An early Theo Walcott strike was enough to secure three points for Arsenal against QPR as the Gunners ended a 22-year run without a league win at Loftus Road and kept up the pressure on top four rivals Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
Knowing only three points would suffice Arsene Wenger’s side couldn’t have had a better start. Last Sunday it took Theo Walcott only three minutes to break the deadlock against Manchester United, today he needed only 20 seconds.
The build-up, coming straight from kick-off, was typically Arsenal. On the edge of a crowded penalty box Aaron Ramsey cushioned a header from a lofted Rosicky pass back to Mikel Arteta who took one touch before sliding Walcott in behind a static QPR defence. With plenty of time to pick his spot the winger drove a low effort under Rob Green who could only deflect the ball high into the net. It was Walcott’s 20th goal of the season and Arsenal’s fastest ever in the Premier League era. 1-0.
On the touchline Harry Redknapp went mad. Although you know what he’s like, he was probably laughing inside…he likes to chuckle does ‘Arry.
After that not much happened. Having been relegated last week the home side showed little urgency in the centre of the park allowing us to keep possession of the ball and pretty much run proceedings. We always looked like we might score without actually knocking on the door very loudly.
That was until the 25th minute when Walcott, who looked a threat throughout the first period, nearly doubled the lead. Spinning on a sixpence having collected a delicate pass by Rosicky the England man’s low shot came close to creeping inside the near post only for Green to dive to his left and push it into the post.
The miss spurred QPR out of their stupor with Ji-Sung Park having a couple of efforts and Andros Townsend, on loan from Spurs, curling a free-kick pas the post. In truth, the half-time whistle came as something of a relief given the complacency which seemed to be creeping into Arsenal’s performance.
The second period started much as the first half ended, with the Gunners under the cosh. Szczesny had to grapple a cross off Remy’s head before patting clear a fierce swerving drive from Townsend. The latter was a constant thorn in the side of Nacho Monreal who received a yellow card for pulling the winger down close to the edge of the box just on the hour mark. In between Rosicky had twice came close to setting up Walcott but for all the Czech’s energy his final ball was lacking.
A decent ten minute spell followed for the Gunners during which Green was forced into a trio of saves. First he denied Koscielny, who had unusually combined with Sagna on the left before curling at goal, then he beat away a Cazorla long-range effort before the ex-England number one fingered another Walcott shot around the post for a corner.
Arsenal continued to turn the screw in the last 15 minutes with Clint Hill forced to clear from under his cross bar following a cross flashed across the box by Podolski and Walcott drawing yet another save from Green after a run and powerful strike.
Without a vital second goal Arsenal continued to teeter on the edge of self-destruction. Indeed, were it not for a fine save by an outstretched left hand of Szczesny QPR would have equalised with six minutes remaining through Remy’s bent effort from outside the box.
Podolski was replaced by Chamberlain, then Cazorla went off for Wilshere as we clung on for the three points in a fashion akin to the nervous victory at Craven Cottage a couple of weeks ago. The performance was not great, but we had to win and we did…just.
The pursuit of a place in the top four hinges solely on results and with two games remaining we’re still very much in with a chance of securing Champions League football.
To The Arsenal,
You know we SAY we don’t mind as long as it’s 3pts? Well….
phew!!!!!! At this point in time i don’t care about the performance just the THREE massive points
man-u 1-0 chelsea
chelsea 0-0 spuds
and that’s all i ask
I don’t know how that got a thumb down that’s the best result combination we can hope for. A man united win and a goalless draw
Because it didn’t mention all the career ending injuries we could also be wishing for!
and we definitely don’t want chelsea to beat man-u and spuds to then beat chelsea.
it’s not in our hands just yet.
It seems everyone bar Walcott is allergic to shooting, what was Rosicky and Cazorla playing at when they had those chances and then passed and lost possession, they need to watch some youtube videos of Robben and Ribery.
