I always begin my match day blog with a quick glance at the official fixture list. Living in fear of writing an irreverent and irrelevant few hundred words in anticipation of a visit from Brighton and Hove Albion on the day the team are actually travelling to Scunthorpe is a heavy cross to bear. I was shocked when opening the appropriate page to count only three games remaining on the roster. The end seems to be rushing toward us with undue haste.
I have to be honest with you while I shall attempt to enjoy those last three fixtures just as much as the first one it will be nice not to think about football at all for a few short months. The negativity surrounding the club which is, as we all know, the result of many years of deliberate campaigning by those lovely people in the press and on the television, makes supporting Arsenal like swimming through sewage.
Even this positive blog is more often than not taken up with defending our position against the poor saps who have been engulfed into the swirling waters of despair and the numbers of genuinely positive posters here has dwindled to a mere handful. In short the fun has been sucked from what is supposed to be an enjoyable pastime. Bravo. Congratulations to all those who have made this possible.
It’s a shame because not only has this been a truly exciting and fascinating season with some famous victories and shock defeats and more silverware for the trophy cabinet but the end is still uncertain. There is still much to play for and something of a cup final in Manchester next Sunday as, in all probability, we duke it out with City for a third place finish. What Liverpool, Chelsea or Man United fans wouldn’t give to swap places with us. A shame that we aren’t in it for higher stakes but you can only play the cards in your hand.
To keep the pressure on City we need to overcome a Norwich side engaged in their own desperate end of term scrap. They’re level with Sunderland and a mere point above Newcastle and it seems likely that only one of these three will survive. So another highly motivated, physical side to overcome at the Emirates. Let’s us hope all the malcontents stay away from the stadium once again. The improvement in the atmosphere will make life so much easier for our players to get the job done.
I don’t anticipate it being an easy task today. Obdurate defending and counter attacking football will be the order of the day. Expect much talk along the lines of “We’re not moving the ball fast enough” or “The final pass is letting us down” or “We’re not working the keeper enough” as our silky approach play comes up against the massed ranks of a packed ten man defence. Actually my personal favourite is “Why can’t we beat sides who park the bus?” This is of course a huge steaming pile of bollocks. A silly statements and yet so often repeated. We usually do beat those sides because it is how most teams play us and we win most of our matches. Apologies to Shotta for straying into his statistical territory.
Norwich’s away form has not been impressive lately. They’ve won once and lost the rest of their last six games. We have only lost once at home in our previous half dozen matches and so if form is anything to go by at all then we have no reason to be fearful going into our teatime kick off. Form is of course an ever shifting, malleable intangible beast which can suddenly change up on you. This season more than ever those in the habit of predicting results have too often been stymied. Of more importance is what is at stake. Both sides have much to play for. I was going to say much to prove but it won’t matter to the howling degenerates in the press nor their devoted subjects what Arsenal do today as their narrative is set in stone.
It’s a shame. I used to love football. After the week I’ve had today’s match would have been something diverting. Something to which I could have looked forward with excitement and anticipation of a couple of hours of top class entertainment. Instead I’m here with my tin hat on in the bunker with the last handful of other loyalists fingering their suicide pills and listening as the artillery shells fall ever closer.
So let’s gather together and sing a song or two. The barbarians are at the gate and have laid waste much of our beautiful land. Enjoy watching a team consistently battling near the top of the table for however long we have left. When Arsène’s glorious reign is finally over the fall will be steep and painful. Prepare yourselves for battles for ninth place with West Brom and Liverpool, Stoke and Everton, for as it is written, the bleak shall surely inherit the earth.
Positively Arsenal 
37 minutes – afc corner, Koscienly heads over
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41 minutes – cech with a fine save
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45 minutes – norwich shoot wide
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46 minutes – bassong elbows giroud in the jaw, but no booking
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47 minutes – per heads way wide
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HT: 0-0
Arsenal have not been great so far, not had a shot on target, Norwich have made Cech make 3 fine saves.
Lots of possession, but final ball, shot lacking. Many moves have broke down at Alexis.
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Chris Wheatley @GoonerTalk 44m44 minutes ago
Hundreds of Arsenal fans hold up their Time For Change placards. Rest of the fans break out in ‘there’s only one Arsene Wenger’.
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I’d have Welbeck and Wilshere on for second half
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46 minutes – giroud tries to find iwobi with a header down, but it goes over iwobi and norwich break away
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47 minutes – ozil nearly has his jersy pulled off him but no free.
per limping, he took a knock in last attack when he dwelt on the ball
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49 minutes – per off, Gabirel on, per seems to have pulled a hamstring
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team playing like they are really lacking in confidence, everything is labored
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54 minutes – crowd trying to lift the team with “come on Arsenal”
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Welbeck getting ready to come on
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55 minutes – Welbeck on for Iwobi, idiot fans booing
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56 minutes – welbeck to elneny, shot deflected out for a corner
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59 minutes – Giroud heads down to Welbeck and he buries it – 1-0 to the Arsenal
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that was Arsenal’s first shot on target
Welbeck’s 50th BPL goal of his career
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60 minutes – ball hits norwich defenders arm, no penalty given, probably rightly
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Dat Guy!
