Like I say, when Ade is focused in staying in the middle and leaving all the creative stuff to the midfielders, he is twice as threatening

Ok so maybe that headline isn’t always true, but midway through the second-half it was the chant/hymn that broke from the travelling support and I just can’t get it out of my head!

A mixture of traffic and dodgy trains saw myself, Dschin, DJ and Tweety (who was attending her first Arsenal game) eventually reach Putney Bridge at five to three. Crap. So we decided to a jog and then eventually hurried ourselves into a full-pelt sprint, before running out of breath and resorting to power-walking. Having successfully negotiated our way through the puddles and mud of Bishop’s Park we got to Craven Cottage five minutes after kick-off. It was still 0-0 and I assumed we had not missed much, although having seen the highlights I now know that Danny Murphy skewed a shot wide. On the walk/jog/sprint to the stadium we could hear the Arsenal faithful inside the ground making a lot of noise – even the other Gooners traipsing through the bog of Bishop’s Park at the same time us were pretty raucous – and I told Tweety to expect much of the same for the forthcoming ninety minutes. She was not to be disappointed. Whilst at the Emirates the silence can be deafening, that is never the case away from home and so it proved with a very good performance from the 12th man, especially compared our Fulham counterparts who were pretty piss poor.

Fulham began with five across the middle and early on it looked like they might overrun us with extra man, but we soon clicked into gear. Clichy, Rosicky and Hleb linked up down the left and the ball was teed up for Cesc on the edge of the box but he dragged his shot wide. The little Spaniard also had our next attempt, this time ballooning his half-volley high and wide after Ade laid if off to him. On twenty minutes we got the breakthrough and it had been coming. In derby matches, especially away from home, the first goal is so vital. Were the home team to nick it then coming from behind would be ultra difficult. But if it goes in our favour then we can sit back, soak up their pressure and hit them on the break. And so it proved; Hleb came deep to pick up the ball from the defence and through the eye of a needle he found Rosicky in acres of space on the left touchline. The Little Mozart stepped in and then moved it wide to Gael on the overlap, who hit an inch-perfect cross which Ade climbed to meet. Although he had men around him it was as good as a free header, such was the spring in his leap, and he nodded it away from Niemi and into the corner. As Le Boss said after the game, Ade can be deadly in the air but too often he gets involved in the build-up play outside the box. When he stays in the middle, just like he did against Villa, he can cause havoc. Also a mention must go to Gael for bombing down the wing to provide the option – recently I have seen that his attacking instincts have been somewhat curbed and he has barely ventured forward in comparison to his early season marauding runs, so it was a welcome break to see him get to the byline and then float in a beauty of a cross, as that it is the one department in which he has previously been lacking.

Like I say, when Ade is focused in staying in the middle and leaving all the creative stuff to the midfielders, he is twice as threatening. This was proved when Cesc chipped a ball through to him but the big man could not keep his toe-poke down. But he wasn’t to be denied a second, which duly came with five minutes of the half remaining and was the result of another cross. Flamini fought hard to win possession back and his tackle saw the ball break to Hleb on the right flank. Just as everyone (including myself) expected him to either cut inside or play a square pass, he decided to be David Beckham and flighted in a great cross which Ade – who else? – rose to meet. This header was even better than his first goal as he manufactured the neck strength to send the ball back across the goal to put us two-nil up. So much for being one-dimensional eh? Not only can we score from our usual pretty passing patterns and the route one stuff, but also from crosses. In fact I’d venture to say that we’re probably better served with the latter two options these days as opposing teams tend to flood the middle of the park to stop us passing them to shreds.

“Jump up if you’re two-nil up” was the cry from the travelling fans heading into the break. Although Fulham very nearly pulled one back at the death via our old friend from the Lane, Danny Murphy, who came within inches of changing the outlook of the game. A square ball from the Fulham left rolled across the edge of our area but Murphy leant back and his sidefoot sailed inches over the bar. Good news at half-time came from the knowledge that the Mancs and Chavs were being held, but that was never going to last. I guess all we can do is simply keep winning our games and any points the other two drop can count as a bonus, there is no point relying on other teams to do us a favour.