The best result combination? How about Man U 5-0 Chelsea and Chelsea 5-5 Spuds… with 5 red cards.
@UGooner: While the ManU 5-0 Chelsea result would be just fine, the 5-5 between Spurs and Chelski would be awful. This might, just MIGHT come down to goal difference, so it’s best for us if both teams score as less as possible.
Difference….
John terry own goal *
Err… What about us winning the next 2 games and not dropping any points for them to catch up?
Of course, but it still irks that some players don’t seem bothered while some others just lack quality.
Ramsey seems the only one working his socks off for the team right now.
I’m a big Ramsey fan, and appreciate that he works hard, but he was pretty poor today. I thought the best player on the pitch was probably Arteta, out of a bad bunch.
I was commenting on his work ethic, not the quality of his touch, which, yes, was about as bad as everyone else’s today, including Arteta’s.
First time to post here or anywhere else for that matter, I would like to know if anyone else thinks that Aron Ramsey is the most over rated player ever to play for our great club, don’t get it with Arseblogger, normally on the ball, but slates the likes of Walcott all the time, who i also think is not good enough btw. Ramsey shows good energy at times, but is so limited going forward an so timid in his tackling, passes back or sideways all the time. Surely it is not good enough just to have a good engine… Read more »
@GermanGunner
Are you suicidal? You don’t talk bad about Ramsey around here. Personally I believe that it is so because last season he was shit and this season he’s really OK. And OK is new excellent, or so I heard.
@German Gunner – I was gonna say yes you are, but apparently you’re one of five. You can have an ‘I hate Aaron Ramsey’ party together.
You should post that comment back in 2012 when you might have found more people ready to blame Arsenal’s problems on a 21 year old getting back to fitness from a broken leg. The results and defensive stats for Arsenal since Ramsey has been paired with Arteta in the dm role speak for themselves.
It may have gone unnoticed, but Rosicky’s defensive contribution was incredible. He was in our box time after time digging out clearances, he helped Nacho and Cazorla gradually shackle Townsend, he charged the ball out of our half like a beast, and he was generally everywhere. If it wasn’t for his shooting allergies and a subliminal unwillingness to do it all on his own, Tomas would have been unplayable today.
@German Gunner how can you say that Ramsey is a timid tackler when he is actually the best in the EPL, he has the highest completion rate of any player that makes over 50 tackles per season? By the way he’s the only Arsenal in the top 10.
3 points are great, and Sczcesny made a great save to deny Remy, but maybe the quality of our play today and for the past couple of games illustrates why we have had such a poor record against the big teams this season.
can anyone; santi, ramsey, podolski or whoever playing attacking midfield sneak into near post to tap in the low cross?
illustrates why we have had such a poor record against the big teams this season.
===
Or indeed why there’s two games left in our season and finishing in the top four is out of our hands, even if we win them both.
There’s a reason we’re in the situation we’re in, and it’s because we’re a good team but not a great one.
Lifted this from the bbc site and a good point:
Frank Martin, via text on 81111: “If Arsenal get two wins from their next two games, this will be their third best season since 2004. What’s with all the moaning?”
You call it ‘moaning’, I call it reality. I don’t really care about points tallies compared to other seasons, I care about where we finish THIS season, and if our best points tally in some while still doesn’t get us into the top four, then who cares? Oh well. It’s like everything else on this site. If you cheerlead, everyone wants to lick your hand, but if you call it like it is (look at the table and tell me I’m wrong), you’re a ‘moaner’. Lest anyone think I’m churlish, OF COURSE I’m delighted with the three points. But why… Read more »
@Aero
Third best of eight seasons! Incredible! Is there a trophy for that? Because at the start of every season said we are being told that we’ll compete for everything.
Or because yet again we have had to integrate new key elements into the squad and have had to wait until the team gels so we get the consistency we need.
As gets pointed out all too often, we wait until NOW to match United’s form.
