Arsenal closed the gap on Chelsea and Sp*rs with a 1-0 win over QPR at the Emirates today.
The game began in scrappy fashion and the visitors made the first chance but Szczesny saved well from Shaun Wright-Phillips.
It took Arsenal some time to get into their stride but once they did dominated the rest of the half and should have been ahead at the interval. The best chance fell to Robin van Persie who latched onto a Vermaelen ball over the top of the QPR defence, but from just inside the area the captain lashed his shot just over the bar.
Arsenal should have had at least one penalty too. When a corner was cleared Luke Young clearly handled Laurent Koscielny’s shot as he came out to block it but it seems that even a defender picking up the ball and dribbling across the area like Magic fucking Johnson wouldn’t give Arsenal a spot kick these days.
Martin Atkinson then missed another handball in the area and compounded a dreadful first half by first booking Thomas Vermaelen after Laurent Koscielny might possibly have fouled Wright-Phillips, then booking Djourou after an outrageous Joey Barton dive.
After a series of corners at the end of the half, Aaron Ramsey saw his goalbound volley headed off the line by Barton to leave it level at the break.
Early in the 2nd half Arsenal suffered another injury blow when Thomas Vermaelen was forced off and replaced by Francis Coquelin.
They should have been 1-0 up in the 56th minute when Aaron Ramsey played in Theo Walcott. With just the keeper to beat he screwed a shot wide. A terrible miss from a player who had an off day.
His colleague on the other side, Andrei Arshavin, was having a similar kind of day (week/month/career) but found the moment of quality to create the goal. QPR gave it away in midfield, Arshavin played a beautifully weighted ball in behind the defence and Robin van Persie didn’t have to break stride to make it 1-0.
Arshavin then went off, replaced by Rosicky, as Arsenal looked to protect the inexperienced midfielder at left back but The Coq acquited himself very well and came out of the game with lots of credit.
QPR pushed for a little while, Barton did some diving and also whacked Mikel Arteta in the face but got away with it, but Arsenal always looked more like scoring without ever really looking like scoring. Gervinho missed a good chance after RVP set him up at the near post but after seeing Walcott’s miss it didn’t even compare.
A nervous final 15 ensued but Arsenal held out for a very welcome three points – especially as Sp*rs drew with Swansea and Chelsea lost 3-1 to Aston Villa.
Now, I’m off out to celebrate, so play nice in the comments, remember we won and have a very happy new year Arseblog News readers.
I can’t complain, not with everyone else’s results.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know that now a lot of people will talk about wasted chances ( Wallcott mostly) but it was obvious that they wanted to assist to Robin so he can catch Shearer… But you know what Shearer played 42 league games, and I really don’t bother that Robin did’t outscore him. Important thing is – we took 3 points, are in top 4 and since today is my birthday i got a great gift from my Arsenal <3 🙂 .
Happy New Year to my fellow Gunners !!
ARSENAL4LIFE
Happy birthday!
Thanks man 😉
Happy Birthday Mate!
Hope RVP and co. made this birthday a memorable one for you! 😀
Great result for the squad. Have a Happy New Year’s and on to our next victims: Fulham!
TONIGHT’S GONNA BE A GOOD NIGHT! 🙂
Did your girlfriend say you can have sex now that Arsenal’s 4th?
@Anon
Well she’s screwed now !!! 😀
“Arsenal closed the gap on Chelsea”? Better than that, they opened up a gap on Chelsea!
Cheers, Blogs, have a great New Year! Persoally, I can’t wait to see TH12 (!) in his new red-and-white shirt…
Maybe th14 will star against fulahm on the 2 give rvp a rest. 2 of the best scores the world has ever seen!
Get your TH12 jersey today!
Hello top 4
Hello.
Gonna be a good new year! COYG
4th place DENCH!!!!!
Bloody excellent, though I think I’m going to have to make a New Years resolution not to wring my hands when nervous, my fingers are throbbing after that.
Wasn’t vintage but then its not always going to be and exeing out those vital 3 points was all important any which way, I’ll take that kind of scrappy win over a faultless performance and draw any old day. Spuds, Chavs and Man U all drop points, I am going to welcome 2012 with a great big smile, speaking of which almost time for a drink, Happy new year at all.
Good day all round,the only bad thing being the fact that tweeting little scouse fuckwit is as much of a cu#t in blue & white as he was in black & white!
COYG!
Joey Barton: Once a cunt ALWAYS a cunt.
Great results allround!
It’s gonna be a great new year for the Arsenal, so I wish you all the same.
A Very Prosperous year to you and yours where ever you are .
COYG!!!
