Apologies for not publishing any post yesterday. I was granted the honor of gracing my cousin’s wedding with my presence. The event went well and there was even time to get a chicken or two.
Arsenal has been through a tumultuous phase so a response was needed to restore some confidence to a team bereft of it. Arsene Wenger tweaked the lineup a bit and my prayers were answered when I saw Tomas Rosicky in Aaron Ramsey’s place. The Coq also replaced Sagna at right back.
Arsenal got off to a flyer when the predator in the box van Persie got on the end of a Theo Walcott pass. Robin van Persie attempted two chipped efforts against Sunderland and Bolton that hit the post, but he wasn’t to be third time lucky as his lobbed effort drifted wide.
Blackburn equalized when Modeste was fouled by Laurent Koscielny on the edge of the area. Morten-Gamst dispatched the freekick goalwards but Szczesny should’ve done a bit better.
Arsenal restored the lead when Alex Song’s amazing through ball found Walcott that fed van Persie again for another easy tap in.
Van Persie turned from scorer to provider when he executed a superb through ball to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The youngster skipped past Paul Robinson to make it three.
Thomas Vermaelen almost made it four from a Mikel Arteta cross but the post came to Blackburn’s rescue. Late on, Blackburn’s misery was compounded when Gael Givet earned himself an early bath for a two-footed lounge on van Persie.
Arsenal picked up where they left off in the second half with a well-taken goal from Arteta. That was his third against Blackburn this season.
Walcott was having the game of his life on the right hand side and he made another mazy run that setup the Ox for Arsenal’s fifth. The Ox was high in confidence and he showed his sultry skills to skip past some defenders before sending an inch-perfect cross for Arteta but the Spaniard blazed the ball over.
Francis Coquelin wasn’t going to miss out on the party. He showed good awareness to create a chance for van Persie’s hattrick and Arsenal’s sixth goal.
Wenger brought on Thierry Henry, Bacary Sagna and Yossi Benayoun to join the party. Benayoun had a quick snapshot that was saved by the goalie.
Late on, Thierry Henry won the ball off a defender before exchanging passes with van Persie to put the icing on a well-baked cake.
Szczesny (6.5) had a boring day at the office.
Coquelin (7.5) was imperious on the right and he created the assist from van Persie’s third goal.
Vermaelen (7.0) almost scored Arsenal’s fourth goal and put up another decent shift as a left back.
Koscielny (7.0) conceded the foul that led to Blackburn but recovered well as the game went on.
Mertesacker (7.0) won some headers at the back and worked hard in defense.
Song (9.0) was a colossus in midfield and supplied in some superb passes for his teammates.
Arteta (8.0) scored his third goal against Blackburn this season. Cool if you ask me.
Rosicky (7.5) looked a lot like the Little Mozart Arsenal acquired from Dortmund. He pulled the strings in midfield today.
Walcott (9.0) put up his best Arsenal performance this season and laid on three assists for his teammates to make his tally to seven.
The Ox (9.5) scored his first league goals at the Emirates and it’s fair to say that he had a stormer.
Van Persie (10.0) scored a hat-trick, laid on two assists and was an inspiration on the pitch. What else could you possibly ask from a great captain.
Sagna (6.5) played in an unfamiliar left back role but he did okay.
Henry (7.5) bowed out in grand style. #Legend
Benayoun (6.0) was a bit ineffectual.
This result will go a long way in bringing back the confidence to the camp in its bid to move high up the table.
It’s great to knowing that Arsenal’s performance against Blackburn made the team to become one of the 7-1ders of the Premier League.
Crisis?
What crisis?
Sayonara