Its also why I for one am praying to any divinity that might listen that we have a stable summer, so we can for once START a season in this position.
It’s not rocket science – we have no strikers…
lesson learnt today: never be 20 seconds late to a gunners game.
ok, the plan is: get early goal, and pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass…
It is a nice plan though, ain’t it? May be we’re conserving energy for Wigan. And hopefully for NC. It would be fun to see them go down on the final day if we win.
And big thumbs up to Wigan. They know to turn on the style in Spring.
20+ passes between ramsey, rosicky and cazorla= sagna gets the ball and delivers a poor cross.
3 points… That’s all that matters for now.. Whatever it takes boys… Could do with a more decent performance..
So lovely to see the spuds beneath..
Gareth Bale FC got lucky today. Cunts.
There’ll now be 3 Welsh teams in the premier league next year, Swansea, Cardiff and Gareth Bale*, heh.
*Unless he fucks off to Madrid, which would be nice
Agreed. Three points are certainly great, but in a game of such crucial importance, I can’t understand why the team doesn’t play with more heart and will power. with all respect to QPR, but Arsenal has to win this game by 2 goals.
The players certainly want to play CL next season?! Did we want to score the second goal?
We do make hard work of beating rubbish teams?
Today is why we are better than spuds. Clean sheet. Dd not play well. Did not have to fall back on special player. Props to the back four and Arteta, well played sirs. And SZCZ you were massive and I wouldn’t blame the best clubs in the world sniffing your butt like a hungry dog, but you are Arsenal!
snoozefest
GET YOUR FUCKING ACT TOGETHER
before it’s fucking too late
What like by winning three points against league opposition with nothing to lose…?
Exactly, we barely won against the team that has nothing to play for anymore (that was because they were beaten by basically everyone) when we should be a lot more motivated because we still have stuff to fight for.
True, I was annoyed too. First half, 1-0 up, sun in their eyes and with them persisting with just the 4 in the middle I was begging us to speed things up but a result is a result. But I would say that teams who have nothing to play for often perform with more freedom and they did have 1 decent player looking for a future elsewhere, 2 former Spuds, 1 current Spud and a former Spud manager – all of whom would love to help their chicken loving ball hoppers get one over on us. Also proves how important… Read more »
Uh yeah we won you knob.
But if hanging by a thread for 90 minutes against shit opponents is your idea of a great performance, actually scratch that, semi-decent performance, then I guess you’re right
Here’s a piece of advice: Learn to enjoy things
So if I get bitten by a snake I should enjoy it because it wasn’t venomous?
Kololo, that analogy doesn’t even make sense. A snake bite is always negative (as I can sense you are too most times) nobody is happy if they get bitten. Maybe it should be something like; should I be happy I got a gift from someone but its not what I expected to get?
The way I see it the game sucked, and the only positive from it is 3 pts. An absolute necessity was achieved but there was nothing else to enjoy there.
3 points ARZZZZELLLLLL, get in there!
By the way – can Theo please be banned from taking all set pieces now please? PLEASE?
Yes!!! He scored a goal and played okay. But why the fuck is he taking corners????
His corners are embarrassing. I just don’t get it….
To be fair, they HAVE been decent lately. Definitly better than Sant’s in any case.
Arteta is the best corner kick taker at arsenal
Wow about a dozen posts in and theo cops it yet again. That arsbleog bandwagon must be full of his sycophants by now.
@Voldermort
I think it’s fair to question one of the more infuriating aspects of a players game without meaning it as a personal insult.
I’ll give a thumbs up to anyone that uses the word ‘sycophant’ though.
I may be wrong but most goals from corners probably were scored from Walcott’s balls. Won’t defend him taking freekicks though, it’s just stupid.
Theo’s free kick set up Kos and BFG to score at Fulham.
However, our corners are wasteful, considering how many we get.
Shit and boring game like Fulham… but thankfully 3 points!!
Player ratings. Theo scored (again) that’s it.