In August, there was a worry that we’ll be in a relegation battle. In September, we were termed as mid table mediocrity. Now we’re in the top 4 and only half of the season played. We can’t get carried away but another important win, clean sheet and lots of spirit and the right attitude from a team that I feel deserves all the support we can give them. They make mistakes, but they work hard and always try their best in every game! Excellent end to the year!!! COYG! 1 nil to The Arsenal and Thierry is coming back home!… Read more »
We never have been carried away, almost every realistic Arsenal fan expected 1st – 6th place, but it’s just the pessimistic but loud morons and the rabid anti-Arsenal legions that dictated those prophecies.
Yeah it’s exactly those rabid legions I was looking to address. Every season it’s the same story – ‘Arsenal will drop out of the top 4’ and every season we’re there. Empty vessels make the most noise. Onwards and upwards and lovely to see Tony Adams back next to his statue. Our club has class!
Not true. Everyone was shitting there pants after United. Everyone.
Ok then. For all of you who disagree, there is an archives link on the arseblog news menu. Click it, select the link to the match report after that match and read it. Then come back and tell me otherwise.
You’re right Frog after that game I was worried but we had played 3 games and I’ll be lying if I told you that I expected us to have a bad season based on where we were after 3 games. Within a week some signings had been made and generally for the most part things picked up as we’ve gotten better. Most fans are worried when things go bad but lucky as I was in missing that game completely, the first thing I did after the news of the scoreline sunk in was to think back to our 6-1 defeat… Read more »
I was terrified. But thank goodness The Boss changed tack and has done an exemplary job in hoisting The Arsenal up the table.
I also think the crowd at the Emirates are better, they need to improve in order to reinforce the TEAM spirit.
The attendees at the stadium are part of the team and must do their work too.
Nicely said AR.
koscielny was fooking ace, absolutely brilliant (even managed to dodge a yellow card thanks to a dozy ref). Looking forward to a back 4 of santos-kosc-verm-sagna. On that note, I hope vermaelen is ok.
Apparently hes out for 2 or 3 weeks according to the boss. Sucks mightily, lets hope its really nothing more serious that it appears at present. He will be a big miss.
if Coquelin plays as well as he did today we’ll survive. Besides, no big club games till United on the 22nd so he has some time to heal.
A damn shame, that. Perhaps now AW will push to get a fullback on loan? We are fast running out of options in those positions, God forbid anything happens to Djuorou or Kozza. As helpful as Djourou and Verm have been as temporary cover, our attacking play is being seriously stunted since they just don’t overlap enough on the wings. Hope Le Boss sorts something out asap.
COYG!
Excellent results! Excellent day!
Have a Happy New Year fellow GOONERS!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
Loved the Magic Johnson joke haha…the whole wide world saw what was one of the most obvious penalties I´ve ever seen but nope, not the man in black.
A great start to my new year celebrations. Thanks arseblog for 2011 blogging. Let’s hope you have a few special things to blog about in 2012. Happy new year!
Enough is enough..
WENGER OUT..
Oh wait…………………………………..
Lets wait till the end of the season.
for those morons to embarrass themselves further.
Best bit: RVP has no more pressure to beat the record. Three welcome points, Didier Drogba humps Warnock while he is on the ground, only to lose 3-1 to his team, and Le Coq will look to penetrate the premier league 😉
Happy New Year Arses
well pleased with that. Good end to the year, now for a solid 4/5 months
Andrei Arshavin ta rapum pum pummmm.
Happy new year GOONERS!!!
It’s been a great day all-round. Man United, Spurs and Chelsea all drop points and we win. But why did we make it so hard for ourselves? We should have scored at least four. I love Gervinho – he livened up the game as soon as he came on – but he can’t seem to hit a cow’s arse with a banjo. He should have bagged himself a hat-trick. Walcott should have put that clean-through chance away, too. If RvP doesn’t score then it looks like nobody else will. We really, really need another goalscorer at the club.
so true.
Walcott’s miss was fucking incredible.
That miss proves Walcott isn’t yet ready to play Center Forward. Always seems to be in a hurry to kick ball before thinking. Incredible
We have seen him put 1 v 1’s away though (goal against Udinese). I agree he still needs to improve but perhaps he was not quite 100% after being ill. Maybe Henry can teach him a bit of composure. Or Vela can show him how to chip the keeper.
Gervinho seems to be very greedy with his touches. Needs to just smack it first time if the opportunity is there.
Agree with your point about the goalscorer.
Great results all round for us today if only we had of stuffed wolves, here’s to the new year with TH14 giving Walcott shooting practice and Ramsey stop the fucking backheals could of lost us points today
Song backheeled twice in the Wolves match too, and he stopped here, so I guess Ramsey will stop this too.
It’s like they have a duty roster for backpasser of the day.
Well lets cross our fingers that Szczesny isn’t on that rota !
