Five Games return to haunt Arsenal – Part 2
Article Continued from Part 1 of the article.
Sunderland versus Arsenal, Stadium of Light, September 2010
The Gunners faltered early in their quest for a Premier League title when they drew away to Sunderland. This match was also a preview into the numerous faults that have plagued the Arsenal team throughout this entire campaign and the inability
to close out games, lack of decisiveness and key injuries.
The game started as most of the Arsenal games start, at full throttle. Arsenal was on the giving end of a freakish goal this time. When a careless http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Anton-Ferdinand-c6260 tried to clear the ball in haste, it caught the boot of an onrushing Arsenal captain and the
ball was deflected a good 40 yards back towards goal, over a standing keeper and into the back of the net. The end had started.
The force of the kick from Ferdinand might have been too much to handle as Fabregas was taken off with a hamstring injury and faced a long spell out on the sidelines. Numerous times we have seen the Arsenal attack fall flat during the injury lay-offs of
Fabregas.
The Arsenal attack from there onwards looked out of sync without their mid-field maestro. The dominance was slowly dissolving and the fragilities were being opened up by the resilient Sunderland attack surfing atop the momentum tide. The latter part of the
first half and for most of the second, Sunderland looked the team likely to score.
It all seemed to end when Nasri was fouled inside the box to gift Arsenal with a scoring opportunity to kill the game off. Chamakh and Nasri both seemed reluctant to take the spot kick and on stepped Rosicky to the plate. He hadn’t scored for the Gunners
in over a year and he was not going to score tonight also. He blasted the ball over the cross-bar and Arsenal was again left to protect the slender advantage.
The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 defence held out deep into injury time and it looked as if 3 points were certain. A Sunderland player whipped in a cross past the allotted 4 minutes of stoppages and Clichy’s clearance struck Koscielny, placing the deflected ball directly into
the path of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Darren-Bent-c10358 who accepted the gift and poked the ball into the net from no more than six yards.
The match ended as it started, both teams levelled at one goal apiece. Arsenal was disappointed to have leaked in a goal and was left to rue over their chances. Another opportunity missed and another 2 points dropped.
Arsenal versus Sunderland, Emirates Stadium, March 2011
Arsenal has also been extremely short-handed when it comes to luck in crucial moments. If you tend to notice, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 has an amazing luck when it comes to this. Whether it is the refereeing blunders, goals leaking in after the end of stoppages or the trademark
defensive howlers, Arsenal seems to be on the wrong end of the stick in every crucial game and at every crucial moment.
One cannot deny that Arsenal have been extremely unfortunate on numerous occasions.
Article Continued In Part 3 of Five Games return to haunt Arsenal
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