Freddie, We Thank You

Welcome back Freddie. That was as much as the fans could give for his 15 minutes participation in this match. West Ham visited Emirates with the former favourite Freddie Ljungberg in their ranks in the first game of 2008. He came off early with a niggling hamstring injury but in his short stint, he managed to trouble a rusty looking Justin Hoyte.

Kick-off. You sipped your coffee and look at a fellow fan sitting right next to you. By then time your eyes got back on the pitch, Fabregas had been put through on the left flanks accompanied by 2 Hammers. He turned and crossed into the box. The in-form Eduardo took the ball on the chest and nestled the ball in Robert Green’s bottom left corner. Barely 2 minutes into a potentially banana skin of a match and Arsenal are already leading. Ghost of last year’s double was slowly floating away.

It’s always a concerned for Arsenal when they take a lead too early. They tend to sit back and allow the opposition time and space. When in fact, they should have thrusted the sword further into West Ham’s wounds. Memories of Sunderland still linger in my head. Curbishley’s boys did put up a fight although it was a toothless one. Clichy has to clear off the line but that was about it.

Arsenal had less possession than they would’ve wanted but in the end, another Adebayor stunner settled the issue. He out-sprint Green on Clichy’s through ball over the top and looks like headed the ball out the touchline. Somehow he managed to put his foot and strike the ball into the net. Quite how he did that required the trajectory of the ball to meet the power as well as needing the bounce of the ball to work in tandem. Probably can’t repeat it again, but who cares.

Arsenal saw out the second half without any further scares. This was an important test for these young Gunners. Matches like this are the ones which got away for Arsenal much of last season. Being total control of a match, but unable to convert the multiple chances into a victory.

Fine start to the year. History could definitely be in the making.