The week began off the back of what was quite possibly the worst period I have ever endured as an Arsenal fan; a Man.Utd drubbing, red cards, injuries and a own goal ridden loss to an (effectively) manager-less Blackburn.
Up first was the young guns in the Carling Cup clash against Shrewsbury. Reduced to Arsenal Player live commentary after my fruitless attempt to find a live stream, I was confident a moral boosting demolition job was on the cards. However, with 45 minutes gone I was slightly relieved I didn't have to endure watching obscure footballers dancing with joy as Shrewsbury found themselves one up. United's legion of London based "supporters" had already bombarded me with abusive texts. Surely we wouldn't hit absolute rock bottom? The answer was thankfully no. The only thing we hit in the second half was the back of the net- the pick of the bunch being this Chamberlain screamer. Happy days.
The Premier League is a whole kettle of fish though and come Saturday I couldn't help but feel slightly pessimistic. Even against another team who were completely out of form, deep down I sensed another poor performance ending in a scrappy 1-1 draw. 45 minutes in, it looked to be the most likely result. However, in a week in which both matches were (here comes another cliché) a game of two half's, we turned it around spectacularly.
It was the performance Wenger dreamt about and deserved from his under-performing stars (who have caused unbelievable amounts of pressure on Le Professeur). Van Persie was brilliant, the defence were solid and Rasmsey was pulling the strings like a seasoned Premier League star as we blew away all Bolton resistance.
To make it better, Van Persie cemented his place in the Arsenal history books with his 99 & 100th goal for the club. It presents an amazing turn around for the Arsenal skipper. It's hard to imagine he's the same player as that hugely talented, but highly temperamental youngster that was stupidly sent off (and subsequently dropped afterwards) against Southampton in 2005. Who knows, if injuries hadn't plagued so much of his career he could of been celebrating goal 150 today. Hats off to one of the few remaining genuine world stars in our side.
However, this excellent win will count for nothing substantial unless we can build on it. Next week is another big one for Arsenal, and nothing less than a win against Olympiakos and point against the yids will do. Lets just hope it wasn't just a false dawn for our season. Come on Arsenal!
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