He has a brain

By Boris Mellor
March 7 2010

At half time I met up with friends for our half time debriefing and suggested to James that history could be repeating itself, we had gone 1-0 up, and then Fabregas had gone off injured, probably with a hamstring. But James was confident - last time Burnley equalised before half time - he insisted there would be no repetition.

However on 51 minutes Nugent scored that goal, you know the one I have mentioned it on here hundreds of times. It's the one where we allow a striker to get ahead of the whole of the defence and has only the keeper to beat.

The Past Weighs Like a Nightmare on the Minds of the Living

It appeared history was repeating itself, the team without its inspirational captain losing its way as they did at Turf Moor. I had visions of the ignominy of Arsenal being only the second team to give Burnley an away point, the first being that bunch of down at heel no hopers Man City.

But then I spotted the Citroen advert on the side hoardings, "Make History Don't Repeat It". I got a feeling I wasn't the only one to spot it for suddenly a player stepped up to the plate.

Scarecrow Has a Brain

Only a few days ago the man with no heart, when it comes to penalties, and a Pizza Hut contract had sung if only the scarecrow had a brain, but the scarecrow not only has a brain, he has heart and courage. His goal on 61 minutes was sensational, Jensen is a hard keeper to beat, but Walcott used every ounce of his grey matter to put the ball beyond him and into the net. It was a daisy cutter with spin.

Yellow Brick Road - More Munchkins

Arsenal are never a team to simply follow the yellow brick road, they made sure there were plenty of twists and turns before it was in the bag. Not only that but Wenger decided to throw on more munchkins, first Arshavin and then Eduardo, removing Rosicky and then Bendtner. Less is more is Wenger's philosophy, he is determined not only to win the league with the youngest team, but also the shortest.

Wicked Witch of the North bank

I understand I am soon to be in the North Bank Upper, suits me it doesn't involve moving, just a name change from Satsuma Quadrant, but I do hope they ban the woman who was sitting behind me. From the first minute she got started into Nik. He could do nothing right, he was lazy and useless. She was screaming abuse at him, fortunately he couldn't hear her rancid ramblings, but some of us got the super Nik song going and it took off, Nik ambled over to applaud the Satsuma (soon to be North Bank) Quadrant.

After Nik went off Arshavin missed a sitter, and one of Bendtner's fans stood up and yelled "Nik would have scored that". We had a great laugh the witch shrieked and disappeared (well she left about 3 minutes early missing the Wizard's last minute goal), there was no smoke, as it's a no smoking quadrant. However, missing a wonderful Arshavin goal is punishment enough.

Though it's worth noting that most people stayed until almost the very end, not just out of respect to Ramsey, but because it was such a gripping contest. Fans were enjoying it so much that no one whistled for full time.

No Place Like Home

Eight of the Arsenal players on the field had played in Internationals during the week, meanwhile Burnley players had their feet up, when that happens "there is no place like home", an away match with an injured Fabregas may have been fatal.

Match Analysis

Arsenal had 10 shots on target and eight off target to the Clarets five and three respectively. True Burnley could have equalised, but Arsenal could have had six goals if Nik and Arshavin were sharper.

Wenger summed it up very well you miss the first you think its ok I will get the next, miss the next and you wonder how you will ever get the ball in the net. Arshavin took four shots to get one, but he believes it could be fortunate that Nik missed so many. "Why fortunately? I hope he was sparing his goals for Porto." He is my favourite munchkin.

Three fantastic goals and some sloppy defending that Arsenal for you, it's never boring. In the pub afterwards we argued about who was MoM. We were split between Nasri and Walcott. I felt Nasri's assist was sublime, and that he worked for the whole 90 minutes, and even more so when Fab was subbed. But others pointed out that not only did Walcott score a superb goal but if Nik had put away Theo's assists we would have skated it.