I hate to say “I told you so”, but…well…I told you so! Like I mentioned back then, given his youth and inexperience and the fact that Clichy is such an accomplished left-back

Match Review – Arsenal 1 Everton 0 – Premier League

So The Arse completed an unbeaten home season in what was the most end-of-season games possible. The Mancs’ win on Saturday meant that our very slim title hopes had finally evaporated and so a lack of urgency was expected. The early kick-off didn’t help either as fans and players alike took a while to get going. When I saw the fixture list at the start of the season, this one always stuck in my mind as being the one where we could be crowned Champions. Not because of confidence or arrogance, but because exactly 10 years ago we beat Everton at Highbury 4-0 to seal the title. Unfortunately the events of the past few months meant that the feat was not to be repeated :’(

Le Boss kept the majority of the team from the hammering of Derby, with the exception of Bendtner for Robin van Precautionarie and Goalberto for the injured Cesc Fabregas, who was celebrating his 21st birthday. My sources tell me that he overdid the partying on Saturday night and had one Krispy Kreme too many. Prior to kick-off the cameras showed Flamini and Hleb smiling and laughing with Cesc in the tunnel. From what I could tell, and from the post-game lap of honour, Flamini is off (as I type this Milan are making noises) but Hleb may stay. Call it a hunch.

The game began and two of the stars of Monday night were looking bright: Messrs Bendtner and Walcott, with the former dropping deep behind Ade and the latter looking threatening out wide. We all know about Theo’s pace and dribbling, but what impressed me was his touch in confined spaces. The young ENGLISHMAN had our first shot of the game with an attempted curler that didn’t bend enough. Then the Big Dane floated a peach of a ball over the Everton defence but Gilberto couldn’t direct his header. It was a fantastic pass though.

Theo started well, but faded thereafter. Not due to tiredness or lack of form, but because from twenty minutes onwards most of our play came from the right and the two Ivorians, Toure and Eboue. As we all know, Toure has not had the best of seasons since the African Nations but has stored up enough goodwill amongst the fans from his past performances. Eboue on the other hand has no goodwill. He had a shocker, and my overriding feeling towards him was pity rather than frustration. So many times during the game did he try a pass that didn’t come off, or a cross that was blocked, and the man was nearly in tears. He looks like the kind of guy who needs a consoling arm around him when things are going wrong, so having the fans constantly on his back cannot be of help. He has the potential to be a decent right-midfielder; I say give him one more season out there (not necessarily as a starter) and hope for a tangible improvement. If it’s not happening, then he should be kept solely as cover for Sagna.

One man who has been scapegoated in the past like Mr. Eboue is Alexandre Song Billong. Booed to the rafters away at Fulham last season, the man has been transformed this year. Whilst the African Nations has seen Kolo’s and Eboue’s performances drop, the boy Song has come back reinvigorated. Signs of his talent were there to see in last season’s astonishing 6-3 result in the Carling Cup at Anfield where he played a pretty good midfield enforcer, but this season his best performances have come at centre-half, and this game was no different. I particularly liked the way he looked to attack the ball in the air, it’s a shame that he is similar in stature to Gallas and Toure otherwise he could become a good complement to either of them. His versatility and Flamini’s impending departure means that he should get a good few games next season and hopefully he can become a decent utility man like Gilles Grimandi.

With 25 minutes gone, the defence was caught square high up the field and Fernandes knocked a ball into the path of Andy Johnson. Fabianski could have come for it but decided not to and it was probably the correct decision as he was in a good position to save Johnson’s drive with his feet. From the resulting corner a combination of Fabianski and Denilson on the line managed to avoid us going a goal down from a Jagielka header. The visitors had begun to come out of their shell and as they grew in confidence we took the direct route; a Toure long-ball was neatly controlled by an onside Ade but his finished lacked power and direction.

It took half-an-hour, but the crowd and players had finally woken up. Bendtner and Eboue then exchanged passes and the Ivorian moved in goal but his cross/shot was deflected behind. The ensuing corner saw Gilberto head wide. In fact the majority of our threat in the first-half had been aerially. As the first 45 drew to a close, another corner was won. Gilberto, unmarked, rose highest but couldn’t keep his header down; and then in injury time Eboue finally did something positive as his whipped cross was met by Ade but glanced wide. Half-time.

The second-half began with a flurry of corners for the home side but didn’t result in any clear-cut chances, the closest we came was when a Gallas cut-back wasn’t convincingly cleared by Everton and nearly resulted in an own goal. Our corners range from the sublime to ridiculous: often failing to beat the first man, and when they do they usually have too much power and end up near the opposing corner flag. But from time to time we can produce the odd humdinger and have definitely upped our threat from set-pieces this season, if we can continue to improve this faucet of our game then it should yield an extra five goals next year.