I know Theo has been poo,but so had Giroud.But at least the boy wonder knows how to score.
Have to say that he is (currently) the best finisher we have at the club. If we need to score, I would definitely want the chance to fall to him
He can shoot reasonably well. He’s proven that this season. Sore other aspects of his game need work, but the guy can shoot. And run.
I hated Van Nistelrooy for being such a boring and dry player but no one on their end cared as he kept scoring.
We needed a goal and Theo scored it the argument should really stop there.
He’s trying to channel that Henry finishing and I applaud the audacity and verve to do so. Alas, he needs to also defend better and think faster when in possession of the ball and looking for a teammate. But he does have potential, and I challenge anyone to say otherwise and make a valid argument of it.
I disagree he faded in and out but he had some decent shots today. He’s dreaming if he thinks he can play the cf role our game revolves around tho.
I really am relieved we got the win but these nervy ends to games are playing with my heart lol
“57
Maybe we need a teamtalk from the NRA” (Arseblog live 2013)
Sums it up.
3 points thats the only thing that matters,,
why dont we ever take shots when the opportunity is shown ???
we actually average more shots per game than Man Utd (15.7 vs. 14.9 respectively). the issue is more that we take too many shots from poor positions, and some of our players take a lot of shots but aren’t good finishers (eg. Ramsey, who has the most shots of any EPL player without a goal). Man Utd were 2nd in the league with 66% of their shots coming from inside the penalty area (only West Ham had a higher percentage, but that’s due to a completely different style of play). We had only 59% of our shots inside the penalty… Read more »
Whew!!!!!!!!!! Arsene is an enigma tho!
They better get that handbrake fixed. It might stall our charge up to third place
Awful win, but there’s no such thing as awful 3 points! 6 more please 😀
I can’t wait for this season to end. It has been just torture.
This is what I thought of when Zamora was appealing for a penalty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLvIFRNbqOs
Also, just two more wins to go, and looking at the table, there’s a possibility (a minuscule one) of City dropping down to 5th, which would be hilarious.
he should have been booked for that, what a cunt!
Good qpr wernt up for it. Plz fucking stop the teasing it was fun last season doing that to spurs but not everyseason.
Whilst the attack has been looking rather toothless of late, it is heartening to see us concede so few goals recently. The Mert-Kos partnership is really blossoming into something brilliant
We haven’t conceded from open play in 4 games (Everton, Fulham, Utd and QPR)
I’m glad somebody had the sense to bring this up. For as awful as Arsenal have looked on the offensive side, I see real energy from many players defensively. And yes, BFG and Kos have been fantastic.
Arteta and Ramsey have been excellent as well in providing the cover for defense.
Per and Kos, I mean what can you say.
20/24 points in last 8 games. Win against Wigan and Newcastle, we find ourselves in CL yet again. Sorry Spu*s. And by sorry I mean fuck you.
A win is a win I guess…
After watching this match I would like to see Podolski put out wide while Theo down the middle.
Sagna was solid…
Haters gonna hate
Zamora falls to the ground, heart skips a couple of beats.
Piss poor perfomance, but who gives a shit? 3 vital points!
COYG!
Is it arrogance to complain about Arsenal when we’re winning? Shambolic performance, terrific result.
That’s how UTD wont the league this season and how Chelsea won the Champions League.
3pts, clean sheet.
That’ll do pig, that’ll do.
To people who call a win ‘awful’, let’s not forget we did have some really good shots on the goal 🙂
3 Points in the bag is the ONLY thing that matters. After a frustrating Bale strike (probably one of the very very few shots on target for Tottenham today) I really did not care how we won as long as we WON! Ha!! COYG!
who call this win*
Phew! Definitely not a vintage performance, but it’ll do surely. 2 more wins and we’re in the UCL, and hopefully above Sp*rs.
COYG!
Theo scores his 20th goal in the 20th second on his 200th appearence.man of the match.
