Balls of Steel

Chelshite 1
(Essien 84th fluke)

The Arse 1
(Flamini 78th)

Moana, in his pre-match hype, practically slapped Arsene in the face with his jibe on Arsenal's insistence on a purist approach. Obviously relishing his own wit, he scoffed that unless the Wenger could find some steel to shore up the team, the Arse will never be able to challenge for the Premiership.

Inferring that the current Arsenal boys were limp at the wrists, and probably wriggle when they walk, the Chelshite boss was looking distinctly foot-in-mouth for much of the game last night.

Coming off the blocks right from the start, the Wenger's Darlings got stuck right in and you could almost hear the crunches as they went for shins, heels, nuts and other vulnerable soft spots in blue.

And striding majestically among the litter of broken passes and stray limbs, Gilberto Silva, the quiet and unassuming steel in the heart of the Arsenal engine, swept up loose balls and unleashed Arsenal into attack time and again.

In the first 15 minutes, Chelshite looked stunned and could hardly string together more than 4 passes and indeed, possession during that period was more like Arsenal 90% Chelshite 10%.

Gilberto in full cry - he played a masterful captain's game. Was dominant in front of defence as he kept Ballack and Shevy quiet for the whole night.

Still, it was gory stuff and much of the first half was littered with the stuff one would expect down in the gutters of the relegation zone.

So much so that for the first time I could remember, ESPN highlights during the first-half closing were focused solely on a series of crunching tackles and a shot of Essien stomping on the Hleb family jewels.

At halftime, it was Arsenal ahead on possession and stomps, despite Lampard hitting the post.

Come the second half, and Chelsea slowly came to grips and starting laying siege. But they never looked comfortable and Moana sent in his two wingers to stretch the young (average age 21!) Arsenal defence.

Robben started to wreak havoc and terrorised the tiring Eboue - his spats and wrestling matches with Lampard were my favourite moments for the match - and made the whole defence look shaky.

But Chelshite forays created gaps at the back and when Hleb and Flamini exchanged passes, their whole defence was dummied into a straight 6-yard line before Hleb stroked the ball back to an unattended Flamini in the 78th minute.







Hilario got a hand to the ball but it was too hard a shot to be parried that way and suddenly Moana looked like he swallowed something wet, cold and slimy.





Chelshite became distinctly frenetic and when Ljungberg came in, he failed to track Essien properly as van Pussie had done and a powerful lucky shot came off the left upright for Moana's salvation. For the record, the goal came off a move initiated by a Cashley Cole foul on Hleb.

Cole had a poor game (shite does rub off, innit?) and a moment to remember was Eboue strolling nonchalantly past a spreadeagled Cole on the turf before unleashing a firce cross diverted by Carvalho. Cole was also responsible for Arsenal's goal, in that he got suckered by Hleb's cutback to Flamini.

In all, Cole was bested by the youngsters he sneered at when he went over to the Dark Side. And he could only get the better of Hleb when he fouled him.

The last 5 minutes (and extra time) was not all Chelshite although they did hit the post twice and the bar once. Hleb skied a golden opportunity from Ljungberg to hit Moana right where it really hurt.

Though it was frustrating that we didn't stick two to the Chelshite, it is a weird sort of game where while Arsenal was unlucky not to win but at the same time lucky not to lose, the same is also true for the Chelshite.

And in the end, the boys in red showed what they knew and Moana never suspected - that Arsene Wenger need not look elsewhere for steel in the team. It is there, just waiting to be shown.

In fact, any steelier, and there would have been a trail of stretchers leaving the Bridge in convoy after the first 45 minutes.

Fittingly, the Man of the Match is the quiet Man of Steel who did what he does best - for both Arsenal and Brazil.

Le Capitaine II