A siXer for Xmas

The Arse 6
(Gilberto 10th, Hleb 23rd, Adik Bayor 27th pen, van Pussie 85th, 88th, Flamini 93rd)

B'burn Bruisers 2
(Nonda 3rd, 69th)

We had sat through so many games where we invariably hear the pundeeques saying, "It could have easily been six for the Arsenal but blah, blah, blah ..." and found ourselves sighing in agreement.

But like an intricate 6-Gunners passing movement that comes off with perfect timing, the boys in Ashburton gave us a perfectly extravagant gift.

An actual sixer (apologies to cricketing fans) for Xmas.

What made it so good was that it wasn't a stroll in the park in any way.

Ex-Gooner David Bentley managed to pull Kolo Toure down onto himself and thus earn a penalty as early as the 3rd minute.

Which Nonda converted nonchalantly.

For a time, the crowd was hushed, stomachs churned, hearts sank.

Will the Arsenal fall under the Jinx again? Every time an opponent had scored first at the Emirates, we would just come off with a draw at best.

The more superstitious pulled out rabbits' feet. Some delved deep into their pants pockets to fondle crucifixes and bulbs of garlic.

The religiously-inclined lit joss sticks, Tibetan Gooners muttered mantras and serbanistas recited the ayatul Kursi.

It was a time for all Gooners, of all shapes, colours and headgear - to come together to will the team on, to break the dreaded Jinx.

And every Gooner's prayer came through - first La Capitaine II, Gilberto Silva again led by example and crashed a header home from a corner won by a Kolo Toure eager to make amends.

Then a deft pass by Cesc found Hleb twisting past Andy Todd and then beating Friedel with a simple shot.

And then Lucas Neill fouled van der Pussie for a penalty which Adik Bayor duly converted.

3-1 up at halftime and the Gunners looked like cruising home but no, it's Xmas innit and the crowd haven't had their dose of drama yet.

Arsenal dominated the exchanges in the second half but couldn't add to the score, in which Rosicky saw his superb effort headed off the line onto the crossbar and away.

Then Nonda struck again off a rebound from rare foray spearheaded by Bentley again and suddenly the 3 goals didn't look quite enough.

Wak Lehmann, the only Gunner yang cakap Jerman, is currently in the middle of contract negotiations with the Arsenal. And he did himself credit by pulling off 3 great saves to keep Blackburn at bay.

Wak Lehmann embarassing Riquelme at last year's Champions League semi-final. This save alone is already worth another year's contract.

Celebrating the win in the buff.
And of course, the ladies want him around too ... bad boys are sexier, izzit?

Give him the two years, Dein! Goalies age well, like wine.

And yes, go get Igor (Akinfeev, CSKA Moscow) here as well.

Blackburn smelled blood and started to swarm the Arsenal defence. But apparently after this blog bashed them about it, the Arse has re-learned our forte, and we counter-attacked with the bite that opponents had feared so much in the past.

Breaking up and attack, Gilberto immdiately fed a long ball to der Pussie on the right flank. Pussie then beat Ooijer twice before slamming just inside Friedel's far post.

The strike is reminiscent of Monsieur Henry's best while the twists and turns brought back memories of the ole Dutch Master, Gooner-Meister Dennis Bergkamp.

Adik Bayor who had created havoc down the left flank all evening slipped the ball to Cesc who twitched it back to the middle for der Pussie to slam home gleefully.

The final goal was my personal favourite, Cesc got the ball from der Pussie, did a stepover and gained a yard from Robbie Savage. But Savage caught up on the run down the left flank. Cesc did another stepover, Savage stood his ground and stuck to Cesc.

Then Cesc pretended to do a step-over but instead nutmegged Savage and went past him. Cesc then turned past Todd and struck a good shot which Friedel parried to Flamini who put it in decisively.

The Jinx was well and truly broken.

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Arsene Wenger says the Arsenal can still win the Premiership. Wot's he on about?

Well, it's a bit of a history lesson.

In December 1997, we were 13 points behind league leaders ManUre, and also behind Poo and Chelshite. By April 1998, we had overhauled all of them and went on to become champions. In Wenger's first season as manager.

That's what he's talking about.

Can we do it again?

Of course we can.

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