Oh boy, where to start? First of all, a public apology to Wenger who won the match the Wenger way, asking the lads to play the football we so much like. And, with the regular forward-line all out through suspension and injury, he opted for one strong man upfront, who made Ferdinand and Vidic look weak and leaving the goals to the midfielders.

The second half couldn’t start any better. Forty-five seconds of possession, fifteen inch-perfect passes and a delightful through pass from Fabregas to Nasri, who had all the time in the world to take a good look at the target and blasting one past a sorry Van der Sar to give Arsenal a 2-0 cushion.

Le roi Nasri

One minute later, with our boys lacking in concentration following the goal, Manchester United had the chance of the match but from a Park cross, Cristiano Ronaldo failed to hit the target to the right of Almunia.

With Arsenal taking a more cautious approach, it was counter-attacking which saw us creating chances, and in one of these, in the 52nd minute, Diaby had a lot of space on the right but just didn’t know what to do and the move ended in a corner. Manchester United’s pressure was not good enough in this stage of the match and they could only see Wayne Rooney first missing yet another chance, then Rooney again heading in the path of Almunia who easily blocked and finally winning a corner out of which we lost Almunia with a head injury after the Spaniard bravely blocked off Carrick.

As funny as it may sound, despite making substitutions with Giggs and Tevez in, Manchester United just couldn’t trouble us enough. Who really made a difference, for them, was young Rafael, who seemed to be the only one who really cared about a comeback and half of that job was accomplished when he chested the ball down in the edge of the penalty area and blasted a volley to the right of Fabianski, who well, could do nothing against it.

As if a lot of yellow cards to our name and none to United and a clear penalty call waved away, the referee gave six minutes of stoppage time, but they were not enough for United to complete the comeback. It was us, rather, who could have increased the lead, but after some nice work, Bendtner’s tired-looking shot went high.

A much-needed win and we managed to obtain it. Many were bashing us for losing points against small teams and saying that we would be routed against the big ones. Well, the first big team came to the Emirates and contrary to last season, they leave with nada. Others will come and others we’ll have to visit, but after today, rather than doing it with hope, we will be doing it with expectations and believe. Because yes friends, do not hope, but believe.

Oh, one last thing. Provided they are still together, anything Tatiana Golovin is doing with Nasri at night, well, just keep on doing it Tatiana, we love you girl.


Player Ratings

Almunia: 7 – No goals conceded, again, and like the away match against Fenerbahce, so brave. Can’t forget that first-minute mistake though.
Gallas and Silvestre: 8 – If United didn’t create when coming forward, there has to be a reason and it’s these two.
Clichy: 8 – A true defending performance. So quick to read the opponents and not shy to challenge Ronaldo, even if it meant ending the match with a yellow card.
Sagna: 6,5 – A little tentative the Frenchman and still not 100% compatible with Walcott.
Denilson: 7 – Bizarre match from him. In the first half, he was superb but faded away in the second as he was called into a more defensive position.
Fabregas: 6 – Gave away possession so many times – he’s the shadow of himself.
Nasri: 9 – Shall I say more?
Diaby: 7 – I liked his performance, very solid and calm.
Walcott: 6,5 – The lads prefer to attack from the Nasri side, and how can you blame them?
Bendtner: 7,5 – Like Adebayor, he’s not a goalscorer and you can see why. But he’s damn strong and made Ferdinand and Vidic look weak up there.

(Subs)
Song: 6,5 – Came in and was not shy to stand up for the challenge.
Fabianski: 7 – It’s funny but he did what Almunia would have most likely failed to do, coming out, catching the ball, just what a backline needs.
Toure: 6 – He tried, on the wing, credit to him.