Phew. Enjoy that much? Least it’s interesting when we aren’t playing well when we keep it level until after the 90th minute. Is it too much to say that the victory over Hull yesterday won us the league? Maybe. Maybe.

What’s true though is that Champions win those matches, when you are tired, and the terrible playing surface makes your legs feel even heavier than they do already. Champions score in the 93rd minute because they keep going until the final whistle. No exception. We’ve scored five goals in injury time in the last four matches. That isn’t luck. That’s not willing to settle for less than three points, no matter how cheated you have been in the 90 which have gone before.

Hull got away with murder. Fagan and Mendy had around 10 fouls between them alone in the first half without so much as a sniff off a yellow.

The ‘Sol Campbell should have had a red card debate’ is a complete non starter because the Hull player was offside to begin with and so no penalty should have been given in the first place. Never mind that he flung himself to the ground when he realised the ball was running through to Almunia. Not that you’ll hear that version of things.

But let’s not be having facts get in the way, let’s have a discussion about why Sol wasn’t sent off. Let’s feel sorry for poor, poor Hull who worked so hard kicking Arsenal for 90 minutes, but couldn’t do it til the end of the match. Let’s focus on a perfectly legitimate tackle by Sol which won the ball, his standing leg slipped, and he carried on in to the man in no malicious or dangerous way. Let’s not ask Brown about Boateng poking Nik in the eye, or his leg-breaking, knee-high, horror tackle. Let’s not mention that the penalty was offside.

How lucky were Arsenal? The diving, cheating thugs!

Boateng should have had two straight reds, his tackle on Sagna was a leg breaker as I’ve said. It was reckless, and, I might even posture malicious. But no doubt he is not that kind of player. Certainly not the kind to poke Nik in the eye beforehand, somehow seeing them BOTH getting booked. Is that a new FIFA directive? The person assaulted shall also get booked, even though the person assaulting should get a red? Boateng has been sent off seven times in his career, three of those times against us, and he should have got two straight reds yesterday. He very clearly IS that kind of player.

Please excuse the quality of the images, I tried everywhere to find a proper image of both incidents, but had to revert to capturing them from video. In the second, can you even see the ball? That’s how late he was. How high he was speaks for itself.

Match of the Day chose not to replay ANY of Boateng’s red card offences, yet talked over Sol’s tackle even when they all agreed it was a perfectly good and fair tackle. Let’s get this straight, Boateng’s tackle was an absolute disgrace, a true horror tackle. Why they thought a red card, a poke in the eye, and that tackle didn’t warrant a replay I will never know.

He now gets a one game ban when it should be three. For either of the red cards he should have got but didn’t.

Mariner was an absolute disgrace, as was the linesman in our half, no matter what the half. There was many an offside both missed, so much so that the travelling Gooners cheered when we finally got one. The most important one he missed, of course, resulted in the above ‘penalty.’ He never clamped down on Hull’s fouling. Yet again the stats will show that we got almost as many yellows as they did for a fraction of the fouls (just checked the stats, how the hell did we only concede six less free kicks than Hull? – oh yeah, Mariner).

There was also a clear foul on Clichy in the box, the type which Rooney and all English players regularly get. He got nothing.

In the chat room, the doubts crept in around the 70th minute. I said it would be ok, even said ‘who fancies a 93rd minute winner’ (you can check if you like) but thoughts of matches from last season came flooding back for everyone in the room and most thought it was just gonna be one of ‘those’ games. But I’ve been trying to tell you all season that this isn’t one of ‘those’ seasons. Will you listen now? I was having a psychic day, because at 12.30pm, in a text discussion about Nik I texted that ‘Nik always scores when it really matters.’

My how he did that yesterday. I’ll take him missing 50 chances per match (though I wish he wouldn’t) if he always scores when it’s really needed. Wouldn’t you?

Arsenal finished the game with 63% possession, not surprising as it was a) against Hull and b) they only had 10 men, but Hull cannot feel hard done by. And as Arsenal fans, we shouldn’t forget that this is only the fourth game Hull have lost at home this season. We scored our 100th and 101st goals of the season, and no other teams has ever scored as many goals as we have by this stage of a league campaign (80).

Where last week Man United were lauded for keeping plugging away in the manner of Champions to finally break down Wolves, Bendnter ‘saved our blushes.’ The double standards in the way things are reported irks me. Have I mentioned it?

Phil Brown actually said he hoped Arsenal go on and win the title post-match. What was that about? He was obviously insane because he said Campbell should have been sent off twice and, yep, you guessed it, Boateng isn’t that kind of player.

