Champions League: Arsenal vs. Partizan Beograd - Arsenal stumble past impressive Partizan (Part 3)
In the start of the second half however, Arsenal seemed to be a completely different side. The team was looking more focused and seemed to have a better sense of direction and it was clearly evident of the fact that Wenger had a word or two with his team
during the break.
Four minutes into the restart Arsenal had their first real chance of the half, Denilson played in Arshavin down the left side, but the Russian’s cross was cleared by the Partizan back line. The ball looped up and fell into the path of Nasri, who should have
just placed his shot into the far post, but the midfielder went for power and as a result his shot was well wide of the mark.
Arsenal were currently averaging around 3.7 goals per game and had not failed to score more than one goal in the last seven appearances in the Champions League at the Emirates. With the way things were going Arsenal’s way Partizan managed to score their
first goal of the current Champions League season from open play.
Cleo, after receiving the ball from Moreira managed to create space on the edge of the box and then went on to unleash a shot on target. His effort took a wicked deflection off of Squillaci and managed to side foot Fabianski on its way into the back of the
goal.
With Arsenal successfully, failing to kill off the game once again, Wegner thought it was time for a change. He took off Arshavin and brought on Theo Walcott as a replacement.
The substitution seemed to be the extra something that Arsenal needed to get their game back on track. Almost immediately after Walcott’s inclusion in the game, Arsenal went on to create two beautiful chances.
With Arsenal looking to be back to their deadly best, it was only a moments wait before they managed to get another goal on the score sheet.
Sagna, whipped in a cross on the seventy fourth minute, that was deflected by a Partizan defender straight into the path of Walcott. Walcott went on to chest the ball down away from his body and then whipped it into the far post with power to give Arsenal
the lead once again.
Wenger then went on to bring on Nicklas Bendtner to replace Chamakh, who seemed to be getting rather tired on the pitch. This second substitution also seemed to be the work of genius as it helped produce another goal for Arsenal.
Alexandre Song got the ball down the middle and then used his surprisingly quick feet to get past two players. He then squared the ball to Nasri in a very congested area and with the player looking to play the return ball, he opted to do a fakie and turn
around smash the ball into the bottom far post. As a result Arsenal were now leading on the night by a score line of three goals to one.
The match now being comfortably in Arsenal’s favour, all the team had to do, was that what they do best and that was to retain possession and run the clock out.
Arsenal were doing a rather good job at that, but on the thirty eighth minute, Lazevski ended up breaking ahead of the Arsenal defence. Sagna was the fastest to reach the player and managed to bring him down. The referee however thought that the tackle was
an illegal one and didn’t hesitate before giving the right back a red card for his troubles. As a result it is now guaranteed that Sagna will miss Arsenal’s next game in the Champions League.
However after all the confusion a ten man Arsenal managed to hold on for the remaining seven minutes and were now into the knock out stages of the Champions League.
Continued in Part 4....
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