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On Tuesday, October 23, 2007 >
Arsenal vs Slavia Prague 7-0 : Gunners on 7th Heaven
After extending our unbeaten start to the season and winning our 11th game on the trot in somewhat unconvincing fashions it was important to get a good win against Slavia Prague at home at the Emirates in the Champions League. After all it would be a massive confidence boost for our upcoming game against Liverpool being safe in the knowledge that Champions League qualification is all but secure. That being said, no one, not even the manager himself, had any idea what this team was capable of producing last night.
This match result was certainly the best birthday gift as when he was askeed what is the greatest birthday gift he would like to be given by his player. And his answer was "the play better than bolton" and the result at the end of the match show it all. Ohh boyy he must be proud of his young gun.
This would be Arsenal 12th unbeaten streak in a row. With just three more wins will give them the longest ever winning streak which was achieved back in 1987/88. The games we need to win in order to do this includes games against Liverpool and Man United in the Premier League and is one more reason why this emphatic win was so important.
1st Goal
At just 5min on the clock, the Belarusian pulled the ball back to Fabregas who was just inside the corner of the 18 yard box. The young Spaniard had one thing on his mind from the offset and miraculously curled a shot beyond the despairing arms of Martin Vaniak in the Slavia goal. An early goal is just we needed and is the perfect remedy to defensive teams as it prompts the opposing team to come out of their shells thus exposing them to quick breaks on the counter attack.
2nd Goal
Cesc Fabregas returned the favour to Hleb by providing a corner. After Slavia had failed to clear a corner from Cesc Fabregas, the onrushing Hleb was first to the ball. His first time effort looked to be going just wide but a timely intervention from David Hubacek deflected the ball into the back of the net. The Emirates was in raptures. We were now in cruise control and another goal would surely have killed any hopes of a Slavia revival.
3rd Goal
All of Vaniak's hard work went down the drain when, after receiving a back pass from Danil Pudil, the keeper failed miserably in his attempted clearance. The ball fell kindly into the path of Theo Walcott. While under pressure from the defender and with the goalkeeper rushing out to block, the man from Southampton showed composure beyond his years to quickly sidestep the 'keeper and fire into an empty net. Actually it wasn't completely empty as there were two defenders sliding in to block the shot but Theo placed his firm shot just above their flailing legs.
4th Goal
With less than 5 minutes of the second period gone we got our fourth of the game and what a way to score it. Eboue dribbled his way past a challenge before laying it off to Fabregas. The midfield maestro then showed great strength and awareness to hold off his marker and play an eye of the needle, reverse pass behind the fullback and into the path of Hleb. Hleb then showed a change in gears in surging into the box before faking a shot, which left a defender for dead on the floor. He then gave the 'keeper the eye that he was going for the far post and shot to the near post with the 'keeper wrong footed. It was the least that the Belarusian's game deserved after the brilliance he showed all night.
5th Goal
Four minutes later the onslaught continued as Walcott scored his second of the game in a fashion which led Arsène Wenger to label as being a "touch of Henry", although the any lingering thoughts of the Frenchman will be the last thing on supporters' minds tonight. Yet another pass just inside the Slavia fullback, this time Hleb turning provider, allowed Walcott to show his jet-heeled pace and trickery to get into the 6 yard box before stabbing the ball with the outside of his boot into the goal via the upright. Theo, Theo, Theo was all you could hear at this point around Emirates Stadium.
6th Goal
Things went from bad to completely humiliating 3 minutes later as the move of the game allowed Fabregas to get his second goal of the game. A passing sequence of 18 or so passes which started from the left fullback position saw Alexander Hleb show great pace and strength to get away from his marker before feeding the ball to Adebayor. With one glance up, the Togolese striker saw Walcott with space on the right, and played the ball into Theo's path. The youngster then showed great awareness to cushion a superb first time ball into the path of Fabregas who was steamrollering his way into the box. With a player on each side of him, and only the 'keeper between the goal and the ball, Fabregas placed a low effort to the bottom left hand corner of the goal to give us a 6th. This goal is amoung the best of all.
7th Goal
Despite ridding ourselves of claims from seasons gone by that we always try to walk the ball into the net after scoring a wide array of goals this season, we did just that when it came to the 7th and final goal of the game. It came with a minute remaining on the clock and was scored by Bendtner who improves his remarkable goals to games ratio. Bendtner linked up well with Eboue and it was the latter that improvised and made a mockery of the defence by somehow flicking the ball with his heel straight into the path of Bendtner. The Danish international saw his initial shot hit the 'keeper and as the ball slowly crept towards the goal he held off a last gasp tackle from Slavia before prodding the ball in from less than a yard out. This was the record equalling goal we were pushing for.
We went all out to break the record outright but with the fourth official only giving 1 minute of added time and the referee blowing his whistle with less than 40 seconds of that gone it wasn't to be. No night is perfect but this is as close to being the football equivalent of 7th Heaven as you could get.
Happy Birthday Arsène.