Five down, eight to go. Almost half way there.

So how did the players do themselves?

Almunia had a quiet day, but looked more assured than what we’ve come to expect with what little he had to do.

Sagna started sloppily but got going as the first half wore on. Was lucky not to have his leg broken by Boateng.

Campbell had a bit of a mare to be honest. After being booked (wrongly) for giving away the penalty that should never have been, he was lucky not to get a second yellow for a deliberate handball on the edge of our box which Mariner and his linesman failed to see. His ‘tackle’ was fair and warrants no further discussion.

Vermaelen was Vermaelen and really stepped up to the extra responsibility which comes with playing alongside an aging centre half. Flung himself at absolutely everything.

Clichy played well and should have had a penalty in the first half. There are reports that he was booked for diving, which just adds to the catalogue of disgraceful decisions made by Mariner. Getting back to his imperious best with every passing match.

Denilson. What can you say? To be honest, apart from his shot in the 93rd minute which Myhill parried, he was the invisible man. On two occasions I actually forgot he was playing. That all being said, his shot was probably the second most important thing to happen yesterday, so how do you quantify that?

Diaby played well, even if he wasn’t as imposing as he has been.

Nasri was tired and nowhere near as effective as he was against Porto. That being said he worked hard, but it was clear he wasn’t 100%.

Eboue was also quiet, something most of the players suffered from today, but he still made a few trademark surges to the by-line. How he was taken off and Denilson was left on is beyond me. But Arsene knows best.

Nik was Nik. He missed the easy ones and popped up to score when it was most needed. You don’t get much more vital than 93rd minute with league title hopes hanging by a thread. He looked sluggish as well and, like the rest of the team, will benefit from a week without a match.

Arshavin started the liveliest of all the players and was rewarded with a goal in the 12th minute. from then on he did what he does best, drift in and out of the match. Missed an absolute sitter, which was almost a carbon-copy of his miss last weekend.

Subs

Theo came on for Eboue and made an instant impact. While his final ball was often lacking, his direct style and pace causes Hull problems and helped unsettle them.

Eduardo came on from Nasri and seemed to play deeper as well. Didn’t see much of the ball but was efficient when he did.

We didn’t make a third substitution cause we had no players left.

To summarise, 90 minutes of poor football, six minutes added time, and a late winner … This must be how Man U fans feel every week. For all those moaning that we were lucky, just remember that our luck quota seems to increase the harder we work, and all that is in a climate of referees that obviously hate us. The fact that we were crowing over how good the ref for the Porto match was a real eye opener. We got to see what it was like to get a fair official.

All last season, all we heard is ‘pretty football wins you nothing’ and ‘it doesn’t matter how good your football is if you can’t win matches’ well we won this one, It was ugly, it was dull, we were poor and they were only there to foul, foul, foul, and dive occasionally. We ground out yet another result when we would have definitely only drawn or even lost last season. I don’t care about losing to Man U and Chelsea, that can be explained, but it always pissed me off when we went to places like Hull and Stoke and struggled to get a result. Not anymore. They are the places where Arsenal are winning the league this season while United and Chelsea struggle.

Side note – If Hull could muster a quarter of that spirit and effort, they’d be sitting mid-table with out a relegation care in the world.

Our first was only our second goal in the first 15 of a league match this season. The last one was at Burnley and that finished 1-1. I’m starting to dislike scoring in the first 15 in league matches and would be obliged if they could stop it please and thank you very much.

The generation behind the next generation at Arsenal (ie the U18′s) won 4-0 to go 11 clear in their league, while the JET scored what is being called goal of the season for Doncaster. Couldn’t find video of it, sorry.

The future is Arsenal, of that there is no doubt.

There’s a superb interview with Wenger here, before the Hull match. No other manager on the planet would ever give an interview this articulate, cultured and full of pure, unadulterated class. I will leave you to read the article in its entirety, save for the following quote for any of those people doubting that Arsenal is Arsene’s club now as much as it always been. When asked if he found it odd that his name was so similar to Arsenal

“You could call it coincidence, I prefer to believe in fate.”

Many don’t believe in fate, but you look at how this season has gone, it’s sometimes hard not to.

Even just a little bit.

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2. Arsenal only nine wins away from being Champions
3. Arsenal show they have what it takes to be Champions, bring on Barcelona…
4. FC Twente clinch Dutch title…
5. Man U and Tottenham – the teams that just keep on giving (to Arsenal)…

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