By Boris Mellor
May 5 2013

This game climaxed early, indeed the only game to be over after 20 seconds this season, with a fumbled early penetration of the QPR defence, and after that it was all grunting and groaning without anything further occurring to cheer about.

When the goal went in on 20 seconds my friend was ecstatic, he was expecting a goal rush, 5-0 to be précises, but I pointed out that on the occasions Arsenal score early the rest of the game is an anti-climax. I had, for some strange reason, predicted 4-1 to Arsenal, but that was on the basis of QPR scoring first. Syd the cabbie was predicting 1-1, which was far more realistic, and could even have been the result if Szczesny hadn’t made a couple of brilliant saves.

Indeed Woy was my man of the match; sure Walcott got the all-important goal, but never looked like scoring again. However with Arsenal playing without one real striker on the pitch, and none on the bench, it was keeping a clean sheet that was key for the 90 minutes + that remained after the lone goal.

It was hard a match to watch for the committed fan, indeed I know at least one who turned over to Dr Who, no doubt finding it more soothing for frayed nerves. I prefer to remain behind sofa being scared witless by the Gunners inability to kill a game off.

The game can be summed up as following, after a bright start Arsenal put the hand brake on, played lots of crab football and then became a little nervous, but in the end showed enough mental strength to gain three points. Not memorable but the three points will do nicely.

Wenger comment of the day
On if he can remember Arsenal scoring as quickly as Walcott did…
No. I can't remember. Unfortunately I waited for the second goal but it never came!

Match Stats

Shots         QPR 14   Arsenal 13

On target          6                11

Possession        46%             54%

Premiership ejaculation All over after twenty seconds

Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 05/05/2013 10:51

Arsenal Times
05/05/2013 10:51

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:05:14:23:04:14 by Padre Pio.

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djarse
05/05/2013 11:31

One thing definitely worth noting is that we have only conceded 1 goal in the last four games, and 4 in the last nine.

In fact only Man City have a clearly better defensive record than us - 31 goals conceded to our 36. Chelsea have conceded 35 but have played two games less. We may well end the season with the 2nd best defence in the premiership - something I'm not sure many of us expected earlier in the season.

Our goal difference (31) now is only two behind Chelsea (33), which might prove significant - if they lose to either ManU or Spurs, we may catch up with their goal difference. We are way ahead of Spurs (18) on that front.

It looks to me like we will scrape into the Champions League again, which seemed very unlikely for most of the season.

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Padre Pio
05/05/2013 12:06

perhaps Bold is having influence after all, or was dropping of Vermaelen and Szczesny the key?

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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eduardo
05/05/2013 13:22

funny that you say Theo never looked like scoring again, it took two very good saves from Green, one which he palmed onto the post, to stop him scoring again

There is no doubt that Arsenal have been using a far more restrictive approach on this run in, once we go ahead there is more emphasis on keeping a defensive structure than being gung ho going for a second goal.

*Signing Ozil is a signing Bergkamp type moment for Arsenal. It changes things utterly.*

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Shane
05/05/2013 16:42

Quote:

Padre Pio
perhaps Bold is having influence after all, or was dropping of Vermaelen and Szczesny the key?

When the defence is good it's the Bould factor. When it's sh*t the blame lies with Wenger.

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PKGooner
05/05/2013 16:57

Its quite obvious our shape has gone back to how It was in the first 4-5 games of the season. Much more organised instead of defenders randomly standing about.

Think Wenger has started following Bould's approach again.

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plonky
05/05/2013 21:15

Thanks Padre. Shredding my nerves the last few games.


p.s. Bould must have organised our defence on the run to the 2006 CL final as well.

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Padre Pio
05/05/2013 21:24

i believe it was Keown who did that one

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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Merlion96
06/05/2013 11:47

if they can keep clean-sheets for the remaining 2 games...

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plonky
06/05/2013 14:30

BTW Padre that is the best opening sentence to a football report I have ever read.

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Shane
06/05/2013 14:58

I thought it was a dig at Syd the Cabbie.

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plonky
06/05/2013 16:36

Trust me. If Syd was on the meter he would have gone the long way round.

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Padre Pio
06/05/2013 18:34

Thanks Plonky, I am glad someone appreciated it

"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.

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AJ The Gunner
13/05/2013 16:28

I must confess that i have been absent from football games, gists, match reports this season..

i don't know if wenger and the club deserve 4th place finish. but when i think of it, WE FANS DESERVE THAT 4TH PLACE FINISH.

when i heard we scored the fastest goal, i was surprised we finally won that game.. i expected them to concede a goal and then go ahead toloose that game.. can't trust wenger and the boys no more.

Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿‍♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿‍♀️

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weedz
13/05/2013 22:51

Quote:

Shane1988

Quote:

Padre Pio
perhaps Bold is having influence after all, or was dropping of Vermaelen and Szczesny the key?

When the defence is good it's the Bould factor. When it's sh*t the blame lies with Wenger.

Since the end of WW1, 1919, when the FA restarted its 4 tier football league, with Arsenal fc in the 1st div, there’s only ever been one club to have never been relegated from Div 1/ EPL.

Arsenal fc

Let’s keep making history

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