Sunday, December 30, 2007

Fabregas & Eduardo take Arsenal to the top

Picture Arsenal went back to the top of the Premier League as manager Arsene Wenger claimed they have learned how to cope with physical sides.
They beat Everton 4-1 at Goodison Park, a ground that had seen them lose four of their previous seven visits, and where they are always given a severe physical examination.
But in a spiteful game that saw Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner and Everton's Mikel Arteta sent off, the Gunners claimed the three points that take them back above Manchester United, shock losers at West Ham today.
Wenger said: "We battled, we had to. Last season here, Everton played a very physical game and they were very direct. And we lost.
"I can understand that they repeated this tactic. This time we won, but it was very close.
"I was tempted to change the team around at half-time, but I felt the reason we were not winning was that we had become nervous after hearing the Manchester United result.
"But we were playing against a good Everton side who stopped us playing, they did well and it was up to us to get the ball down and be more positive. And to be less nervous because we lost too much possession in the first half.
"After the break we were maybe fortunate to score straight away, 1-1, and that changed the game. From then on we looked dangerous, Everton dropped physically and we were ahead very quickly."
Tim Cahill had stabbed Everton into a deserved lead at the break, but Everton were overcome in spectacular fashion.
Eduardo da Silva struck twice to take Arsenal into the lead, his first goals in the Premier League although he now has nine in 10 games for the Gunners.
Arsenal rubbed it in with goals from substitutes Emmanuel Adebayor and Tomas Rosicky as Everton fell to their first home defeat since mid-October.
Wenger believed his players' character had seen them through.
"The turning point was the fact that we played well with long balls, and we held on when we were down to 10 men and they still had 11," he added.
"They then made that mistake and it killed the game.
"It was hard for Everton because the difference was not as big as 4-1. But they also had a player sent off and it became impossible for them.
"But it was a great result for us, we showed we can battle, we have a great spirit and showed that we can cope with all kinds of challenges - that is always a sign of a very good side."
Everton boss David Moyes maintained that his side were the better team, despite the heavy defeat.
He said: "I could not see that coming at half-time - I couldn't really see it coming well into the second-half either.
"Overall I felt we were the better team, the best team lost. I felt we deserved to win the game and played the best football.
"We passed it better than Arsenal and they scored with humps up the pitch, didn't they.
"It was route-one Arsenal, we couldn't deal with it, and it was not Arsenal-type goals.
"For all the stuff talked about the way they play, it was not their usual type of goals that beat us.
"We cannot hide that we made mistakes for the goals, but I will take some convincing that Arsenal were better than us.
"The scoreline was not a true reflection. I felt that we were always in with a chance of getting it back."

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