Fortunately though, a friend of mine who goes by the name Alan Goat on the blog did see the game and filled me in. AG, a female fan and a very new fan at that, is still learning about the game but made a host of comments about the match which I have compiled below.

My thoughts are that a win and a clean sheet was the best result possible even if the performance was far from perfect. It’s a good way to end 2009 and I still don’t feel we’re right out of the title race yet. However, as I said after the Villa game, the manager needs to make a couple of signings and without them will will be battling for fourth.

Thoughts?

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Our boys were were dominated all over the park in the opening 40 minutes of this game but somehow went into the break with the lead. Villa hit the frame of the goal three times in the opening half and also had a shot spectacularly cleared off the line by Bacary Sagna before Denilson pounced to open the scoring.

Then, astonishingly, we extended our lead shortly after the break. Abou Diaby broke clear with some lovely skill before combining with Emmanuel Eboue and lifting the ball over the Villa keeper. 2-0 and you wouldn’t have believed it. Arsene Wenger’s men could have even extended their lead when Robin van Persie hit the post but Aston Villa came fighting back with great intensity.

Villa then pulled one back from the penalty spot through Gareth Barry after William Gallas clumsily brought down Gabriel Agbonlahor. It was a poor challenge given the wide angle that Agbonlahor had and the fact that Kolo Toure and Mikael Silvestre were both providing cover in the centre. Gallas looked distraught after the decision but he only had himself to blame.

The final half-hour of the game was thrilling. We had a couple of half-chances but in the end Villa’s pressure paid off and they managed an equaliser in stoppage time. They whipped a cross into the area which was flicked on and Zat Knight smashed an unstoppable shot to Manuel Almunia’s left.

So 2-2 it ended and another frustrating result for Arsenal. On one hand they could easily have lost but the inability of Wenger’s boys to shut the game out at 2-0 was almost infuriating. That the critical mistake came from our most experienced player just added insult to injury.

Positives to take out of this game is that we still remain just three points off Villa as opposed to the six we would have trailed by had we lost the match. I thought Sagna was superb today while Aaron Ramsey showed what he can add to the side in the middle. He displayed real bite in the challenge after coming on for Song and his game was best characterised by an 80-metre track-back he made after losing the ball late on. Great signs for the future for him.

Negatives were two more injuries (Johan Djourou and Alex Song) and team’s inability to fail to hold onto a lead yet again. This is the third game running that we’ve taken the lead and failed to take maximum points and it suggests that the notion that our young side play with more confidence when they’re up may be incorrect. Wenger has some work to do in this area.

In summary though this was just another example of the frustrating side that Arsenal are at the moment. I’m not going to concede the title at this stage but I stand firm in the belief that changes must be made in January or there will continue to be more performances like this one.

What do you think?

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Two goals of supreme quality and a horrendous sending-off decision were the key moments in a rough-and-tumble encounter at the Emirates. Robin van Persie and Robbie Keane traded blows in the first half before Emmanuel Adebayor was given his marching orders midway through the second after collecting two yellows. To say the sending-off was harsh is an understatement but I’ll go into that a little bit later.

The Arsenal starting side was a rather predictable one. There was only one change from the team that drew with Middlesbrough a week ago as Samir Nasri returned on the left at the expense of Abou Diaby. The side had a really strong feel to it with William Gallas and Johan Djourou continuing their tight partership at the back and Adebayor and van Persie looking a dangerous combination up front.

As is usual in most ‘big four’ clashes the game got off to a rather tentative start. Neither side settled better despite Manuel Almunia and Pepe Reina being forced into saves from Steven Gerrard and Adebayor in the opening quarter of an hour. However, the game exploded into life when van Persie rattled home a classy opener.

Nasri opened up the Liverpol defence with an excellent long ball as van Persie took two sublime touches to control and move away from Jamie Carragher before crashing the ball home with his ‘chocolate leg’. It was football of the highest quality and given the extreme importance of the game can be considered one of the best goals of the season and another example of van Persie’s ability to make the difference when we need it most.

After going up we seemed to settle quite well. Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song got on top in the middle and Nasri and particularly Adebayor kept the Liverpool defence busy with their busy movement. Liverpool’s main players Gerrard and Robbie Keane were relatively quiet and our defence was looking quite solid.

But just before half-timewe conceded. Daniel Agger’s long punt forward caught out Djourou and Keane capitalised with a smashing half-volley. It was harsh on Djourou and Gallas, who had performed quite well, but the pair switched off for just a fraction of a second and were punished for it. Hopefully a lesson learnt, although the second goal conceded against Aston Villa suggests it’s likely to happen again.

Shortly after equalising Liverpool should have gone ahead. Dirk Kuijt robbed Gael Clichy on the edge of the area and fed the previously quiet Gerrard but fired wide with the goal gaping. Then Almunia saved well from a decent shot from Kuijt before Fabregas went down injured after a hard but fair challenge by Xabi Alonso. It was the last action of the half and, crucially, forced our captain off.

Fabregas was replaced by Diaby at the half which caused a bit of a reshuffle in the midfield. Denilson joined Song in the middle with Nasri moving to the right and Diaby playing on the left. It was always going to be a challenge keeping Liverpool at bay without our captain and for the first 15 or so minutes of the second half they played their best football. However, they only forced Almunia into one good save before the pivotal moment of the match occurred.

Adebayor, who had looked lively despite being harshly in the first half, was given a second yellow card after a clash with Alvaro Arbeloa. The word from Adebayor after the match was that he was booked for his high foot but anyone who saw the footage will know how ridiculous this decision was. Adebayor showed no intent and made absolutely no contact and the fact that he was sent off was a farce.

