Richard Clarke


Arsenal face another FA Cup replay after their Fifth Round tie with Blackburn ended in a frustrating goalless draw on Saturday.

Arsène Wenger’s side are not prone to scoreless matches. This was the first domestic 0-0 in 56 games. However they were kept at bay by a resolute Rovers side and in particular keeper Brad Friedel.

In injury time, the American made a superb double save from Thierry Henry and Justin Hoyte. It was the highlight of a largely forgettable match.

After 120 minutes of unremitting entertainment in the Fourth Round replay at the Reebok Stadium in midweek this was definitely a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’.

The replay will take place at Ewood Park on Wednesday, February 28.

Last Wednesday’s win at Bolton had been as tiring as it had been exhilarating. Therefore, as expected, Wenger rotated his squad.

He retained only Manuel Almunia and Kolo Toure from his starting line-up at the Reebok Stadium. Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Adebayor, Denilson and Tomas Rosicky all dropped out of the starting XI and onto the bench. Abou Diaby, Gilberto and Julio Baptista were left out completely while Alex Hleb (virus) and Johan Djourou (knee) had minor ailments.

Freddie Ljungberg, Thierry Henry, Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, Philippe Senderos, Mathieu Flamini and Jeremie Aliadiere, Justin Hoyte were called upon to start. As was William Gallas; the former Chelsea defender was fit after almost three months out with a thigh problem.

Emirates Stadium was swaddled in sunshine for this lunchtime kick-off. Given the Stakhanovite schedule of the last few weeks, you could have forgiven the Arsenal players for having leaden legs this afternoon. However you could not tell at the start of the game.

Arsenal were sprightly, sparky. In the opening minutes, Henry volleyed over the bar from an acute angle and Gallas put a header wide at the far post. Flamini thumped a long-range effort wide and then Friedel clutched Walcott’s deflected flick after Henry had sent a free-kick over from the left.

Blackburn were compact and solid but lacking invention. Their only effort in the entire first half was David Bentley’s wild pot-shot over the bar.

Arsenal had the territorial advantage but the massed ranks of the Rovers defence were quelling their attacks. It was as if Hughes had told his side to keep the game tight until the latter stages in the hope that the home side would tire. It did not make for an entertaining game.

Wenger’s men rather lost their way as half time approached. In injury time Gallas thumped over but, overall, it had been a poor first period.

The second half followed the same pattern early on. Arsenal attacked, probed for an opening, Blackburn’s snuffed out the opportunity and played an optimistic ball forwards. The home defence would collect easily and the whole process would start again.

The first chance of note came 13 minutes in. Aliadiere slipped the ball to Walcott inside the area and the 17-year-old cracked his effort into the sidenetting.

Something had to change and, on the hour, Wenger made his first substitution. Clichy came on for Gallas.

Blackburn attacks had been so rare they were becoming an endangered species. However in the 63rd minute Bentley’s free-kick was nodded towards the far post by the giant Christopher Samba and Clichy hooked the ball away from danger.

Wenger responded with his last two subs — Adebayor for Walcott and Rosicky for Ljungberg. Obviously the Frenchman was intent on winning this game in the 90 minutes.

In fairness, the game did start to yield some opportunities. Matt Derbyshire’s chip was hurriedly tapped over the bar by the stretching Almunia. Then Aliadiere had a realistic shout for a penalty when Stephen Warnock brought him down. Referee Martin Atkinson waved play on.

Seven minutes from time, Rosicky burst clear in the area but Friedel rushed out to save his shot with his legs.

The Blackburn keeper would keep Rovers in the tie a minute later. Adebayor found space down the left and crossed. Henry flicked the ball up and sent a lofted shot goalwards, the American keeper saved it with his fingertips then recovered to block Hoyte’s follow-up with his legs.

Given Arsenal’s crammed fixture list, it was a save — and a result — they did not need.

Walcott - We can’t give up on the title race yet

By Richard Clarke

Theo Walcott has not given up on the Premiership title yet.

It will be a very tall order of course. This weekend’s results saw Arsenal fall 17 points behind Manchester United with only 13 games left to play. But, despite the enormity of the task, the 17-year-old winger believes his side’s spirit should not be underestimated.

“We can’t give up,” he told Arsenal.com after Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough. “I feel we’ll definitely be there for the Champions League places and hopefully we can push on for the top three. But we still can’t forget about the Premiership [title].

“There is a good spirit through the whole camp at the moment and we are full of confidence.

