By Boris Mellor
January 14 2007

On twelve minutes I thought the curse of PPV (Piss Poor Viewing) had struck. It was raining, windy and Savage was his usual ……. self, fill in your own favourite word to describe him.

 Gilberto fouled and hacked at by Savage, rather stupidly kicked out and Robbie went down as if shot by a sniper. Gilberto might have brushed his shin at the worst, but that was enough to get him sent off and he is now due to miss three matches. I groaned thinking that we are just doomed to bad luck on these PPV away days. It had all gone pear shaped. What chance of winning with ten men?

But it was not the case, of course Savage only got a yellow, but at least he had roused the Arsenal team. As Henry said, after the game, it lifted the team and made them even more committed.

What amazed me was how well Arsenal played and how poor Blackburn were. It was Arsenal that played all the imaginative football, nor did they particularly exhaust themselves. The defence handled everything thrown at it, and the midfield was tremendous. The ability of the midfield, plus the pace of Henry and van Persie kept Blackburn terrified of counterattack. All this in teeming rain, and a foul crosswind; and at the centre of it all was Fabregas, the grand master orchestrating the whole of the Arsenal game. Meanwhile Savage had to watch his step as he knew the referee would level it out if he did anything else out of order. Indeed he looked increasingly toothless as the game progressed.

Nine minutes before half time Arsenal won a free kick a long way out, the sort of free kick they usually waste, the sort of free kick Thierry leaves to the journeymen, but Henry delivered a ball that found Toure’s head as efficiently as a heat seeking missile. Toure’s header was powerful and the near post helped it in. Arsenal went off at half time looking very comfortable indeed. Could Arsenal keep the lead? Hughes thought he could exploit the one-man deficit by bringing on Tugay and Nonda and going three up front, but to no avail.

Blackburn did make more chances in the second half, but they were incapable of benefiting from them, plus the Arsenal defence put up a fierce resistance. Indeed the second goal was a Wengaball classic that resulted from defending under pressure. With twenty minutes left Blackburn had a free kick deep into Arsenal’s half, the ball was cleared to Fabregas, who was also very deep. Cesc found Henry who ran the wing at pace, passing back to the young Spaniard who then delivered a slide rule pass to Henry who controlled the pass, without stopping, and seamlessly, curling the ball in to the top corner of the net.

Once again Henry had secured a game in the Northwest graveyard. What a fantastic week eleven goals in three games all away. What would Arsenal have done to Blackburn with 11 men? If Savage thought his gamesmanship would help Blackburn win then it backfired. It just showed up the bankruptcy of his team. It also showed that this Arsenal team cannot be bullied out of victory, it has too much skill and talent.

This was a mature and sophisticated performance by Arsenal, in some ways superior to the 6-2 victory at home. There was no squeaky bum moments here, just 100% control. Allegedly Blackburn were on a revenge mission as Arsenal had celebrated too exuberantly after the 6-2 victory. Well I hope the victorious Gunners thumbed their noses at you and went nah nah na na nah all the way back to the dressing room.

Meanwhile a bitter Mark Hughes complained that the sending off had hindered his team. Ha ha ha. As to those Blackburn fans defending Savage they should wake up, sure he won the battle with Gilberto, but he caused Blackburn to lose the war.

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