Bloody ugly but three points. Heart attacks all round. Thank God for Theo’s goals. He is keeping us in it. Very important he signed da ting. Open that warchest Arsene. COYG.
We look so predictable without Giroud upfront. All our good play comes to nothing at the end.
Also, AW is doing Poldoski a disservice by playing him in the middle. He looks completely out of sorts. Poldoski need to go back to left and Santi in middle.
I seem to recall, not that long ago, the calls being made for a CF poldi. Make up your mind man..
I never called for it. He is much better on left and I think he is only playing in middle due to lack of credible options.
Arsene can’t just ever win, can he?
Scenario 1 : FFS, Why doesn’t Arsene play Podolski in the middle? He’s the best finisher there is.
Scenario 2 : FFS, Why does Arsene play Podolski in the middle? He’s not clinical enough.
Scenario 3 : Theo (Me, me, me)
Scenario 4 : Alright Scz, you play upfront and right thru’ the Centre, middle, right side, left side, back side, flip side! Let Vito be the goalie.
Arsene : (That’ll teach ’em to mess with moi)
I’d take a win playing crap over a loss playing well at this time of year…
I agree but I think the point is hat people would prefer a win playing well.
No doubt but we’ve all seen enough games in recent years where we played well and dropped points. And surely 3 points is more important than the performance when your in a race for the CL
At the start of a season as well..
I would’ve pretty much said we were clear if some idiot didn’t let bale get to his left foot which should be common sense for any defender in the league at this point in the season.
Luke Shaw. Whoever said we should sign him has never seen the boy play. Mediocre.
To be fair he had a good game. And it wasn’t his fault Bale got a shot in. I forget his name but it was another player who let him onto his left foot.
Well, it was in fact Shaw. #23. I watched a replay to double check my memory. And he didn’t play well overall–not Arsenal standard anyway. Spurs were just poor.
Combination of Poor defending BY Clyne and Shaw
this is how the match vs manure should have finished under similar circumstances but lets all hope we have used up our ‘1 comical error for free’ card and will perform with the same solidarity for the remaining games.
Obviously we still need to address the CF issue soon.
even gervinho would have done a better job than poldi i’d imagine. Still 3 massive points to boot though. No more bullshit on theo again, he was my motm as he got us over the line when we needed him the most. Kos/per brilliant. Vermaelen’s got his work cut out.
Massive, massive investment required. 3pts is all I care about today, though.
Job done.
Arsenal fans amazing today, I had to sit just to the right in the qpr stand, was hard to keep my voice down. Well sung boys and girls, and three points! COYG!!!
I’d take two more wins like this. The team is channelling the George Graham years but we’re doing enough. To those complaining, Sp*rs should’ve been been 2 or 3-0 down by half time and were even more fortunate than us by all accounts. I doubt they’re complaining, and neither should we. R*P owes us a couple of goals tomorrow, let’s hope it happens.
No major mistakes, but clearly Sagna is not the same. Half the time he wasn’t marked because QPR knew he wouldn’t do any damage with the ball and he never really did. He’d have acres of space but inexplicably hold up play.
Not Theo bashing here but I reckon Sagna’s slight decline has coincided with Theo’s tendency to stay inside these days. He’s probably been told to by Le Gaff to be fair but I wish he would just realise he could be an amazing winger, rather than thinking he can be our centre forward.
Good save chezzy keep it up and you will win over my love. . Which is of course every footballers ambition
When Ramsey wonders in the final third he’s a completely different player. By completely different I mean shit. He just needs to sit back leave it Cazorla and Rosicky FFS.
We are the arsenal, we make hard work of it and like giving our fans numerous heart attacks….! Thanks boys….! 3 points is 3 points I guess but Jesus do we need new blood in the summer…. And I know we’ve now done it for years but why the fuck don’t we shoot…?Never know, it might go in..,! Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass…. JUST HIT THE FUCKIN THING….