Bloody hell, we look a different team with Coq and Gerv in the team. Fantastic win and professional performance!! Cant wait to sock it to my chelsea friend 😀
Happy New Year all!!:)
good win but we need to stop being over reliant on Van Persie to score goals
We aren’t really. Gervinho scored in the last mach and the likes of Arteta and Verminator have proven they can score to. Also check out the amount of Arsenal players “Having a go”. At least we have a ‘Team Spirit’ and a get-go attitude. And we seem to pressurise in every game we are playing at the moment. Van Persie is exceptional, compare him to any other striker in the EPL . He IS the best and WILL score when he can. We have a pretty solid team once again and the more they play the further they will go… Read more »
Gervinho is our 2nd top scorer with 4 goals only
Better 4 than none and he ‘Goes for it’. His finishing needs to be worked on, sure enough, but he gets on with it. Better to TRY than NOT TRY like Arshavin.
I’ve never understood this view; doesn’t every team rely on their main striker to score goals? Every team looks for that 20+ goal striker and we just happen to have the best one around.
No. Take utd for example. Berbatov has scored 5 goals in 2 games.
There is always a main striker but in any top club there should be quality competition at each department. Utd for example have Berba, The mexican jumping bean, Welbeck and Rooney. If injury comes to VP, god forbid, we’ll be drawing several games.
Exactly! Why I get a thumbs down for stating the obvious is beyond me.
Take the best player out of any team and they’ll struggle.
To use your Man U examples
Rooney has 13
Berba 6
Hernandez 6
Welbeck 4 (the same amount as Arteta).
If take the front 3 highest strikers, Man U have scored 25 while we have scored 23 (RvP 17, Gervinho 4 and Walcott 2) Not a lot in it really
RVP may not have beaten Shearers record but he set a better one i can’t see someone scoring that many goals in as many games anytime soon!
RVP may not have beaten Shearers record but
he played less games than Shearer.
Its ONLY 1 less as well, no mean feat.
Can someone else PLEASE step up and start helping RVP with the scoring duties!!!!!!
The Coq can take many different positions.
Don’t start! 😉
Should have been more comfortable, but I’ll take it out on the refs. I think a penalty should have been awarded for Luke Young’s handball block on the volley. Accidental or not, your hands shouldn’t be in that position. Then the other incident, using the Sammon/Carrick example, Taarabt levels Arshavin in the head with a much firmer elbow and nothing gets issued. Commentator had it spot on if you ask me, should have been red because it couldn’t have been a yellow. They created plenty of chances once again, so that is pleasing. Three points on Monday, yes, please, and… Read more »
With the injury to Vermalean, I hope Coq gets to play on the left, he has very good stamina and very tenacious but can he keep it up for 90 minutes?
Le Coq can keep it up for as long as he wants. 😉
TONIGHT’S GONNA BE A GOOD NIGHT! 🙂
1-0 to The Arsenal. Was there ever a more fitting tribute to The Skipper watching from the stands?
Happy New Year everyone.
Pity we didn’t beat Wolves otherwise we’d only be a point behind the Spuds and four in front of Chelski and the Scouse Scum. Anyway after Man Utd away to be in the top four by the end of the year is outstanding. Well done and long may it continue.
Hello, my name is Robin van Persie and I like to score gails!
Hi Robin.
Ramsey and his backhills and back passes are my only complains…..so frustrating!
Arteta’s repeated freekicks into the wall are my only complains…..
I no complain.
I’d like to complain about all the gails and backhills.
Great win today, Gervinho reminds me a little bit of Hleb in the “old” days. Good dribbler but not quite the end product you are hoping for.
Btw, Happy Birthday Alex Ferguson! What a gift Steven Kean has given him. I laughed quite loudly when the commentator on Sky said towards the end “and now into 4 minutes of Fergietime”! Going down!
Happy new year, keep up the good work mr. Blogs!
1-0 to the Arsenal, RVP 35 goals and breaking a legend’s record, 4th place, TH14 is coming back, our rivals dropping points, and maybe a surprise signing from Wenger
ohh what a fantastic start to begin the new year hopefully there will be more positives to come …
*vantastic
Le Coq put in such an amazing shift tonight. Did he extend that contract yet?
A cool 3 points, Robin van Monster, great assist AA, Lé Coq Lé enforcer, Verminator out 3 weeks. Wel seems a pretty good time to bring JVertongen, podolski or any proven goalscorer and our new signing. JWilshere
MOTD are going to bang on about RVP not getting the record thats if they do any analysis of our match. Infact i bet its mentioned almost straight away if the humbug is on.
Good work lads. nice to see you try and help Persie break the record and tell the guys they cant have sex until they score. that should help with the scoring
A cool 3 points, Robin van Monster, great assist AA, Lé Coq Lé enforcer, Verminator out 3 weeks. Wel seems a pretty good time to bring JVertongen, podolski or any proven goalscorer and our new signing. JWilshere . Hav a succesful 2012 Gunners.
