Blackpool 1-3 Arsenal: The Title Race Is Back On

A brilliant game for the German legend.

Arsenal defeated Blackpool 3-1 this afternoon in a brilliant game at Bloomfield Road. The main talking point just before the game was the 'injury' to Manuel Almunia that meant that Jens Lehmann would start his first game since rejoining the club as an emergency loanee. It was only announced about 15 minutes before kick off that Jens would be starting but I have a feeling Wenger knew Jens was going to play a while ago. It just seems far too convenient for Almunia to pick up an injury so close to kick off, you never know maybe Jens was responsible. However I was very pleased Lehmann was starting and I hope he continues to play until Szczesny is back for the team. Arsenal were in control for the majority of the game but Blackpool started both halves brilliantly causing the Arsenal lots of problems. The Arsenal were two goals up at half time through Abou Diaby and Emmanuel Eboue. The second half began with Blackpool on the front foot and Taylor-Fletcher scored in the 52nd minute to make the score 2-1. Robin Van Persie however clinched the victory for the Arsenal with a great goal in the 76th minute. 

The Arsenal players celebrate Diaby's goal.

 The first half began with Blackpool looking the brighter of the two sides at Bloomfield Road where there was a brilliant atmosphere throughout the game. Blackpool had a great early chance from a Charlie Adam corner but Evatt's header went over the bar. This sparked mad Jens into action, as he shouted at his defence to do better, something we haven't seen from an Arsenal keeper for a while. A leader like Lehmann is exactly what the side lacks and Jens was talking with his defence throughout the game trying to keep them organised. In the 18th minute Arsenal broke through the Blackpool defence with ease as Diaby scored the opener. It was a great move started by the magnificent Fabregas who played an excellent pass to Robin Van Persie. The Dutchman crossed for Diaby who scored a simple tap in to put Arsenal one goal ahead. It was a great move but also very poor defending from Blackpool, as Diaby run all the way from the midfield without being tracked by a Blackpool player and then scored a simple tap in. It was also clear that Blackpool's defensive line was way to far up the pitch and the likes of Fabregas and Van Persie were taking advantage of this with ease. It isn't often that the duo start together for the Arsenal but we are a far better side when they do. They link up with each other superbly and if they had started all of our league games together we'd of won the leauge already.  The Arsenal faithful had barely stopped celebrating when Eboue scored an excellent second for Arsenal. The Ivorian defender played a brilliant one two with Jack Wilshere as he run into the box scoring a powerful left footed finish. Arsenal continued to play out the first half in control and in all honesty should have been 4-0 up by the break. Nasri and Van Persie both missed excellent chances and they were nearly made to pay by Blackpool right at the end of the first half.  However Lehmann came to the rescue blocking a DJ Campbell shot on the line before Fabregas cleared the ball away from Arsenal's goal. It capped off a brilliant half for the Spaniard who showed true leadership qualities throughout and looked to be at his very best. 


Blackpool were clearly fired up for the second half and started it very brightly. I daresay Ian Holloway had a few words with his players at half time and they were the better side at the start of the half. In the 52nd minute Taylor-Fletcher scored an easy tap in to make the score 2-1. Arsenal were hit on the counter by Blackpool and the move started with Wilshere fouling Luke Varney in the centre of the pitch but Blackpool had the advantage and the move continued. Jason Puncheon played in DJ Campbell who was taken out by Jens Lehmann but they had the advantage again and Taylor-Fletcher scored for Blackpool. Lehmann was lucky Blackpool scored because if they hadn't he would have been sent off and Robin Van Persie would have had to take over in the Arsenal goal. According to Lehmann, the Dutchman isn't bad and it made me wonder why he hasn't been playing in goal instead of the useless Almunia. Blackpool were inspired by their first goal and poured forward. They were denied a clear penalty by the referee after Koscielny fouled Taylor-Fletcher. Arsenal were under immense pressure and Squillaci and Koscielny were clearly struggling. Blackpool however didn't manage to score mainly due to the superb performance from Jens Lehmann. Eboue was caught out on a number of occasions and he proved how he is nowhere near as good as Bacary Sagna defensively.  Robin Van Persie clinched the victory for Arsenal in the 76th minute. Theo Walcott had came on as a substitute for Andrey Arshavin and had used his pace to pin back the Blackpool defence. The move for Arsenal's third goal was started by a superb tackle from Sebastien Squillaci. Diaby then picked up the ball, and played a great pass to Fabregas who flicked the ball on superbly for Theo Walcott. He used has pace to great effect and crossed brilliantly for Robin Van Persie to score the winner. The Dutchman is in incredible form and as Arsenal fans we can only imagine how different our season would have been if he had stayed injury free for all of it. He is a world class striker and having him and Fabregas fit and firing at this key stage of the season is vital to our title challenge. 


 All in all this was a vital victory for the Gunners. We didn't play superbly but we managed to grind out a result as Manchester United have been doing for the majority of the season. This is a key aspect to a title winning side and something we will need to show for the rest of the season if we are to win the league. If this turns out to be Lehmann's only game of the season he will have made a huge difference and can be very proud of his contribution. He was excellent today and if Szczesny isn't back for the Liverpool game I hope Wenger sticks with the crazy German. We are back in the title race now but will need to pretty much win all of our games to win the title. It's unlikely we will but I feel we are in with a great chance especially if Fabregas and Van Persie continue to play like they did today. It also looks like Cesc is set to stay next season after saying on Twitter that "300 games for Arsenal today with a very important victory. I look back and i see so many great things. But i look at the future and i see...Even greater things. Thank you very much for making me feel so special all those years. Now i want more. Let's fight untill the end!". 

 In other news Arsenal are set to be taken over by Stan Kroenke and I will be writing about the takeover in my blog soon.