May of last year saw Arsenal take on Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in the Gunners’ penultimate fixture of the 2009-10 season. Blackburn ran out 2-1 winners after David Dunn and then Christopher Samba cancelled out Robin van Persie’s 13th minute opener.

According to Arsenal’s official website, “Wenger’s side seemed to have the game under control for much of the first half… though far from their best, they were clearly showing more quality than their opponents.” Level at halftime, “both sides had their chances but Blackburn grabbed a winner in the 68th minute when Christopher Samba in nodded home from inches out as the home side piled into the six-yard area to meet a corner.” The report also notes that “it was an ugly goal to concede and perhaps less than Arsenal deserved on the balance of play.”

Four months on, Arsenal returned to one of their least favourite grounds to face a Blackburn side coached by their bête noir, Sam Allardyce. This time they made the trip back to North London with 3 points despite facing the same challenges presented by a physical, determined and disciplined Blackburn side. In the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s victory, I turned to an archived match report and the Guardian’s Chalkboard to see what conclusions, if any, we can draw from the latest trip to North Lancashire. In particular, I will seek to answer two questions: ‘what were the differences between the two performances?’ and ‘how much can we read into the performance and result?’

Differences In Personnel

Arsenal limped into last season’s match with a host of injuries. This led to a starting line-up of Fabianski, Sagna, Traore, Campbell, Silvestre, Diaby, Eboue, Nasri, Walcott, van Persie and Vela. In fact, only four of those players started Saturday’s game and only Nasri was unavailable through injury.

While last season’s backline was probably weaker than this time, it was also taller. Campbell, Silvestre and Traore are significantly taller than Koscielny, Vermaelen and Clichy. However, Saturday’s side also included Alex Song. Together with Diaby he added a physical presence in midfield that was missing with Eboue and Nasri. Another decisive change was Almunia being preferred in goal to Lukasz Fabianski. The last time Arsenal faced Blackburn Fabianski had come off a couple of awful mistakes against Wigan and he was specifically targeted by Sam Allardyce.

On the bench, the 09-10 Arsenal side had Johan Djourou, Kieran Gibbs, Craig Eastmond, Andrey Arshavin, Conor Henderson and Eduardo. Gibbs and Djourou had just recovered from long-term injuries while Eastmond and Henderson had yet to really break into the first team squad. In addition, Arshavin was still struggling with a calf injury that had ruled him out for three weeks in April. This left Eduardo as the only remotely fit senior player on the bench. Even he was horribly out of form, having scored three Premier League goals all season and none since the New Year.

This time around the bench included Tomas Rosicky, Eboue, Vela, Chamakh, Gibbs and Jack Wilshere. Chamakh replaced the injured van Persie after half an hour, while Rosicky and Wilshere provided fresh legs in place of Fabregas and Arshavin respectively. The bench this time was much stronger and the players coming on were capable of influencing the game.

Differences In Defensive Performance

Blackburn are not a side that will threaten much from open play, so the backline will basically be tasked with jumping to head long balls away. Last season Blackburn created one chance in open play and it was fairly similar this time. There was very little threat from open play, with the notable exception of Koscielny’s mistake leading to a goal. Sagna in particular was very solid. However there did seem to be two periods in the game where Blackburn exerted pressure: immediately following their goal and until halftime and from about the 75th minute until the end of the match.

Both periods of pressure seemed to come as a result of nerves. As against Liverpool on the opening day, Arsenal managed to concede a goal when the team had been under no pressure at all. And as against Liverpool, this seemed to rattle them and we started to see errors in defence and possession. This tendency to concede a goal out of nothing and then be rattled is worrying and will need to be addressed if the team are going to be successful this year. They calmed down at half time and started to dominate the match, but as soon as Fabregas went off and Blackburn began to get more possession they were under the cosh again. In the end a mixture of determination, skill and luck got them over the line.

The Chalkboard indicates that one difference between the two trips to Ewood Park was the midfield defence. Last season the midfielders were involved in 16 challenges, winning 8. This time the numbers were 31 and 19. They also made 6 interceptions, as opposed to 3 last season. This indicates that the midfield of Song, Diaby and Fabregas put Blackburn under more pressure- both on and off the ball- than was done last season.

