EPL Week 12: Nasri Gives Victory To Arsenal, Chelsea's Anelka Scores Double Against Blackburn
November 10th 2008 20:21
Arsenal – Manchester United: 2-1
Sir Alex Ferguson has to be cursing his team's missed opportunities after Saturday's match against the struggling Gunners. Twice now Manchester United has allowed their opponents to stay in the game simply because they couldn't capitalize on their opportunities. The Red Devils got two clear scoring chances in the first twenty minutes of game including a disallowed goal on which Berbatov was ruled offside (again!), and a missed shot by Rooney who had scored on a similar play on month ago. Consequently, Arsenal were the first to score when Samir Nasri fired a rocket past Van der Sar. The Gunners still weren't safe after that goal as United repeatedly assaulted Almunia's net without any success.
Although the Red Devils ended the first half on a high, their vivacity was dampened when Nasri scored his second of the day two minutes after the break with a superb strike that left no chance to Van der Sar. One minute later, Cristiano Ronaldo had United's first goal on the side of his boot, but his tap-in went inches wide of Almunia's post. Surprisingly, it was youngster Rafael who reduced the score to 2-1 with a superbly struck volley. Despite six minutes of added time (due to Almunia's injury), the defending champions couldn't find the equalizer while Arsenal, instead of keeping the ball in the corner, naively went on looking for a third.
In the end, my only disappointment in Sir Alex's side (apart from the lack of opportunism) was the assignment of Gary Neville as the right-back starter instead of Rafael. As soon as the latter came in, you could tell that there was more life on that right-hand side. Furthermore, Nasri had no trouble dancing rings around Neville during the first half. Rafael probably would've gotten beaten too on a couple of times, but he could also have put in some well-timed tackles – something that Neville didn't do too much. So, Arsenal won but I'm still not convinced about their performance. Nasri was their best player by far. Fabregas wasn't his usual precise self, and Bendtner is simply a poor man's version of Adebayor, missing several chances in the first half. I'll wait until the Gunners put up some sort of winning streak before saying that they're going to be fine.
Arsenal's line-up: Manuel Almunia (Lukas Fabianski, 77th); Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, Gael Clichy; Theo Walcott (Alexandre Song, 77th), Denilson, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Abou Diaby (Kolo Toure, 85th); Nicklas Bendtner.
Manchester United's line-up: Edwin Van der Sar; Gary Neville (Rafael, 63rd), Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra; Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick, Anderson (Ryan Giggs, 71st), Park Ji-Sung; Wayne Rooney (Carlos Tevez, 76th), Dimitar Berbatov.
Blackburn Rovers – Chelsea: 0-2
Once again, it was The Anelka Show for Chelsea's twelfth match of the season. The French striker scored two goals (38th, 67th) to provide the win to the Blues, consequently putting them back atop of the table. Blackburn often came close to scoring but Petr held down the fort with great aplomb.
Chelsea's line-up: Petr Cech; Jose Bosingwa, Alex, John Terry, Wayne Bridge; Deco (Paulo Ferreira, 91st), John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard; Salomon Kalou (Juliano Belletti, 61st), Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda.
Sir Alex Ferguson has to be cursing his team's missed opportunities after Saturday's match against the struggling Gunners. Twice now Manchester United has allowed their opponents to stay in the game simply because they couldn't capitalize on their opportunities. The Red Devils got two clear scoring chances in the first twenty minutes of game including a disallowed goal on which Berbatov was ruled offside (again!), and a missed shot by Rooney who had scored on a similar play on month ago. Consequently, Arsenal were the first to score when Samir Nasri fired a rocket past Van der Sar. The Gunners still weren't safe after that goal as United repeatedly assaulted Almunia's net without any success.
Although the Red Devils ended the first half on a high, their vivacity was dampened when Nasri scored his second of the day two minutes after the break with a superb strike that left no chance to Van der Sar. One minute later, Cristiano Ronaldo had United's first goal on the side of his boot, but his tap-in went inches wide of Almunia's post. Surprisingly, it was youngster Rafael who reduced the score to 2-1 with a superbly struck volley. Despite six minutes of added time (due to Almunia's injury), the defending champions couldn't find the equalizer while Arsenal, instead of keeping the ball in the corner, naively went on looking for a third.
In the end, my only disappointment in Sir Alex's side (apart from the lack of opportunism) was the assignment of Gary Neville as the right-back starter instead of Rafael. As soon as the latter came in, you could tell that there was more life on that right-hand side. Furthermore, Nasri had no trouble dancing rings around Neville during the first half. Rafael probably would've gotten beaten too on a couple of times, but he could also have put in some well-timed tackles – something that Neville didn't do too much. So, Arsenal won but I'm still not convinced about their performance. Nasri was their best player by far. Fabregas wasn't his usual precise self, and Bendtner is simply a poor man's version of Adebayor, missing several chances in the first half. I'll wait until the Gunners put up some sort of winning streak before saying that they're going to be fine.
Arsenal's line-up: Manuel Almunia (Lukas Fabianski, 77th); Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, Gael Clichy; Theo Walcott (Alexandre Song, 77th), Denilson, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Abou Diaby (Kolo Toure, 85th); Nicklas Bendtner.
Manchester United's line-up: Edwin Van der Sar; Gary Neville (Rafael, 63rd), Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra; Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick, Anderson (Ryan Giggs, 71st), Park Ji-Sung; Wayne Rooney (Carlos Tevez, 76th), Dimitar Berbatov.
Blackburn Rovers – Chelsea: 0-2
Once again, it was The Anelka Show for Chelsea's twelfth match of the season. The French striker scored two goals (38th, 67th) to provide the win to the Blues, consequently putting them back atop of the table. Blackburn often came close to scoring but Petr held down the fort with great aplomb.
Chelsea's line-up: Petr Cech; Jose Bosingwa, Alex, John Terry, Wayne Bridge; Deco (Paulo Ferreira, 91st), John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard; Salomon Kalou (Juliano Belletti, 61st), Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda.
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