Twenty minutes of the half had passed without much incident and then came the biggest cheer of the day when we made a double substitution. Jens came on for Fabianski for a well-earned Ashburton farewell but it was his fellow substitute, Armand Traore, who livened up the proceedings. Playing in a more advanced left-wing role where has been frequenting for the reserves, he looked like a man as opposed to the boy he looks like at left-back. Recently he said in an interview with official website that he wanted to “do an Eboue”, i.e. play further up the field, and he certainly grabbed his chance with both hands here. He’d only been on for ten minutes when he got on the end of a Bendtner pass, bided his time well before digging out a peach of a cross for the leaping Dane to meet and plant into the corner past Howard’s despairing dive. The deadlock was broken and the classic “1-0 to the Arsenal” reverberated around the stadium.

A word on Traore. In my mid-season review back in December, here’s what I wrote about him:

“Highlight – a sumptuous cross for Bendtner in the Kids’ game against Newcastle. Oh and taking knuckle-dusters to the Lane.”

“Lowlight – getting rinsed at Sevilla, which wasn’t his fault seeing as he had no protection in front of him. He should emerge stronger for it.”

“Future prospects – if the insider reports are anything to go by, he has a sparkling future at Arsenal. Apparently he has developed into one of the quickest and strongest players in the squad and supposedly has a fearsome shot. He is crossing is none too bad either, as evidenced by his ball for Bendtner against Newcastle in the Carling Cup. With Gael blocking his path at full-back, I foresee an Eboue-esque switch for him: pushing him forward into midfield to dovetail with Gael.”

I hate to say “I told you so”, but…well…I told you so! Like I mentioned back then, given his youth and inexperience and the fact that Clichy is such an accomplished left-back, I’ve felt that he might be better suited to playing as a left-winger. He has recently featured in this position a few times for the reserves and has even got in amongst the goals from there. His physical attributes are obvious and for a kid blessed with his pace and strength it always seemed like an advanced position would be a better fit for him, especially at this early stage of his career where his defensive nous isn’t up to scratch. I’ve always been impressed with his crossing – it’s certainly better than Clichy’s.

Only ten minutes remained and with Everton needing a point to secure European football, they brought on Yakubu and Anichebe to force the issue. We responded by bringing Big Phil on in place of Ade, who got a rousing reception for his efforts this season. Jens got involved as he fielded a speculative long-range effort from Fernandes, and that was the most we were tested. In fact we could have even grabbed a second as Theo and Bendtner linked up well but ended up overplaying as the chance eventually went begging. A bit of ruthlessness from either would have been nice to see. Traore then exhibited his confidence by unleashing a howitzer from all of 35-yards that swerved wide. There was still time for a crucial intervention by Alex Song as he intercepted a through pass that would have seen Everton through on goal. The Cameroonian slid to stop the ball and Big Phil did the mopping up, ensuring that Mad Jens would end his Arsenal career with a clean sheet.

As is customary at the end of a home campaign, the fans were treated to a lap of honour. Even though the home support had not once departed from the Grove with the nasty tingle of defeat all season, you can’t help but feel that the “celebrations” were muted by the overwhelming feeling of “what might have been”. Still, it was nice to see Jens get a deserved send-off. He may be a nutter (correction…he IS a nutter), but at least he was our nutter. Would be nice to see him excel for his national team this summer.

So Sunderland next weekend before the players head off for either the Euros or the beach. I guess the team selection will depend on Chelsea’s result with Newcastle and whether or not second place is still achievable. If it is, expect to see a similar lineup to this one. If, as is more likely, the Chavs have put the runners-up spot out of our reach then look out for the likes of Wilshere and Barazite as Le Boss gives the more established stars a worthy rest. It is only the second time in the Club’s history that the team has gone the entire campaign unbeaten at home in all competitions, so despite all that has transpired since February, I cannot help but feel that we’re only an extra 5%-10% away from greatness.

UPDATE: just watched Carlos Vela against Real Madrid, who sealed La Liga with an amazing comeback victory. Needing a win to guarantee the title, they went down to 10-men at the beginning of the second-half and fell a goal behind to an Osasuna penalty. But goals in the 86th and 88th minute saw them grab the kind of victory that defines Champions. As for Vela, he wasn’t as impressive as in the reverse fixture at the Bernabeu where he picked up the man-of-the-match award, but still posed a threat. There was an unsavoury incident where he started waving around an imaginary yellow card following the award of the penalty, that kind of crap will need to be ironed out. He’ll take his time to settle so we shouldn’t expect too much, too soon. Look for him to have the kind of season Walcott had this time; a slow start but eventually blossoming into a real impact player.