Lunchtime Indulgence

An early kick off yesterday, at the somewhat self indulgent offering of Arsenal v Chelsea, the media styled most expensive Premiership game ever.

This fixture was Arsenal's first Category A game since they restructured their match pricing in the summer and so the first where the minimum adult admission was £62. This naturally led to something of a furor in the press with a re run of all too common arguments about people being priced out of football. However the question people seem reluctant to answer is how best to allocate tickets at a match which is virtually guaranteed to be sold out, if not by market forces? An Olympic style ballot? The fact is the pricing of football at the top end is wholly down to its popularity. When, post Italia 90, the middle class felt safe enough to return to the match, they colonised grounds and forced prices up in the same way as happened to the housing market. As was shown a couple of years back less popular clubs such as Blackburn and Wigan reduced prices below £20 to attract support. What is illogical is to set prices at a level which leaves swathes of empty seats. When I clicked the button to part with £68.50 for this match I could only soothe myself with the delusion that my three visits to Arsenal in September had cost an average of £38. At least I got a good seat.

Ahead of kick off the watching media were given an easy opening paragraph when before national punchbag John Terry led his Chelsea team up the tunnel, national hero Mo Farah was introduced to the crowd complete with twin gold medals and babies. 

To be honest though the pantomine booing for Terry and ever ready Arsenal hate figure Ashley Cole soon subsided as attention focused on an enthralling contest between the two teams attempting to make a London challenge to the current Mancunian domination of English football. 

With both sides set up to attack goals felt inevitable and the final return of three was more a reflection of striking profligacy rather than defensive efficiency.

Arsenal had the better of the opening exchanges but the early departure of Abou Diaby through injury tipped the game in Chelsea's favour. Almost immediately the Blues took the lead from a free kick when Fernando Torres neatly flicked in a free kick which Arsenal allowed to sail into the area without challenge. The absence of Diaby's engine in the Gunners midfield then left Chelsea in control and they had ample opportunity to double their lead before, against the run of play, Gervais of the Arsenal equalised with a superb turn and finish just ahead of half time.

Chelsea soon retook the lead after the break with a free kick which was even more poorly defended than the one in the first half, Mata's strike floating through the red shirts into the back of the net with Laurent Koscielny's attempt at a clearance only blocking the view of Vito Mannone. 

Before the game Koscielny's presence in the team was seen as preferable to that of Per Mertesacker due to the speed of Chelsea's forwards but it seems the BFG was the source of Arsenal's much touted renewed defensive resilience. Certainly his calm but decisive actions at set pieces could have only helped matters, the lack of a truly world class goalkeeper at the club notwithstanding.

Following the goal Chelsea were a little more careful to protect their lead which left Petr Cech to play a leading role in the second half. He made two superb saves from Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud then did just enough in stoppage time to force Giroud wide enough so the Frenchman could only shoot into the side netting. All in all a case of close but no cigar for the Arsenal. For the future much to ponder for Arsene Wenger about the dichotomy of keeping a winning team together versus rotating players to maintain fitness, whilst Steve Bould needs to increase the number of set piece drills on the training ground.

Running on empty

Typically rambunctious London derby at Arsenal yesterday. No quarter asked or given, but very little in the way of chances so a goalless draw was just about a fair reflection of the game although as with Wednesday night, Peter Cech had to thank his woodwork on more than one occasion. 

It was difficult to fathom Chelsea's objective for the day. It was only natural that they fielded a much changed team from the Barcelona game, but surprising John Terry played. I would have thought nothing will stop him playing in the Nou Camp which will require a herculean effort given it it will be his fourth high profile game in ten days. Similarly Chelsea's tactic of defending deep and trying to hit Arsenal on the counter attack looked likely to work throughout the game given the Gunners' defensive frailties, yet failed to force a save from Wojciech Szczesny. Given that three points were required by the Blues I thought they would have shown a bit more adventure.