Enjoying the radio commentary now hehe
If his knee hadn’t been scaring the hell out of coaches player and physios alike for most of the season if not still…
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63 minutes – poor challenge on elneny but no booking
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64 minutes – alexis shoots wide form edge of the area
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67 minutes – norwich sub on, and they are going 2 up front
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69 minutes – Gabriel with a great challenge to stop a good goal chance, ball out for a corner
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79 minutes – ozil with an outstanding pass to alexis, but his shot is straight at the keeper
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73 minutes – ozil with a shot from edge of the area, keeper tips it over, but goalkick given
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so many of our attacks have broken down at alexis
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77 minutes – Naismith on for Brady
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didn’t notice any protest on 78 minutes
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80 minutes – bellerin ushers the ball out for a goalkick
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82 minutes – Elneny long range shot tipped over by ruddy
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83 minutes – good hustle by Welbeck to earn a throw in
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84 minutes – alexis off, coquelin on
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85 minutes – ozil booked, either for a high foot or for ignoring the ref, not sure which
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86 minutes – Norwich freekick on edge of the area after gabriel heads back of naismiths head
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87 minutes – ramsey livid with giroud for not going for his pass, giroud believed he was offside, no replay shown so not sure, but he did look offside
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4 minutes of stoppage time to be played
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FT: 1-0 to the arsenal
welbeck made a massive impact, not only with his goal, but his overall game improved us a lot.
AFC 2pts off spurs, and if we win our last two games the lowest we finish is 3rd
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Positively Arsenal @Blackburngeorge 37s38 seconds ago Blackburn, England
Sanchez had an absolute mare. If we play like that at City we will get spanked.
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Not a pretty game, but it was absolutely essential to win. Especially with a determined Norwich and a referee who gave fouls according to two very different standards.
An organised Wenger Out protest (regardless of what they say), vs a spontaneous chant in support of Wenger. Who came out on top? Idiots also booed at the very substitution that resulted in us winning the game. Wenger does no tactics though.
Hope Per is ok. But if not, time for Chambers to be ready to be brought into the fold. We need to beat City in the penultimate game. Come on Arsenal!
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The Norwich Goalkeeper spoiled the script! In my dream it was 2 – 0 and Elneny scored a wonder strike. It was close, but no cigar!
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The protest was a success. It galvanised the silent majority to find their voice. Crowd was more vocal and supportive than I’ve heard for a while, though I personally had the misfortune to be sat next to a group of entitled season ticket holders who think turning up for every game and spending it parroting the media narrative is the same as support!
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12 minutes ? Maybe 250 bits of paper waved
78 minutes (when I noticed it)? Maybe half that
Hilarious effort on the part of the various ‘groups’ who claim to speak on behalf of Arsenal supporters
You are, and always have been, a fucking joke.
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How positively refreshing.. I’ve seen an Arsenal game, and I have a smile on my face.
Why? Because we won? Partly, because that always gives me happiness. But because the stadium got behind the team and the manager, got after those that would wish ill on them, and exposed the lie that it is getting ‘unanimous’ that Wenger has to go.
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Uber-bloggers queuing outside with egg all over their invariably smug faces – shall I send them away Stew ?
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Apparently it’s only those who don’t go who support Arsene, well that’s another myth busted. It provoked the biggest chorus of one Arsene Wenger heard for a while. While there is no disguising frustration among fans generally people do not want to disrespect Arsene.
The twitter hacks have lost again many will be gutted this evening, you know like we are when ARSENAL lose.
You can almost hear the sound of agenda’s being ripped up and thinking of new reasons something needs to change. It’s nice to get two victories from the same match.
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Yup.
Reports from the ground tell me that:
“The protest was rubbish”
What a bunch of yadda yadda yadda. When you think about the reams of grit ground into the dirt, the hours of gibberish dribbled over the ether then it is all quite funny.
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anicol they not only claim to speak for Arsenal supporters, they claim that the vast majority both inside and outside the stadium are Wenger out, I bet that they will now be shifting the goal posts again, with some excuse like the Wenger outs actually boycotted the game and it was only tourists who turned up today. Funny thing is that their claims that the vast majority of non regulars(tourists) are Wenger out now, so it must be something about being at the game that changes the views of these tourists. Maybe its being in the presence of our greatest ever manager, maybe its something far more mundane such as when they see the knobs that are fronting these protests they realize only idiots would support it, monster raving loony party rejects.
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so that is the Barcelona game boycott busted and now the Norwich game A4 protest busted, only the Aston Villa game left, what could they try for it, maybe a banner flyover, but that don’t get their faces on TV or in the newspapers, any suggestions lads, what can they try for our last game.
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