With only ten men we played our best football, which was both encouraging and infuriating. Encouraging because it still felt like we could win the game and infuriating because we were displaying the sort of pass-and-move game that the boys should have been executing with Adebayor on the pitch.

Despite a wonderful final half-hour by Song and van Persie and some really stoic defending our threat started to fizzle out. Nasri and van Persie had a couple of half-chances but the real surprise in the final third of the game was just how poor Liverpool was. We were there for the taking, devoid of our captain and down a man and they just didn’t seem to know what to do.

People keep saying that Liverpool are genuine title contenders but I think their fans will look at their performance in the final half-hour against us and realise that title contenders don’t usually play with the sort of tentativeness they displayed. I’m sure Chelsea and Manchester United will be licking their lips.

Liverpool did have a couple of late chances but it ended 1-1, a fair result in my opinion. This was more of a point gained than two points lost given the circumstances but I’m sure there are a lot of Arsenal supporters out there who are like me, disappointed that we were robbed of a really good chance to beat Liverpool by a frankly shocking refereeing decision.

In terms of performances I thought Song and Denilson did well over the 90 minutes, as did Bacary Sagna and van Persie. Nasri showed his quality with a lovely pass for van Persie’s goal while Djourou and Gallas continued to show the sort of solidity at the back that will be required to stay in the title race as the season goes on.

My final thoughts on this game is that it was a missed opportunity. We remain 8 points off the top but this a game that we really could have won had Adebayor stayed on. Regardless, it is another step forward for the team and good result under the circumstances. Next up is Aston Villa on Boxing Day and the boys should feel reasonably good going into the clash despite the losses of Fabregas and (most likely) Adebayor.

An interesting week awaits.

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Reading some of the reviews of the game floating around the blogosphere you’d think Arsenal were a shambles at The Riverside. My view of proceedings was a little different. I thought we played well enough to beat Middlesbrough and were rather unfortunate to come away without the points.

Their goal was jammy, make no mistake, and any blame attached to either Gael Clichy, Alex Song or William Gallas is incorrect. It was just one of those goals that happens in football and we had plenty of time to recover. I thought we did so admirably, generally working hard all over the park and having clear chances to win it through Robin van Persie and late sub Nicklas Bendtner. But it wasn’t to be as Middlesbrough stood firm and held on for a draw.

On the whole I think the team as a whole should be commended for their efforts, with only Abou Diaby, van Persie and Arsene Wenger deserving of criticism. Diaby put in an awful shift, ambling around in a manner that can only be viewed as lazy and nonchalant while van Persie had one of those games where he just couldn’t get involved. At times he and Emmanuel Adebayor - who had a strong match - looked miles apart on the pitch and that is not what you need from your strikers.

As for the manager, I thought he could have done better. Choosing to play Denilson on the right is OK when we have a genuine winger on the left but with Diaby in that position our midfield was far too narrow. People will point to our injuries as a reason for Denilson’s presence in the starting side but I really think Wenger would have been better served to plump for Emmanuel Eboue.

The other gripe I had with the manager was the delay in bringing on Bendtner and the failure to throw either or both of Aaron Ramsey and Carlos Vela into the fray. If Wenger thinks the league can be won with youngsters then he should have given two of them a chance to make an impact, particularly given the performances of Diaby and van Persie.

Aside from those negatives I really think we played well enough against Middlesbrough. It was a shame that we couldn’t get the win to make up ground on our rivals who all dropped points on a strange weekend. It very much feels to me like we’ve dodged a bullet and when you consider that we lost at this ground last season and have now picked up 7 points since the 3-0 loss to Manchester City things are really not as bad as many people are making out.

Positives from the match were the overall defensive performance, Adebayor’s tireless display and a reasonably creative effort by the captain. There’s no doubt in my mind that a Sagna-Gallas-Djourou-Clichy combination is now our best back four and if that quartet can stay settled then our defensive record will steadily improve. Adebayor showed why he remains our squad’s most important striker while Fabregas played some really nice passes despite being caught in possession just a little more often than he’d like.

So to summarise this match, although it was disappointing to miss out on the chance to climb closer to the top things certainly aren’t as bad as they’re being made out to be. A win over Liverpool next weekend - a distinct possibility given the results against Manchester United and Chelsea - would see us edge even closer to a major rival and provide yet another chance for some momentum to be established.

Thoughts?

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To be completely honest I didn’t get to watch the 2-0 defeat to Porto. But the word from the manager, the stand-in captain and those of you who commented on yesterday’s blog was that we were pretty ordinary. A draw was all that was required to grab top spot in the group but it proved too difficult task as our significantly under-strength side succumbed to a first-half header from Bruno Alves and a second-half thumper from Lisandro Lopez.

I can’t really be bothered going into the game because at the end of the day the result nor the performance really doesn’t matter too much. Finishing second in the group means we’ll now play one of Roma, Panathinaikos, Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Juventus. Had we finished top we could have faces Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon, Atletico Madrid, Villareal, Lyon or Real Madrid and there’s really no difference in quality there in my opinion.

What is important is getting the win over Middlesbrough on Saturday and I think that by resting the first-teamers Wenger has given his team the best opportunity possible to do that. Players like Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas should be well rested and as a result should be expected to put in energetic and effective performances in on Saturday. And if they do so we’ll be well on our way to getting another valuable three points.

Aside from the Porto match that there’s really not a lot going on today so I’ll leave it there. Have a lovely Thursday and I’ll speak to you tomorrow.

Cheers.

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