For Arsenal's part they carried on from Monday night, energetically powering forward but unable to break down a solid defensive unit enough to create an unmissable chance save the first half efforts from Robin Van Persie and Laurent Koscielny which hit the post and bar respectively. There appeared to be a bit of mental fatigue in the red ranks, Aaron Ramsey lacked match sharpness being regularly caught in possession whilst Van Persie looks to be running on empty exposing the lack of a suitable deputy to take the pressure of scoring off him.

By the evening it was clear that a rare draw for Arsenal had maintained their position as favourites for third place and surely they will get the two wins required to secure it from their final three games, all against teams with nothing to play for.

No Doubting Tomas

I've seen a couple of awe inspiring second leg comebacks in my time. The first was Preston North End's 4-1 win over Torquay United at Deepdale in the 1994 Division Four Play Off Semi-Final Second Leg, to date the last senior English football match played on a plastic pitch. The other, a little more pertinent to my night's viewing, was Fulham's epic 4-1 win over Juventus en route to their 2010 Europa League Final appearance. Both comeback's followed a similar path, the task initially became more difficult when the opposition increased their lead with an away goal, which was swiftly followed by the dismissal of a domineering centre back, Darren Moore and Fabio Cannavaro respectively, both of whose early baths proved key to their team's ultimate demise.

Pondering this correlation as I walked up Holloway Road the former factor would surely prove fatal to Arsenal's cause, a 6-1 win simply out of the question, the latter meanwhile would be most welcome. Neither came to pass in a game where Arsenal's stock rose by appealing to that peculiar human trait, the love of a gallant loser.

With, as Arsene Wenger neatly surmised, a 95% chance of failure, Arsenal had almost nothing to lose and this feeling seemed to imbibe their approach with a joyful, irresponsible attacking abandon. This in turn was reflected and reinforced by a watching crowd who bellowed their support throughout, as my croaky voice paid testament to the day after.

This was my first visit to Arsenal since the FA Cup win over Leeds and the recent win over Spurs seemed to have infused the ground with a renewed sense of belief which was soon rewarded by Laurent Koscielny's opening goal, an unchallenged near post header from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's corner. The early goal served its purpose by ensuring atmosphere remained at fever pitch. 

The Gunners sustained their lung busting start, inspired in the middle of the pitch by the flying Czech, Tomas Rosicky. Only guaranteed a game by the absence of others since returning himself himself from long term injury, and seen as a symptom of the club's demise by his unfortunate habit of grinning when Arsenal conceded a goal, his return to form in recent weeks has been a remarkable renaissance, perhaps helped by Wenger being forced to play him in the centre of midfield. This saw him ideally positioned to pick up a weak clearance and thump home Arsenal's second, again nicely timed to keep the comeback bubbling nicely.

Milan had no answer to the red rampage, clearly seeing no capacity for improvement in their opponent's woeful first leg performance, and when Oxlade-Chamberlain was cynically squashed in a Milanese sandwich, the tension created by the subsequent penalty award was palpable. The spot kick provided the opportunity for the come back to cross the rubicon from dream to reality, placing the teams just one goal apart. Robin Van Persie showed great nerve to ignore Mark Van Bommel's attempts at gamemanship, before despatching the ball like a missile into the back of the net.

On the face of it this was the perfect set up for the second half but the question remained how Arsenal could sustain their breathless tempo, with little to sustain it available on the bench. Still chances were bound to arrive at either end and now it was the goalkeepers' turn to shine. 

Any straw poll would have certainly selected Van Persie with the chance to equalise, but from close range his too clever by half flick was matched by the mighty paw of Christian Abbati. Milan's more realistic approach to ensuring their win, may have led to accusations of cynicism but their spoiling tactics were a natural response to the first half onlslaught and almost created a chance to put them out of sight but Antonio Nocerino couldn't quite do enough to trouble Wojciech Szczesny from close range towards the end.

Hope sprang eternal amongst the men in red shirts who sunk to the ground in agony at the final whistle, none more so than man of the match Rosicky, part of a team fully deserving of a standing ovation for producing a performance which almost erased the memory of that in the first leg.