Showing posts with label Alex Song. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alex Song. Show all posts
Thierry Henry made a fairytale return for Arsenal as he came off the bench to sink Leeds United in a 1-0 FA Cup third round win at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal had dominated possession against a stodgy visiting side but needed the predatory instincts of Henry - who had replaced Marouane Chamakh on 68 minutes - to seal their progress in a competition they have won 10 times as the on-loan French striker slipped the ball beyond Leeds keeper Andy Lonergan with 12 minutes left.
Henry and his team-mates will face Aston Villa in the fourth round at home on the weekend of January 28/29 courtesy of the club icon's 227th goal in an Arsenal shirt.
The scenes of celebration were something to behold after Henry bounded onto Alex Song's pass to beat Lonergan with a trademark finish with his right foot that was an item of real beauty from inside the area.
He is only on loan from New York Red Bulls until the outset of March, but the short-term deal already seems to be a masterstroke by manager Arsene Wenger, who joined in the staggering moments of joy that saw Henry mobbed by his team-mates with the home supporters celebrating like they had lifted the FA Cup.
The watching former England skipper David Beckham looked as delighted as Henry, but Leeds will feel hard done by having seemed likely to force a replay despite coming to London to defend stoutly and hit on the break.
With the Dutch forward Robin van Persie rested, Arsenal looked to Andrei Arshavin and Marouane Chamakh to cut the Championship side open, but the pair suffered a frustrating night in front of goal as they huffed and puffed with little success.
That was until Chamakh made way for the bearded Henry, who is now a sprightly 34 with a statue cut outside of the stadium to honour his first stint at the club.
Arshavin had squandered a glorious chance to find the opening goal on five minutes as he walloped a shot wide from Chamakh's pass before Sebastian Squillaci nodded past a post from Mikel Arteta's corner on 14 minutes.
The outstanding Aaron Ramsey then lifted a shot over the bar from distance with Arteta slapping a shot wide from 20 yards as the general theme of Arsenal pressure and palpable frustration among the home supporters continued.
Leeds' best moment of the first period saw Luciano Becchio slam a shot over from inside the home area after a energetic run by Mika Vayrynen, but that was a rare moment of adventure from a visiting side whose general stubbornness belied their average age of only 24.
Arsenal continued to binge on possession in the second half with Lonergan diving low to his left to claw out a shot by Arteta on 53 minutes before doing likewise to repel a vicious effort by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as the home team continued to tot up their unsuccessful attempts on goal.
Leeds could have saved the game after Henry's big moment with substitutes Ross McCormack and Mikael Forssell forcing Wojciech Szczesny to make his first real saves of the night in the death throes of the match before the celebrations began as Henry raised his arms to the sky in celebration amid further scenes of unfettered joy.
It was little wonder Wenger said the dressing room was full of 'euphoria' in describing the mood among the Arsenal players at full-time.
When you win with two minutes to go it is always a relief.
We needed to be patient, intelligent and not make a mistake at the back on Saturday against a West Ham team that had a strong spirit and were well-organised.
We showed patience because in the first half it was difficult to get into the flow of our passing so we had to wait until they got a bit fatigued. West Ham kept going and we did as well. We kept the structure of our game right, we didn't do anything stupid, we kept trying to be intelligent and that in the end got us the goal with two minutes to go.
I thought we might drop points when Theo Walcott's shot hit the post and then bounced back into the goalkeeper's hands. That is usually not a good sign But we kept going and out of this game we can say we have once again shown a great attitude and we have matured. You can see that when it doesn't work for us the players remain calmer than before.
Alex Song scored and he is adding that to his game because he had three good chances on Saturday. He has got the taste to go forward, even if I think a little too much sometimes for a holding midfielder!
Denilson has had three good games in a week - he played the whole 90 minutes at Manchester City, the whole 90 minutes at Newcastle and he did quite well on Saturday because he defended very well at the moment everybody went forward. Jack Wilshere is coming back and can play with Denilson and Song. I have potential to rotate the team because we have Diaby and Ramsey to come back as well.
I am asked about the title and I believe we have a good chance but we want to show consistency first. We go step by step. I believe we still need to step up a gear to completely achieve that. But on the other hand you feel as well that there is more to come out from this team because we had strength on the bench on Saturday and we still have some players to come back.
If we can keep a good injury record then we have a chance. It's too early in the season to be sure but I have belief. We have to show we can handle every single game with the different challenges that the Premier League has. You saw on Saturday that we played against the bottom team in the Premier League and it was a real battle. We have to show we can compete like that in every game.
Of course we have now kept three clean sheets in a row. That's new for me! A day where I don't have to look on the television slow motion to see why we conceded a goal does not happen often so I am very happy with that.
Alex Song spared Arsenal's blushes with a late goal to seal a 1-0 win over Premier League strugglers West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium.
The Cameroon midfielder scored a diving header in the 88th minute to deny the Hammers a hard-earned point and leave them bottom of the table.
The win sees the Gunners maintain the five-point gap between themselves and leaders Chelsea, whilst Wolves' win over Manchester City leaves West Ham three points adrift at the bottom of the table.
The defeat was especially harsh on Robert Green, whose performance in the Hammers goal looked to have earned his team a vital point that could well have been significant in the final reckoning against their rivals fighting the drop.
Despite scoring twice in the Carling Cup win at Newcastle in midweek, Theo Walcott found himself on the bench as the in-form Samir Nasri returned to the starting line-up for Arsenal, whilst Frederic Piquionne was preferred to Carlton Cole in the Hammers' attack.
The Gunners were dominant in possession right from the kick-off, with Song heading on to the roof of the net from a free-kick and Danny Gabbidon putting in a well-timed block to deny Nasri a strike inside the box.