Jimmy Bullard came on at the beginning of the second period, probably to raise their fans’ spirit as much as Fulham’s performance. Last week against Brum we fell asleep at the beginning of the half thereby allowed the opposition to claw their way back into the game, so it was imperative we didn’t do the same this time. Signalling our intentions from the off, we pushed forward instead of dropping our tempo and inviting pressure. It was interesting to note that we’d changed our formation as Hleb came central, thereby pushing Eduardo to the left and Rosicky to the right. In the past I’ve lamented this tactic because it inhibits our Fox in t’Box and isolates Ade, but that is usually when it is adopted from the start. When we are ahead then converting to this is an astute move because it gives an extra body in the middle whilst affording us more penetration out wide on the counter-attack. Before this game you may have thought that Eduardo could not hack it out wide, but he proved that theory wrong as early as the five minutes into the half. The Crozilian twisted and turned through two Fulham defenders on the left touchline and then accelerated past another before clipping the ball into the box which was met by Tomas. At the time I couldn’t tell whether it had hit the woodwork or been tipped wide, but it was nice to see Eduardo showing his stuff out wide and a midfielder arriving late in the box.

Then the defining moment of the game: the birth of Ade’s new chant. I was sitting directly behind the goal and heard a very slow, deliberate, almost morose din coming from the left of me. I didn’t quite know what was being sung until the volume picked up, and the song went on and on and on…it was great! People who were streaming the game and some Fulham fans we met afterwards asked me what it was all about, so you knew it was audible enough to have made an impact. When we were singing it I turned to Dschin and remarked that if Ade went through on goal, the song would jinx him and he would probably miss. For those of you who weren’t there, here is the video

Just as we were going through the first rendition of the song, Fulham had a goal disallowed. In hindsight any three of their players could have been flagged for offside, but as we were sitting on the opposite end of the ground it was a heart-stopping moment until we saw the lino with his flag raised. Good thing it was offside or we would have been in for a very uncomfortable twenty minute period. Instead we went from strength to strength and produced some of our best flowing football. Immediately after that disallowed goal we caught them on the break as Hleb advanced down the right and playing it through for Ade. Niemi just got there before the Togonator and was rewarded for his bravery with a nasty knock to his head as he was caught by the big man’s trailing leg. Completely unintentional of course, but it was nonetheless surprising that the home fans did not come with the usual “same old Arsenal, always cheating” bollocks. Five minutes later we constructed the best move of the game. Hleb, who was thriving in the central role, led the Fulham defence a merry dance down the right before cutting it back to Rosicky, who slipped it through first-time for Cesc. With Ade in the middle and Eduardo arriving at the back post it looked he got caught in two minds and in the end his prod goalwards found neither man nor net. I turned to DJ and he only had one word for it: “orgasmic”. The third goal wasn’t too far off and it came following another glorious counter. Cesc played the ball through for Eduardo down the inside left channel, the Crozilian beat his man and crossed low for the diving Rosicky who connected and sent it into the bottom corner. Game over.

Dschin was giving me the jitters by constantly checking his phone to get the latest score from the Manc and Chav games, and it was no surprise to find out that both were leading. That did not put a dampener on the day though; it merely increased the fans’ call for more goals to help us in the goal difference stakes. Normally I err on the side of caution and in a position like this just want the final whistle to come ASAP so we can preserve our clean sheet, but even I didn’t want the game to end as we searched for a fourth. We should have had a stone cold penalty as Hleb was tugged in the box but the ref, who was looking straight at the incident, played the sympathy card and refused to award it. We even had further shout for a pen when it seemed a Fulham defender handled in the box as Eduardo looked to flick it over him, but again no luck. The final chance came when Hleb crossed from the left and Rosicky again flew in to meet it. This time however he could not connect cleanly as the ball came at him at a very dodgy height. So in the end no fourth goal to put the icing on the cake but that wasn’t too much of downer – had you offered me a 3-0 win at the start of the day, I (and I’m sure many of you) would’ve taken it without any qualms whatsoever.

I’m not going to go into too much detail regarding individual player performances as Mean Lean has done a fine job of it in his MyVision, but I will echo his sentiments when he says that we may be better served playing Hleb on the left and Rosicky on the right. My reasoning for this is that when he is on the right, Hleb has only one option – to cut into traffic onto his left peg. On the right he doesn’t have the burning pace to get past the fullback, whereas on the left he seems more at home because he can cut in onto his stronger right foot and thread a pass through (see Cesc’s goal at Anfield). The Belarusian gets my vote for Top Gun of the day, but Ade ran him close.

On the journey home me and Dschin got the usual abuse and taunting from Spuds fans – which is ironic because it is us who have enjoyed the upper hand over them for the better part of a decade – although you feel the irony is lost on them. Whilst were stuck at Putney Bridge a couple of older Arsefans got wind of the fact that this was Tweety’s first Arsenal game and they asked her whether she would go to more, to which she replied with an emphatic “yes”. She did however say that our play was a bit sloppy at times, but I guess those expecting champagne football will never be pleased by a simple Rosé 😉

Three points closer to our destiny, the birth of a new Arsenal anthem, and yet another fan bitten by the Arsenal bug – all in all, a good day for those in red and white.