Key Incidents
Penalty Missed (Arsenal) - A slick ball into the feet of the ice man saw him turn and be brought down. The referee pointed to the spot and up stepped Henry. Unfortunately for the gunners, his effort clipped the inside of the post and bounced out. The best chance of the first half.
Goal (Arsenal) (67) –Thierry sprung the offside trap to leave a bewildered Soton defence behind. He never looked back and slipped the ball coolly past the on rushing Niemi.
Goal (Soton) (80) - Why cant we defend set pieces? Yet again the Arsenal were caught out by a corner. Whipped in from the left, Rory Delap had no trouble rising above his marker and putting his header past Lehmann.
Goal (Soton) (85) - A ball in from the right this time saw Delap get ahead of his marker and put Soton into a shock lead.
Goal (Arsenal) (90) - I just had a feeling that the young Dutch star would do the business for us today. A last minute ball into the box saw him take control after a slight scramble. He turned this way and that, looking as if he would square it, before sending an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net. What a relief!
Player Ratings
Jens Lehmann - 7 His positioning was far better than in previous games and was NOT at fault for the goals. The box was too crowded for him to see for the first, and the second was a bullet of a header that no keeper would have saved.
Ashley Cole - 7 Another solid performance. I seem to say this about him most weeks, but his attitude on the pitch and his defending abilities (which were never in question to all us gooners) merit this kind of rating.
Kolo Toure - 7 Held his own and lead the defence in the absence of Sol. Played some nice passes and made a few bursting runs late on.
Pascal Cygan - 6 Does the guy know the meaning of the word forward? Back to keeper of square to Kolo seemed to account for 90% of the passes he made today! Despite this, he did his job and kept the Soton attack quiet.
Lauren - 7 More good runs forward set up a few chances and his defending was resolute throughout.
Jose Reyes - 7 Again was the subject of some horrific tackles, and today he had to give in and come off. Lets hope its not too serious. Played well up to that point, with his pace causing Soton trouble.
Patrick Vieira - 7 Dominated the midfield and put his foot in. This may have resulted in a booking for his troubles, but I prefer to see this Vieira, to the one who appears scared of being carded.
Edu - 6 Poor distribution, but got stuck into the midfield and made some last minute covering challenges when needed.
Freddie Ljungberg - 6 A drop to his current run of form. He drifted in and out of the game and was not as effective as he has been over the past few weeks and months.
Thierry Henry - 8 MOTM. Played well for the team and looked far more up for it than some of the players. Took his goal well and took the piss out of Niemi by showing him the replay of his goal (As the keeper believed it to be offside) More of that please Tel!
Dennis Bergkamp - 7 Another neat and tidy, bread and butter, display from the Dutch master.
Subs:
Robert Pires - 6 Showed a few nice touches, but only found the pace of the game late on.
Cesc Fabregas - 6 Drove the midfield forward in search of the equaliser and played some fine balls, which swept across the pitch ala Dennis.
Robin Van Persie - 7 Clearly lifted by his midweek goal, he showed real confidence to take a shot from a tight angle, when he had players square. Looking like he will become our super sub! More to come from him!