GUNNERS4LIFE Dench!!!
You just said that.
Good win today, thought Ramsey and Koscielny were excellent.
Too many positives the new year’s gotta be grand: Le Coq looked like an accomplished left, Atkinson is a confirmed twat, Djorou is settling into right back nicely, Per has found his feet and…Arteta has just postponed his 5th yellow card till against Fulham. Get it on boy and rest the Leeds game out.
Too many positives the new year’s gotta be grand: Arshavin remember he has got assists within him, Le Coq looked like an accomplished left, Atkinson is a confirmed twat, Djorou is settling into right back nicely, Per has found his feet and…Arteta has just postponed his 5th yellow card till against Fulham. Get it on boy and rest the Leeds game out.
So glad Gervinho is off to the ACN as we might actually see The Ox get some game time. Gervinho runs into the box, then has brain freeze as he takes loads of unnecessary touches, then screws the chance up.
Walcott yet again showed why he isn’t a central striker. He should have buried the chance he got.
Agreed. How can he keep saying he wants to be a striker, ye everytime he ha a clear cut 1v1 he coq’s it up. Infuriating. When are going to sign Karim Podolski?
I really think Theo still has his best years ahead of him. I know he’s been playing for the Gunners a long time now, relatively, but he’s not much older than Titi was when he arrived at Arsenal. Look back at the goal Theo scored v Chelski, and you’ll see that what he needs is consistency, he has the ability. He had an off day today — he may have overestimated the extent of his recovery from whatever made him miss the Wolves match.
Gunners fans really need to stop writing off their players and start encouraging them.
Of course Theo has his best years in front of him he’s still only like 22.
Hopefully Gervinho will find his shooting boots at AFCON? He is a goalscorer and I hope he doesn’t become Nicolas “a Thousand Missed Chances” Bendtner.
Who knew how good of a footballer Arteta was until he came to the gunners? Maybe not even Mikel himself. His play is what cements the team. Who can we play when we want to give him a rest? I think Wilshere when he returns but in the meantime.
Gilberto 2.0 is what he is.
Just 9 points from the top two and have to play them both. I want the boys to be keeping their heads down, grinding away like they have been, avoiding costly slip ups like the 1-1 last outing, but always be keeping an eye on the top spot saying ‘we could fucking have that you know’. And just stealth on up the table.
Djouro has quietly got his act back together over the last few games.
I have a feeling that 2012 could be good with all the returning
players in Jan/Feb.
Let’s start by stuffing Michael Jackson’s Fulham on Monday.
Happy New Year All.
Great point. Djourou was absolute pants at the start of the season but has really improved recently. Impressive, especially as he is playing out of position.
I believe we now have won 29 out of the last 36 points. YEEAAA BUDDYYY!
Love the result as long as we get our three points, but am worried about Vermalean, hope is injury is not at all serious. And HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE, h?e a splendid celebrations. Up GUnnnnnnnERS!!!
Re: Theo today, off game yes but remember has is getting over man flu. And Frog was spot on, every man and his dog was shitting bricks after the Utd game and almost everyone was starting to question AW so it surprises me the number of people who are on the ‘I told you so’ parade. We’re doing well, today was a good result from a sloppy performance. We have a lot of injuries and generally this is where we balls up. We didn’t. United did. Good times. I’ll be convinced that AW and the board have learnt the errors… Read more »
Thanks for sticking up for me. I appreciate it. I just call it as I see it. Don’t worry about the ” I told you so” lot. They’re ever present.
suck my Coq you spuds…
Weak**
Arshavin’s pass was perfection. That bit of magic is what we need to see more of.
Can’t wait to get some fullbacks back into the side. Really missing that width.
i remember the days when Arshavin had consistently shit games but had like 2 assists a game…
there is certainly something in him that screams “im gifted!!!” but will he show it again at Arsenal? who knows.
p.s. arshavin was voted man of the match on arsenal.com…blimey
HAHA all arsonal sapportors r hapy bcuz dey win game haha spurs r btta den BARCOLANA! U SHIT ye that
Comon u SPURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! arsonal no history shit stadiem
1 CLUB IN LONDEN
You can say that again.
At least our fans are not brainless, iliterate morons. Why don’t you learn how to spell, arsehole.
HaHa,Well said lads fucking spurs scum
Fuckin windowlicker.
Spoken like a true spud.
barcolana AHAHAHAHAHAH
One has to feel some sympathy for spuds fans. Only one internet user and no website of their own. Maybe i’m wrong, do Spurs have a web page?
I tried “toilet.com” but Old Trafford came up instead.