“This result may set us back a little bit. We were expected winners but don’t take credit away from Middlesbrough. They played really well. It was tough for us but I think we battled well with 10 men.”

Aston Villa / Man City - Fixture dates announced

Aston Villa v Arsenal
Barclays Premiership
Villa Park. Wednesday, March 14, 2007. Kick-off: 7.45pm
This was postponed on Saturday 24th February due to Arsenal’s involvement in the Carling Cup Final. This fixture will be played as above.

Arsenal
Manchester City

Arsenal v Manchester City
Barclays Premiership
Emirates Stadium. Wednesday, February 28, 2007. Kick-off: 7.45pm
This match has been provisionally dated for above. However, in the event that either Arsenal or Manchester City (or both teams) are participating in an FA Cup 5th Round Replay on 27th / 28th February, this match will be postponed to a new date (as yet unconfirmed).

We will know whether either Club is due to feature in an FA Cup 5th Round Replay after the 5th Round games have been played over the weekend of 17th / 18th February.

There is also another scenario whereby the above game would be postponed. If after the weekend of 17th / 18th February, both Arsenal and Manchester City have been knocked out of the FA Cup, Arsenal versus Manchester City will be postponed from the above date and will be played as under:

Arsenal v Manchester City
Emirates Stadium
Saturday 10th March 2007
Kick Off 3pm

Randall signs professional terms with Arsenal

Mark Randall has signed professional terms with the Club.

The highly-rated central midfielder made seven appearances for the Reserves last season while still a schoolboy and has continued to make excellent progress this term.

Randall came on during the first-ever game at Emirates Stadium last July - Dennis Bergkamp's Testimonial. He also travelled with the first-team squad to Austria for Arsenal's pre-season training camp and featured in the 3-0 friendly win over AZ Alkmaar.

The 17-year-old has made two substitute appearances in the Carling Cup this season. He came on for the final 17 minutes of the Third-Round victory at West Brom and emerged from the bench 20 minutes from time in the Fourth-Round win at Everton.

Gilberto so impressed by fast-learner Denilson

By Chris Harris

It's a good time to be a Brazilian at Arsenal. Gilberto has won plaudits for his goals and captaincy, Julio Baptista has emerged as a Carling Cup hero and now Denilson has nudged his way into the first-team picture.

The Brazil Under-19 captain has spent much of his first season at Emirates Stadium studying one of his compatriots. "Gilberto makes football look simple and I want to follow that example as much as possible," he told Arsenal TV Online. It seems the admiration is mutual.

Gilberto was hugely impressed by Denilson's display in the first leg of Arsenal's Carling Cup tie against Tottenham last month. The World Cup winner had the chance to play alongside his fellow countryman in the second leg and had no reason to change his opinion.

"Denilson is a great character," Gilberto told Arsenal.com. "Like many of the youngsters he's not scared of playing in the team. It's amazing to see such young players show such great performances, great character and great ability on the pitch.

"Denilson has adapted so quickly to the system of the team in the short time he's been at the Club. It's great to see."

When Gilberto arrived in the summer of 2002, fresh from Brazil's triumph in the Far East, he relied on another compatriot, Edu, for guidance. The former Gunner helped Gilberto adapt to a new culture, a new language and a new life. Now Gilberto is doing the same for Denilson.

"Edu helped me to settle and I am trying to help Denilson feel comfortable," he said. "He is enjoying his time at the club, he is enjoying living here and he is learning the language like I had to do when I first came here.

"I have tried to help him as much as I can can to make him feel comfortable in the Club and he's doing very well."

Arsenal.com

Wenger - I use Carling Cup to see the future

By Richard Clarke

The Carling Cup is becoming Arsène Wenger’s crystal ball.

For a number of years the Arsenal manager has put out a youthful side in the competition with some success. However this season they have surpassed themselves; reaching the Final and putting out three Premiership teams en route.

Youngsters like Denilson and Armand Traore have hit the headlines this year. In previous seasons Cesc Fabregas, Philippe Senderos, Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Eboue and Johan Djourou have emerged in this competition. It means that Wenger can limit his transfer outlay to those truly exceptional — and highly costly — players.

"The Carling Cup is almost like looking into the future,” said Wenger. “That’s what I use it for.

“I look at the Carling Cup team to see where we are going as a Club. Do we have enough to fight for the Premiership and Champions League? Or do we have to buy because they aren’t good enough? This year they have shown me they are good enough.

"To work well in the future, a club like ours should only have to buy the exceptional players. We should have a good enough squad to fight for the rest.

