The Arsenal Press: A-Project: The Arsenal-Blackpool Post-match Review

The Gunners started their first home fixture at the Emirates Stadium against newly promoted side Blackpool. With the 4-0 trashing of Wigan Athletic still fresh on the Blackpool fans' minds, the Lancashire club were going into this game with the confidence to get something using their version of attractive football designed by their manager Ian Holloway.

From the Arsenal's point of view, the North London side would want to kick start their home form with a bang after snatching a last minute equaliser through a Reina own goal at Anfield. With the imminent return of Song and possibly Fabregas, the loss of Nasri and Frimpong could probably be softened. New Arsenal signing Chamakh would want to register his first goal for the club while Wilshere and Walcott might probably want to stamp their authority and convince the manager of their quality to obtain a place in the starting line-up.

The Final Score...

Even before the start of the game, both clubs are recognised by their version of smooth flowing attacking football. Arsene Wenger started with his usual 4-3-3 where Chamakh joined Arshavin and Walcott in the front attacking three and Rosicky playing right in the middle as the main playmaker. Diaby and Wilshere were handed deeper roles to help out the defence whereas Song came in for the suspended Koscielny. Blackpool manager Holloway though utilised a 4-2-3-1 formation, possibly with the aim of matching the Arsenal both in attack and defence.

First Half

In the opening 10 minutes, the home side kept possession well while trying to carve out chances. Blackpool though spotted a few obvious spaces in the Arsenal's midfield and thus, posing threats to the Arsenal defence on a number of occasions. With the away side starting to exert more pressure, Walcott opened the scoring by hitting the ball into the far corner after collecting Arshavin's pass from the middle. Blackpool though had an immediate chance to equalise when the Arsenal were down to 10 men as Sagna was nursing an injury. A good cross from the left found Taylor-Fletcher on the far post, who then headed the ball wide.

The action died down a little then, but the Arsenal were now starting to obtain more control of the game and managed to unsettle the Blackpool midfield area, occasionally forcing Blackpool to misplace passes and open up even more spaces. At the 31st minute, the turning point of the game arrived. In an Arsenal counter attack, Rosicky brought the ball from deep area into the opponent area, and then fed the ball to the running Chamakah. Chamakh was then brought down by Blackpool defender Evatt in the penalty box and the referee had no choice but to send Evatt off as he was the last man. Arshavin took the penalty opportunity and went for power by hitting the ball in the low corner on the right.

With Blackpool down with 10 men, the Arsenal capitalised their opponent's tactical deficiency with Rosicky, Chamakh and Walcott being the main instigators. The third goal was bound to come and was taken by Walcott again after turning Blackpool's defender and hitting the shot first time. Interestingly though, the Gunners continued to toy Blackpool and press for the fourth but credit has to be given to Holloway's boys as they did not give up and tried to launch a few rare counter attacks which ended with no avail. At half time, the scoreline stood at 3-0.

Second Half

Both teams began the second part of the game with no substitutions. With the same aim, the Gunners proceeded with their brand of attacking football. The imminent fourth goal came from Diaby by hitting his shot at the far corner in Blackpool's penalty box. At that point, the three points were surely in the bag.

The game then went flat understandably for a few minutes. Arsenal passed the ball around comfortably while Blackpool found it hard to keep up the pace with the home side. When the game was dying to be reactivated, Walcott provided the spark. He ran through the right flank, cut inside and hit a shot using his weaker left foot. Clearly, it was 5-0 now.

The contest was clearly over. With no worries of losing any point, Wenger had the luxury to introduce his World Cup finalists van Persie and Fabregas, replacing Diaby and Arshavin. Walcott then received his well-deserved standing ovation from the home fans when he was substituted by the Mexican, Vela.

The last question in such a good day for the Arsenal was whether Chamakh could get his first Arsenal goal. The answer was yes and the goal was a trademark header by Chamakh. By then, Blackpool had no answer whatsoever, but credit to them, they did not give up and still managed to scare the home side in the last minutes of the game.

At full time, the scoreline read Arsenal 6, Blackpool 0.

Coming up tomorrow, The Arsenal Press will present their final thoughts on the Liverpool-Arsenal game. Keep it logged on to The Arsenal Press!

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