Ade Long Legs had peeled off his marker. The Togonator turned provider as he headed the ball back inside to Eduardo, who controlled it on his chest with his back to goal and in the same movement swivelled to acrobatically volley it home from six-yards out.

Match Review – Manchester City 1 Arsenal 3 – Premier League

Before I get into reviewing the game, let me first thank our colleagues from down the road for (nearly) doing a number on the Mancs, and our old friends Sol, Ralph and Diarra for putting the frighteners on Chelski. It was a shame that neither side could beat our title rivals, especially Spuds as they came mighty close. After watching our game I went to mate’s place to watch the rugby and knew it was 1-0 to the Totts. I refrained from checking the score ‘til it was over and wasn’t best pleased to find out that it had finished 1-1, but it came as no great surprise. Upon finding out that they equalised with the last kick of the game I was livid, but have since calmed down. Why? Because at the beginning of the day if someone had offered me a win coupled with the Mancs and Chavs drawing, I would have bitten their hand off.

Going into the day it was clear that this was a big weekend and that any of the three could steal a march on their rivals given the tough tasks ahead. Although on paper we were faced with the toughest against a City side with an excellent unbeaten home record in the league, in truth they were a team on the wane compared to a resurgent Totteringham and the ever-dangerous Pompey, both of whom we have faced over the past five weeks with little joy. So it was imperative that we got a victory, not just for the sake of it but also because we were first up. Over the last couple of seasons I’ve noticed that of the teams at the top, those playing after their rivals have been under more pressure and sometimes cracked under it. Such is the way these days with TV scheduling that anytime we play before the other two we have to make the most of it.

Although we settled quickly into our stride the first real whiff of a chance fell to the home team. The clever Elano chipped it through our defence and Stephen Ireland stayed marginally onside, but as the ball bounced it skipped away from him and Jens (in for the injured Almunia) gathered it close to the edge of the box. Then in the ninth minute came the opener. Hleb gathered from a Petrov mistake and found Sagna on the overlap. The Frenchman had a lot to do but powered past Michael Ball as if he wasn’t there and squared to find Ade, whose shot ricocheted off the lunging Micah Richards and into the back of the net. The finish may have been scrappy but the build-up wasn’t; winning the ball high up the pitch and pouncing accordingly.

The second came fifteen minutes later. Again it was Petrov in possession, faring better this time as he bested Hleb and Cesc but ran into Gallas. The skipper calmly laid it back to Jens to hoof and Dunne made a hash of his clearance. The ball fell kindly to Ade and in a matter of seconds we swept it from left to right across the pitch via the feet of Ade, Eddie, Cesc and Diaby. Again the recipient was a French full-back, this time Gael bombing down the left flank. He forgoed the chance to run at his man and instead stood it up to the back post where Ade Long Legs had peeled off his marker. The Togonator turned provider as he headed the ball back inside to Eduardo, who controlled it on his chest with his back to goal and in the same movement swivelled to acrobatically volley it home from six-yards out. I’m sure I’ve seen him score an identical goal like that for Crozilia. That was the archetypal modern day poacher’s goal, albeit with a hint of offside, but we got no luck whatsoever here last season so I guess what goes around eventually comes around.

2-0 up with just 25 minutes gone, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we would walk this game, as we did in the 2002/03 season when we spanked them 5-1 here. But that did not prove to be the case and it was all of our own making. Umpteen times this season I have seen us try to play the ball out from defence and almost as many times we have been successful in doing so. However it is such a high-risk strategy that if it goes wrong, we’re buggered. And that’s exactly what happened here. Trying to shield the ball out for a regulation goal-kick it was obvious that there wasn’t enough pace on the ball for it to go out. Gael had two sensible options: either pass it back to Jens or hoof it out for a throw/corner. Unfortunately he took the infinitely more dangerous third option. Perhaps mindful of Jens’ gaffe way back in the first game of the season against Fulham he declined to lay it back to the keeper, and then instead of aiming for Row Z he tried to dribble his way out of trouble but ran straight into the brick wall of Corluka. The Croat advanced and squared to Gelson Fernandes, who made no mistake in slotting home with Jens stranded and Phil and Willy unable to block it on the line. As Homer Simpson would say: d’oh! If my memory serves me correctly, that is Gael’s first real mistake of the season. Unsurprisingly it comes on the back of his first international call-up too. But we forgive him because he is ten times the man Cashley Hole is. Cheating on Cheryl Tweedy is like swapping Perrier for toilet water.