"I didn’t buy anybody in the transfer window because there’s no point bringing average players in.”

However, according to Wenger, such a policy does require strength from the Club’s manager and its directors.

“The problem is you have to combine two things,” he said. “You have to install enough in the club to go with that policy. If it’s done in the short term and the manager changes every two years then why should he go for a policy of five years?

“Secondly, you have to be strong enough to play the young players when there’s a big demand. You have to stick to it. If you want to know how good your players are then you have to play them.”

Final Score : Boro 1-1 Gunners

By Richard Clarke

Thierry Henry struck 13 minutes from time as 10-man Arsenal brought back a valuable point from Middlesbrough on Saturday evening.

Arsene Wenger’s side were edging a pedestrian Premiership game when Philippe Senderos was adjudged to have fouled Yakubu in the area after 63 minutes. It would be the key incident of the game for both sides. The Arsenal defender was sent off and the Middlesbrough forward scored from the spot.

However this week has proved that you simply cannot doubt the fighting spirit of any Arsenal side — whatever the competition. Last Sunday, they battled back to earn an FA Cup replay against Bolton, on Wednesday the Carling Cup team completed a wonderful comeback against Spurs and on Friday the Under-18s threw away the lead twice and yet still triumphed in the FA Youth Cup.

Tonight it was the turn of the Premiership side.

After the sending off, they dusted themselves down and rolled up their sleeves. In the 77th minute they got their reward when Emmanuel Adebayor knocked the ball down for Henry to slot home in style.

A decent end to a decent week.

After those Carling Cup heroics, Wenger returned to his normal Premiership line-up for the trip to Teesside.

Arsenal’s last League game had been that wonderful late win over Manchester United at Emirates back on January 21. There were only two changes from that side that day and both of those were because of injury. Emmanuel Eboue (ankle) and Alex Hleb (hamstring) dropped out. Justin Hoyte and Gilberto came in.

Middlesbrough had struggled early on this season but, to their credit, were unbeaten in 2007. In addition, the Riverside had been a graveyard for the big teams in the past two seasons. The home side had taken 14 points out of 21 at home to Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. They had tasted defeat only once.

They started this evening’s game with the intention to sustain that good run. In the second minute, Stewart Downing’s overlap caught out Hoyte but Gael Clichy anticipated well to hack clear his cross.

Middlesbrough held the whip hand in the opening 15 minutes. Their aim was to get the ball forward quickly through the centre and throw in early crosses from the flank. Jens Lehmann dealt with everything pretty comfortably. The bulldozering runs of Yakubu caused also mild consternation but Toure and/or Senderos dealt with them well.

Arsenal gradually grew in stature as the half went on. Their first chance came midway through when the onrushing Toure nearly got on the end of Thierry Henry’s free-kick at the far post.

In the 31st minute Rosicky sent a rocket shot toward to the top corner but it drifted high and wide at the final second.

Suddenly it was Arsenal who were pushing back Middlesbrough. Toure prodded goalwards and Henry ended a marvellous passing move with a tame shot into the hands of Brad Jones.

But, in truth, the same term could have described the whole of the first half.

There was, at least, more pace after the restart. Arsenal still had the better of the game but never Jones. Too often decent passing moves lacked a final ball. Toure slashed wide and Henry’s long-range effort was easily save by Jones. That was about it.

They would be made to pay in the 63rd minute. George Boateng sent Yakubu roaring through the middle with Senderos in pursuit. Referee Mike Riley deemed that the Swiss centre back to have brought him down in the area and the Nigerian striker beat Lehmann from the spot.

Between those incidents, Senderos was sent off for a professional foul and Lehmann was booked for disputing the decisions. Arsenal had their backs firmly against the wall.

They rallied as best they could as Middlesbrough were bubbling. Mark Viduka turned Toure at the near post and forced a wonderful low save from Lehmann.

It would prove to be another pivotal moment as, seconds later, Arsenal equalised. Adebayor rose high to knock the ball down to Henry on the corner of the six-yard box. The captain controlled the ball with one touch and dispatched low into the far corner of the net with the next.

It was trademark Thierry Henry.

In the build-up to that goal, Jeremie Aliadiere and Theo Walcott had appeared at the side of the pitch. Wenger was throwing on his two, pacy young attackers to try and grab a goal.

After Henry’s strike both went back to the bench and instead, Denilson came on for Hoyte. It was clear the manager was now happy with what he had.

In the dying seconds Rosicky fired off an optimistic snap-shot from distance.

But a draw was a fair result