However, it took until midway through the half for them to test Green when Bacary Sagna pulled the ball back for Cesc Fabregas to strike but the goalkeeper matched the effort with a fine save to his left.
Mark Noble fired in several free-kicks and corners for West Ham, but Lukasz Fabianski marshalled his area well. It was a mark of how confident the much-maligned Pole is feeling following his good run in the Arsenal goal that, at one point, he came charging off his line to head a long ball out of play.
Just before the end of the half, Green was called into action again, this time blocking Song's strike which was hit right at him. The rebound almost fell kindly for Nasri, but the Frenchman could not quite catch his shot on the turn.
Arsenal emerged from the break with real intent, and Nasri struck a free-kick from 30 yards out that clipped the top of the crossbar.
But Andrei Arshavin went down too easily during a penalty shout while and Fabregas, Nasri and Marouane Chamakh all sent tame efforts towards Green.
And, when Walcott came off the bench and saw his effort rebound off the foot of the far post before having another strike saved by Green, it looked as though it was not going to be Arsenal's day.
As the clock ticked down and Green got down low to make another excellent save from Fabregas, the Hammers' resolve was finally broken when Gael Clichy's inviting cross was met by the stooped head of Song from close range.
It was the midfielder's third league goal of the season and sealed Arsenal's fifth straight win in all competitions.
Arsenal moved up to second place in the Premier League table with a 3-0 victory over 10-man Manchester City at Eastlands.
Dedryck Boyata was sent off after just five minutes, and soon after the Gunners were ahead through Samir Nasri's seventh goal of the season.
Joe Hart lifted City spirits when he saved a penalty from Cesc Fabregas, but Alex Song put the result beyond doubt midway through the second half before substitute Nicklas Bendtner announced his return from injury with a goal late on.
The Gunners moved above both Manchester clubs into second place on goal difference, with the trio all five points below leaders Chelsea.
City went into this clash sitting second in the table behind the Blues having already beaten the champions this season; the fixture was nicely poised for them to further boost their title credentials.
They almost got off to a great start when Carlos Tevez showed great determination to drive down the right and square a low ball for David Silva, who almost beat Lukasz Fabianski with a backheel flick.
But those hopes were dealt a severe blow when 19-year-old defender Boyata brought down Marouane Chamakh right on the edge of the box as the last man. Referee Mark Clattenburg had no choice but to show him a red card for the fastest dismissal in the Premier League in two and a half years.
Unperturbed, City's attacking triumvirate of Tevez, Silva and James Milner continued to ask questions of the Gunners, who picked up four bookings in the first half.
However, after Johan Djourou had headed an effort over the bar, Nasri put the visitors ahead on 20 minutes. The Frenchman played a neat one-two with Andrei Arshavin, completely lost Gareth Barry and fired his strike past Hart at the near post.
City continued to show more ambition with 10 men than they often do with 11, with Micah Richards curling a left-footed effort wide of the far upright.
But when Vincent Kompany brought down Fabregas inside the City area with five minutes of the half remaining, it looked all over for City. However Hart saved the Arsenal captain's spot-kick well to his left.
City boss Roberto Mancini made changes, although his hand was forced by two of his key players picking up knocks. Wayne Bridge replaced Yaya Toure at half-time, and not long into the second half former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor replaced Tevez.
City continued to fashion chances after the break, with Fabianski called into action to make another fine save from Silva before Adebayor headed over the bar.
But their resolve was finally broken on 66 minutes when Bridge diverted Fabregas's pass for Chamakh into the path of Song, and the Cameroon midfielder lashed a crisp finish past Hart.
The one positive for Mancini, aside from his side's spirit despite being a man down for so long, was the introduction of Mario Balotelli after the Italian striker had missed so much of the season thus far through injury.
Arsene Wenger had two players of his own back fit - and after he brought on Theo Walcott and Bendtner the latter scored his first goal of the season.
Nasri kept the ball in play on the halfway line before picking out the Dane, who went on to lift a clinical finish over the onrushing Hart.
Wenger will also be heartened to have witnessed another good performance from Fabianski, underlined by his tipping over a curling shot from Jerome Boateng in injury time - and ensuring Arsenal kept their first clean sheet away from home in 15 games in all competitions.
I believe we played an outstanding game on Saturday against West Ham.
We played with class and spirit and we kept our nerve when the situation became difficult. Overall we showed a good attitude, good maturity and, in the important moments, we were decisive in every department. I am thinking about the goalkeeper here and then moving Alex Song to centre back; everybody adapted very well to the situation and technically I believe we were outstanding.
I felt the red card for Thomas Vermaelen was very harsh. We have seen this situation many times in the game without it being punished at all.
But Manuel Almunia silenced the critics with his save. He had a few problems at the start of the season but in the last two or three months I have found him to be outstanding. Credit to him.
Our 2-0 victory took us up to second in the table and we know that at least one of Manchester United and Chelsea will drop points between now and the end of the season. They play each other later on.
Obviously we have lost home and away to both teams this season but, it does not matter to me, I would still take the title!
That same situation happened with Manchester United when they were champions last year. And yes, it's a point of view. But then, ideally, you would want to win all 38 games and everyone would say: 'they deserve it'. You never have the perfect season.
Right now we are in a position where we can show people that we have improved. We've already improved our consistency. I don't know where we will finish but let's go for it now.
We are in a strong position in the Premier League table after the win against West Ham but we still have to focus on our quality and continue to improve. So now let's just be better in our next game and that's at Birmingham on Saturday.
With the results we are making, we can only go from game to game. But we know we have the desire and we have the quality.
Finally, I'd just like to let you know that Robin van Persie should be back at the Club this week. We sent our fitness coach out to Holland where he has been having his rehabilitation. Physically he looks very sharp but we aim to wait at least a month for him. So we need to be patient.
