Arsenal
Eduardo turns provider – a tale of two misses
Third Round
By Boris Mellor
January 6 2008
Lafferty went from near hero to zero in this evenly contested tie. On about six minutes he hit the bar from a free header, if he had scored Arsenal may have been in real trouble. In the second half, he went to zero, red carded for a reckless challenge on Gilberto. He had gone over the ball and caught the Brazilian’s shin.
Only three minutes after Lafferty’s miss Kolo turned playmaker with a delightful chip over the Burnley defence, leaving Eduardo clear on goal. Silva made no mistake leaving the keeper with no chance.
The second miss of note was Eduardo’s only six minutes after the restart, a great pass from Bendtner and the Crozilian had only the keeper to beat. He put it just wide. If he had scored then it might have led to a rout; however, in all fairness the Clarets had had the best of the match until then.
Eduardo assists
The sending off of Lafferty only served to spur Burnley on, and Arsenal were under siege for long periods, however the Gunners, as always, were dangerous on the break. With 15 minutes to go Eduardo found space in the Burnley defence, he pushed an inch perfect ball through to Bendtner, who rounded the keeper to slot home.
Not Arsenal’s greatest performance, indeed one or two players had a hard time. It is not often that I am relieved to see Hoyte come on, but he brought solidity to the left hand side that had been lacking up to then.
Diaby drifted in and out, Denilson and Eboue competed for rubbish shot of the match award. Senderos and Kolo were solid enough, but the midfield was poor at times. Eduardo was always dangerous, Bendtner took a long time to warm up, but when he did, it was worth waiting for.
Eduardo has to be man of the match, for he was the main difference between the teams. He has also shown he is not just about scoring.
Maybe the unexpected play and passion of Burnley took the Gunners by surprise; also, the pitch was absolutely awful. Towards the end, Arsenal could have had quite a few goals, but that would have flattered them, and all credit is due to Burnley who contributed to an entertaining tie. So much, better watching two teams that want to win, rather than Villa and Man U.
Arsenal were not the only team who found it hard playing in the North West, so did Blackburn, Bolton and Everton, ha ha ha, out they all went to lower division opposition, I’ve always wanted to say that.
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