So instead of being able to cruise through to half-time we were likely to be under the cosh. That didn’t stop us creating chances though, particularly a couple of headers from Ade. The first he sent harmlessly over from a free-kick; the second was altogether a lot closer. Once again it was Sagna on the overlap causing havoc, this time he dinked the ball and Ade rose unmarked to meet it. While he directed his header well and it had the requisite power, a little lower and it might have done the trick but Hart made a good save at a decent stretch, even if it was at a save-able height. I like the look of Hart, if our Spanglish keeper doesn’t fully convert to Englishism then Hart may be a viable shot for the England no.1 shirt. Cesc too came mighty close to extending our lead as he narrowly failed to connect with Willy’s lash across the face of the box. In fact one might say that if Cesc had a larger ego (i.e. a bigger head) then he could have nodded it in. The closest City came to grabbing an equaliser before the break was from Petrov but he dragged his shot wide from 18-yards out.

Just like against Fulham a fortnight ago, Le Boss switched the formation at half-time by moving Eduardo over to the left. In the first-half I thought he might do this at some stage but failed to see how it could happen as Hleb is the usual spare man in midfield while Eboue/Rosicky/Theo can cover the right. This time it was Hleb who stayed on the right and Diaby who shored up the middle in his favoured position. It is a clever ploy by Monsieur Wenger: start with two up-front, get our noses in front, then become as compact as possible with a five-man midfield but remaining a threat down the flanks on the break. I reckon as the season progresses we will see this tactic being employed more and more. Despite having a man less up-front we still controlled the game for the majority of the half. Only rarely did we come under sustained pressure, and even then it wasn’t as if we were hanging on for dear life. Cesc could and should have made it a whole lot more comfortable on the hour. The Flamster and Hleb played a neat one-two down the right which saw Hleb crossing low for Ade. It was slightly behind him so instead of going for glory himself he smartly laid it back to Cesc but the Spaniard “ballooned” his effort (apologies to any City fans are reading this, but I had to use that pun at least once).

Cesc nearly atoned for that miss when he received the ball from Diaby and threaded a sumptuous first-time pass through the City defence. Ade bustled through Dunne and Richards and appeared to be brought down. The Arsenal faithful behind the goal were screaming for a penalty but the ref didn’t budge. Having seen the replay neither defender won the ball but they didn’t actually foul Ade either so it was probably the correct decision. Pleasing to see Diaby involved in the play; if/when he learns to release the ball earlier instead of attempting one dribble too many then he has all the ability and potential to become the second coming of PV4.

Jens, who thus far had little to do bar picking the ball out of the net, was finally called into meaningful action in the final quarter of the match. A ball came over the top of our defence and with Vassell looking to race onto it the Krazy Kraut did well to react quickly and get there first. He also did well to come wide of his goal on the right and clear once, taking no unnecessary risks in the process. Then with just ten minutes left Ade and Eddie nearly pulled off a clever exchange of passes that would have seen the Togo man through on goal, the clearance eventually falling to Cesc thirty-yards out but the Spaniard’s wickedly swerving shot went wide of the post.

As the clock inched towards the ninety-minute mark it all became a bit tense, moreso for the fans than the players who continued to express themselves and look for a third. The Blues from West London would have just looked to close the game out, hell even our own “Invincibles” side were fond of keeping the ball in the corner. But not this batch of players. Whilst our counter-attacking may not be as rapier-like as it was between 2002 and 2004 it can still pay dividends. This was evident with two minutes remaining. We hastily cleared from the edge of our box and Ade battled to win it up-front. He turned and ran past Elano but was cynically tripped by the Brazilian. Fair play to the ref for letting the game continue, and even more kudos goes to Ade. Upon being fouled like that most players would sit on their arses and continue to moan, but not this lad. Such is his hunger for goals that he picked himself up and drove into the box in anticipation of an opportunity presenting itself. Cesc and Alex linked up and at the end of it Corluka foiled Hleb’s attempt to meet Cesc’s pass. The rebound fell kindly to Ade who had ghosted into the box unmarked and he made no mistake with a real finishers’ finish, sidefooting the ball with considerable power into the bottom corner. Game over and a job very well done. The away fans belted out Ade’s new anthem with glee, along with some obscure ditty about being top of the league…

A quick thought regarding our full-backs before I wrap up: Sagna was quite awesome – rampant going forward and solid in defence, both on the floor and aerially against a very good player in Martin Petrov. And although Clichy was at fault for their equaliser, he recovered well and, lest we forget, had a hand in the Eduardo goal. His crossing has improved beyond imagination in such a short space of time, maybe David Beckham has been teaching him a thing or two. Both full-backs are French, so if Domenech has any sense then three-quarters of his backline will be Gooner. Here’s something for you to mull over: despite Gael having a relative ‘mare here, can anyone name a better full-back pairing than our current incumbents? Drop us a line in the comments section.

No doubts about Top Gun, that accolade goes to Ade. In his post-match interview with Sky he mentioned that he was a “little child”. And that’s probably the only mistake he made all day – you ain’t a little kid Ade…you’re the daddy.