Showing posts with label Sagna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sagna. Show all posts
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.
Coach
* Raymond Domenech
Goalkeepers
* Cédric Carrasso
* Hugo Lloris
* Steve Mandanda
Defenders
* Eric Abidal
* Gaël Clichy
* Patrice Evra
* William Gallas
* Marc Planus
* Anthony Réveillère
* Bacary Sagna
* Sébastien Squillaci
Midfielders
* Abou Diaby
* Alou Diarra
* Yoann Gourcuff
* Florent Malouda
* Franck Ribéry
* Jérémy Toulalan
Strikers
* Nicolas Anelka
* Djibril Cissé
* André-Pierre Gignac
* Sidney Govou
* Thierry Henry
* Mathieu Valbuena
Arsenal's Premier League title hopes were dented by a bizarre stoppage time goal by Kevin Phillips as Birmingham salvaged a 1-1 draw at St Andrew's.
The veteran striker knew little about the equaliser, which came courtesy of an attempted clearance by Bacary Sagna that hit his chest and floated over the line after Manuel Almunia palmed it into the air but failed to halt its progress.
The Gunners looked on course for a seventh straight win when Samir Nasri scored a superb individual effort on 81 minutes, but Phillips's goal meant Arsene Wenger's side fell three points behind Chelsea and four behind Manchester United after both sides won easily on Saturday.
Eduardo da Silva returned to the scene of his horrific double leg break in February 2008. That day, 10-man Birmingham held Arsenal to a demoralising 2-2 draw, and it was seen as the beginning of the end of the Gunners' title challenge.
The Croatian striker was an unused substitute this time, but Arsenal suffered similar frustration as another late equaliser threatened to derail their championship charge.
Arsenal enjoyed a fast start, with Tomas Rosicky cutting the ball back in the second minute from the left byline - a position from where Robert Pires enjoyed abundant success in his days at Highbury. Rosicky's cross found not Thierry Henry - Pires's preferred target - but Abou Diaby, whose shot hit Lee Bowyer and went behind for a corner.
The visitors dominated the early stages but too often promising moves were cut short by poor crosses from Theo Walcott and Sagna.
Alex McLeish's side gradually gained a foothold, with James McFadden firing a long-range warning shot just wide then hitting a dipping effort that Almunia fielded adroitly.
Cameron Jerome then forced Almunia into a full-stretch save with a low shot from the edge of the box, while at the other end Walcott's attempt to nip the ball past Joe Hart at the edge of the box was blocked.
There threatened to be another injury blow - less dramatic, yet no less significant - when Craig Gardner slid in for a tackle and caught Cesc Fabregas with his follow-through.
The Spaniard held his right ankle ominously, and limped around unhappily before undergoing treatment on the touchline.
Happily, he was able to carry on, and while there may yet be damage it did not seem to hamper the Arsenal captain.
The scare hardly improved the mood of Wenger, already fuming after referee Howard Webb rejected a penalty appeal by Gael Clichy, and later booked the left-back for an innocuous-looking challenge on Gardner.
Gardner, meanwhile, went unpunished for the tackle that hurt Fabregas; while he clearly took the ball, his follow-through was excessive and uncontrolled.
Birmingham gave as good as they got, and came agonisingly close to scoring just after the hour mark courtesy of their two centre-backs.
Roger Johnson met a lofted free-kick with a volley that looped over Almunia and came back off the far post, and the rebound fell to Scott Dann, who contrived to knee the ball over from a couple of yards.
The ball came quickly at Dann, but from his position right in front of goal he should still have scored.
The visitors picked up the tempo following the 68th-minute introduction of substitutes Nasri and Andrei Arshavin for Rosicky and the perpetually frustrating Walcott.
The pair combined when Arshavin pulled the ball back from the left for Nasri, whose shot lacked enough power to cause Hart any genuine concern.
Arsenal finally had the ball in the net on 76 minutes, when Diaby cracked a low shot past Hart, but referee Webb had already blown for a supposed foul by Fabregas at the edge of the box.
Relief finally came 10 minutes from time when Nasri collected the ball on the right touchline, carried it inside and struck a crisp low shot past Hart into the left corner from the edge of the box.
Wenger finally cracked a smile, but it proved premature as the late twist lengthened the odds on his Gunners ending their five-year trophy drought.