Another facet of play that was undeniably better than last season’s trip to Ewood Park was the defence from set pieces. One difference was having Almunia in goals rather than Fabianski, who really struggles against sides putting him under pressure. The marking was generally better, with players not getting stuck behind their men and usually winning the first ball in. Everyone scrambled well to stop the follow up ball leading to a clear chance. This was despite the current Arsenal line-up being slightly shorter than the side that lost last season. They were also lucky- Fabregas blocked one header on the line and a few other attempts in the first half were off target. However at no point was there a sense of inevitability that Blackburn’s pressure would lead to a goal.

Differences In Attacking Performance

With two big centre backs and a well-drilled defensive line, Blackburn are a tough side to break down- they conceded 18 goals in 19 home matches last season. True to form, Arsenal had very few clear opportunities at Ewood Park this season or last. In May Arsenal scored from a corner and created two or three clear sights of goal in open play. This time, with Fabregas a bit off the pace and Arshavin drifting out of the game, they only created three clear opportunities and took two of them.

The saving grace was Theo Walcott, who was full of pace, direct running and shooting. The 2009-10 Walcott was frustrating to watch. The Chalkboard tells me that last season he made 31 passes, with a success rate of 61%. Almost all of these touches were made on the right sideline, as he struggled to pose any sort of real goal threat. He had no attempts on goal. By contrast, this year he took four shots on goal (five if you include the time he was flagged for offside) and ran at the defence in dangerous areas. While his passing stats are very similar (23 made, 61% success) a lot of his play was more central as he threatened Blackburn’s goal more directly. A fit and in-form Walcott is something Arsenal hasn’t had in over a year, and if he can add consistency to his game he could become a real asset this season. Van Persie and Chamakh also played well and showed some nice touches.

I was particularly impressed by how fluid the front three were: Chamakh was more than willing to drift wide and allow Walcott and Arshavin to cut inside. The Chalkboard again demonstrates this, as Chamakh’s contributions (1 shot, 27 passes, 81% successful) are scattered all over the pitch. He was willing to drop deep and drift wide, hold the ball up and bring his teammates into the game. The best example of this was when he set Sagna free down the right in the build-up to the Arshavin’s goal. This mobility is really important in a 4-3-3 formation. The combination Walcott and Chamakh was a constant threat on Saturday whereas Vela, van Persie and especially Walcott were a bit off the pace in May.

It’s also noticeable how important Fabregas is to the side, even when he’s as rusty as on Saturday. He only really seemed to play well for about fifteen minutes, but during that time Arsenal scored their second goal and completely bossed the game. Rosicky is one of my favourite players, but he doesn’t control the flow and tempo of the game in the same way. It’s no coincidence that Blackburn started seeing a lot more of the ball after Cesc went off.

Reading Into The Performance And Result

We have to be careful about saying too much about Saturday’s result and performance. This was the third game of a new season, while last season’s loss came at the end of a long season where a horribly under-strength Arsenal side had very little to play for. Despite being played in May, last season’s game was played in bitterly cold conditions, while Saturday’s game was played at a relatively balmy 15° C. New signings such as Chamakh and Koscielny have yet to find their groove and cannot yet be judged in any meaningful way. Indeed the major hurdles Arsenal face in mounting a title challenge- squad depth and consistency- cannot be answered this early in the season.

The match report I quoted at the start of this article should indicate how fine the margins are between defeat and victory. Much of what happened last season could simply be rehashed again and with a little more luck, Blackburn could quite easily have nicked a point. In truth, neither Blackburn nor Arsenal has changed that much over the last four months. Blackburn is still a technically limited side that base their game around pace, power and discipline. Arsenal’s defence is still prone to giving away sloppy goals and getting rattled, while the attack is still probing, deliberate and sometimes lacking a finishing product. That is just the way Arsenal play.

At the same time, there are a few important points to take out of the latest trip to Ewood Park. Set pieces were defended a lot better, with Almunia making a few decent punches and the first ball always being defended well. The midfield and attackers applied more pressure when Blackburn were in possession. Chamakh seems like a more mobile and skillful alternative to Bendtner. Fabregas is working his way back into some form and match fitness. Theo Walcott was a threat throughout the match.

Other than Walcott’s form, the most pleasing thing to see was the resolve shown by the players in seeing out the match calmly. Despite the pressure there were no panic stations and we should commend the team for matching the commitment and tenacity of the Blackburn side while still managing to play their football. In the post-match interview Wenger said any side with title ambitions needs to win these kinds of games, and I agree. It was three points well earned.