The question is: will there be any Gooners left with a pulse by the end of the Newcastle game?! Just about every game on our current unbeaten run has been an absolute heart-stopper 😉
Better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick.
1-nil to the Arsenal, Brilliant!
I would just like to point out Szczesney’s match winning save!
Poor performance, maximum points. I agree that Sp*rs could have been destroyed but we should not be comparing ourselves to a one man team. The problems I see are: >Certain players not tracking back quickly enough and entering into a defensive formation >Lack of incisive passing. That could either be down to lack of runs being made by attackers or a lack of vision in the midfield. >Phobia of shooting from the edge of the box and insisting on scoring the pefect goal. An example was when at one point Rosicky got into the box (and was, if I remember… Read more »
*I’d like to add that Gervonho is also good at commiting defenders, as is AOC, but they don’t start that often and by ‘them’ I mean the opposition.
I also think the endless passing may be influenced by the lack of options in the box to cross to.
Like I’ve said before, there is a creeping inevitability about us finishing in the top four. Let’s face it: we were rubbish again today. We were playing the worst side in the division and we almost blew it. Our obvious problem is in the final third: we have absolutely no cutting edge. After scoring early then dominating the first half we hardly bothered their keeper. Podolski is unfit and looked awful. And he’s not an out-and-out forward. But you can’t argue with three points and a clean sheet. We are getting the job done – but boy is it painful… Read more »
First agreeable and normal comment I’ve read by you, haha.
I think if you reserved the criticism of the club for select times and didn’t rant every time you posted people here would not mind you.
Do you ever wonder how Monkey boy got this much shot power on his left foot. I’ll bet he tightly tapes his toes so that they will be dense and with out blood flow. By the way today’s game was a massive win. All the Tottenham fans had their fingers crossed on their right hand and their testicles squeezed on their left [that’s what they do for luck …….seriously speaking]. The poor cunts probably thought that Monkey boy’s goal would put pressure on us and that it would paralize our motivation, I’ll bet my good unsqueezed testcles that, that was… Read more »
That actually made sense for a change!
Are you high?
Sugar high.
I tell you it doesnt get any better than this [Reading Arseblog while eating your birth day cake]
Um I actually totally agree with you. Hold on while I go check if hell has froze over, brb.
3 points in the bag. Lets hope results go our way before our next game. Hope the war chest isn’t a myth.
I’m not sure I can endure two more games of Arsenal playing like this.
It’s like watching eleven players walking a tight rope over ninety-odd minutes.
And if anyone thinks Wigan or Newcastle will be as disinterested as QPR were today, then it’s time to think again.
Just hateful.
Our final ball was once again atrocious. We got into fantastic situations on countless occasions only to mess up the crucial pass. Sagna also offers nothing going foward but with Theo and Santi tending to come infield there was often a lack of width, we also fail to get enough men in the box. I thought Rosicky did ok again but i really feel Santi’s at this most effective in the hole. We should try Theo up top, have Poldi on the left and give Ox a go from the start on the right against Wigan i feel.
Im looking forward to next season. If we can keep our defence this solid consistency, couple decent additions. Ridding of deadwood, good youngsters up and coming. Good years ahead…..
Red nose better play a strong side against the chavs tomorrow.
I think people criticizing Giroud can now see what he contributes to the team. Poldi and Walcott fighting for a header in the middle of the park…give me a break. And when Poldi or Theo were in good positions down the flanks there was absolutely nobody in the box that could have gotten to the end of a cross. Now that is not to say that we don’t need a new striker, not getting at least one top quality striker this summer would be a disaster. But hopefully people have seen in these last two games that Giroud is contributing… Read more »
I agree we missed him today but don’t forget he played against Fulham and we were even worse in that game against 10 men. I think Giroud is a good squad player to have but it’s clear we desperately need a top class CF who will start 80-90% of games
Giroud is also very handy when we defend set-pieces.