Shocked / Bolt out of the Blue

Bolton 2 — 3 Arsenal. Image: bbc.co.uk

Situation: We were 2—0 down to our bogey team Bolton where we have not won in 6 years, without a win in our last 5 games, playing away from home on a rain drenched pitch, with a half hour to go and reduced to ten men.

From there we hit three after Wenger changed formation, – Gallas, Van Persie (pen) and a last minute deflected goal by Cesc. Wenger calls it our best come-back in recent memory, that aside, Adebayor stuck to his miserable first touch and I fear for our limp strike force as we enter a triple-header with Liverpool in the Champions League and the Permiership in the coming 7 days.

Numb / Out of the title race now

One horrible night of football. Manchester United, true to their grit, held Liverpool off to thump them 3–0 in the end. And Arsenal, went one up against Chelsea, then crumbled again, to prove the doubters right — it is too early for this team after all. And till we get someone we can call a striker, we might always be that something short of being champions of England. The title race is still alive they say, but it is up to Chelsea to challenge for it.

Harrowed / 4 Straight League Draw

Arsenal huffed and puffed. Borough just sat behind the ball and prayed hard. We have just dropped 8 straight points — pathetic. Now Man United have a game in hand level on points with us. Ronaldo scored, yet again, late in the second half to kill off a gritty Derby performance.

Shocked / The results this weekend

FA Cup Quarter Finals

MANCHESTER UNITED 0 – 1 PORTSMOUTH

United were talking treble the the past month, ended up having Ferdinand in goal to face Muntari's penalty with only 12 minutes left on the clock. Kuszczak had earlier replaced Van der Sar at half-time, and was sent off for the challenge on Baros that led to the penalty.

BARNSLEY 1 – 0 CHELSEA

The story of the night. In the previous round they had put Liverpool out, so Chelsea had been forewarned. Even so no one could have given them a chance in hell against a full strength blues squad. In the end all it took was a 66th minute header off a great cross from the right.

MIDDLESBOROUGH 0 – 2 CARDIFF

Cardiff went two up by the 23rd minute and held on to knock yet another Premiership team out. But their agony is that even if they win the cup, the English FA will not send them to the UEFA Cup, since they are a Welsh side.

BRISTOL ROVERS 1 – 5 WEST BROM

Delighted / AC Milan 0 – 2 Arsenal FC

It was an incredible night. The mighty, and very old, AC Milan wall held on for dear life as we played like a team released. Inspirational Cesc put the game beyond them with his 84th minute strike from 30 yards out. That meant Milan needed two to overcome the away goal advantage and they were to be caught out again by the speed of young Walcott tearing down the right to feed Adebayor in the final minute. What a fantastic match, what a fantastic result!

The sight of Fabregas running wild after scoring and into the arms of Arsene Wenger was the moment of the night for me.
Image: Telegrapg.co.uk + Reuters

Delighted / To Get My Arms Around Her

The Premiere League Trophy made its way to Bombay today and it felt wonderful to stand before it, let alone get photographed like that! Then I met the charming old sports reporter, Mr Bharucha, who has been writing for decades for our local newspaper. He said he was a Gunner too, so we had to take this picture.

Arsenal looked woeful against Villa the same evening. The draw we just about managed thanks to a Bendtner jab deep into added time, minutes before I wrote this, was more than I thought we'd get in the end.