Arsenal Come Through Blackburn Test

Blackburn 1 Arsenal 2

So it wasn't as comfortable as my first impressions might have suggested but Arsenal battled through a competitive encounter at Ewood Park to take top spot in the Premier League. Andrey Arshavin's sweet finish early in the second half was enough to secure the win.

The first half was particularly tough with Blackburn arguably walking down the tunnel at half-time on top. They gave everything in the first 45 minutes to try and disrupt Arsenal and it worked. Blackburn and particularly Samba seriously threatened from set-pieces culminating in Fabregas clearing a Ryan Nelson header off the line. But we were also dangerous and were unlucky not to take the lead when Diaby's goal-bound shot deflected off of a Blackburn defender and Robinson's shin and was then cleared. We took the lead on 20 minutes. Van Persie slipped a lovely ball into Walcott on the inside-right and he made no mistake as he buried a low shot across Paul Robinson that nestled in the bottom, left-hand corner.

Then, a disastrous six-minute period around the half-hour mark saw us lose the lead and the talismatic Van Persie. The goal came first as Christopher Samba came storming out of defence to slip a ball down the left wing to El-Hadji Diouf. Koscielny came across to cover but was completely out-muscled by Diouf who then squared to his namesake, and Man United loanee, Mame Biram Diouf to tuck home. This was followed by Van Persie limping off after earlier sustaining a knock in a challenge with Phil Jones. Arsene Wenger explained after the match that it appeared to be a twisted ankle and if it was, he would be out for 10 days. The international break couldn't come at a more advantageous time for us.

Chamakh came on and took up the task of marking Samba when he came forward for corners and throw-ins. I have to say I was very impressed with how effectively he dealt with him. Everytime a ball came into the box, Chamakh simply grappled with Samba, not allowing him to jump, which made it much easier for everyone else to clear the ball.

The second half seemed to breeze by once we grabbed the goal five minutes in. And what a lovely goal it was. Some neat build-up play released Sagna down the wing. He cut the ball back to Fabregas who blasted the ball off of Walcott. It broke to Arshavin, he made no mistake.

As the game progressed, Blackburn tired and Arsenal took control. A David Dunn shot that Almunia gathered is the only chance I can remember for the home side in the second period. Sam Allardyce's side did launch a few balls into the box towards the end but we just about managed to deal with them. Wilshere, a 82nd minute substitute for Arshavin, did have a wonderful opportunity to add a third in injury time but he lost his footing at the crucial time.

Overall I'm satisfied with the three points. We battled hard and always looked threatening despite losing Van Persie after half an hour. My one concern was how we struggled at times to clear out lines. We had a bit of luck defending some of the set-pieces but every team needs that at Ewood Park. I think that as we approach the international break we can be very satisfied with our haul from our three games and in the transfer market. Walcott was brilliant again and Almunia had a decent game in goals too. Hopefully the international break won't disturb us to much and we can continue on where we left off when the players return.

In other news we go to White Hart Lane in the third round of the Carling Cup so hopefully the young lads can give a better account of themselves than the last team we sent there in the tournament.