Arsenal 7 - 1 Blackburn Rovers: Revenge

There are a lot of reasons to win any football match and today's more prominents ones were to not only gain some ground of our top four rivals, but also to right that great big wrong that occured earlier in the season when we, somehow, beat ourselves at Ewood Park and lost 4-3 from a winning position.

We got the game off to the perfect start. Coquelin played a clever pass into Theo Walcott who played it across goal for an easy tap-in for van Persie. It's been a while since we've seen that combo come off to good effect.

From here Arsenal should have kicked on and really let Blackburn have it, but typically didn't exert themselves to get more goals which always leaves the door open for the opposition to nick a goal somehow. Not surprisingly, Blackburn won a free-kick in a dangerous position after Koscielny gave away a sloppy free-kick and Morten Gamst Pedersen, ever dangerous from these positions, rattled it in despite Szczesny's best efforts.

We've been here before, haven't we? That lack of killer instinct has cost us points before and has needlessly put us into difficult positions. I was fully expecting us to struggle to score again and maybe not even win the game because, once again, despite scoring early we did not look that dangerous in the opening 30 minutes or so.

So I was pleasantly surprised when we retook the lead not long after Blackburn's goal. Song's ball penetrative ball from deep found Walcott, again in behind the Blackburn defence, and the forward managed to square it to van Persie once again for an easy tap-in. Van Persie's movement really does make it easier for players to pick him out in the box, and credit to Walcott for his movement in behind and for choosing the right pass in a difficult position.

The scoring in the half wasn't over. Van Persie dropped deep to receive the ball and he played in Chamberlain who, vitally, made the run from out-to-in that had been lacking from Arsenal's play recently, and he managed to round Paul Robinson and score his first league goal for the club. I thought he screwed up the chance with his heavy first touch, but he had the pace and desire to recover the situation and score a good goal.

Blackburn's Gael Givet then saw red for a two footed tackle and with a whole 45 minutes to go, the opportunity was there for Arsenal to really kick on and get a big one.

Goal number one came when Blackburn failed to clear a corner and Arteta's shot was deflected in. Arteta's third against Blackburn this year alone and fourth for Arsenal - all from the edge or outside the penalty area.

Oxlade-Chamberlain added a fifith three minutes afterwards. Walcott decided to cut inside onto his left, managed to hold on to the ball in a tight area and picked the right pass to Chamberlain, who produced a clever finish at the near post.

Goal number six and van Perise's third again came from the right hand side. Coquelin beat his man and produced a good ball in for van Persie to, yet again, tap-in.

Henry then rounded off proceedings with a somewhat fortunate goal, but a goal everyone wanted to see. 7-1 the final score.

Six assists down the right hand side
Six of Arsenal's seven goals were set-up with balls coming from the right hand side of the pitch. Walcott really did give the Blackburn left back a torrid time with his movement and he got in behind time and time again. He also combined very well with Coquelin, who had a very dynamic game at right back.

Movement much improved
One of the bigger things that stood out was the improvement in our movement. Walcott got in behind several times, Coquelin bombed forward from right back, Arteta and Rosicky supported from deep and van Persie was everywhere. The players combined to good effect to get the goals.

Things don't look so bad anymore
Up to 5th with that win, albeit having played an extra game. A couple of our rivals should hopefully drop some points tomorrow and suddenly 4th place won't look so far off.

This win also helps boost our confidence ahead of some tough fixtures coming up.

Better than studying for mid-terms.

CONFIDENCE RESTORED.

TIME TO GO ON THE OFFENSIVE AND CONQUER OUR TOP 4 SPOT.

Still in a sack Wenger mood?

RVP Scores when he wants

AOC Beats his men wherever he wants



just when i was thinking how i miss those days that we could trash teams at home then it comes

btw anybody mentioned Alex song played 7 through balls(3 accurate)
Arteta won 3 Aerial duels in opposition half

now only David Silva(12) and Valencia(8-) have more assists in the league than Walcott(7)----OneManTeam