Nasri & Walcott Keep Arsenal’s Title Bid On Course

It would be easy, almost too easy in fact, to focus on the abysmal finishing of Nicklas Bendtner. The Danish striker has been in a decent run of form lately, finding the net in all three of his previous games for club and country. However, during Saturday afternoons contest against the Premier League’s perennialy poor travellers Burnley, Bendtner had appeared to have left his shooting boots at home, spurning chance after chance in a performance that was otherwise further evidence of the targetman finally beginning to back up the good game he has always spoken.

But it was the performance of one Theo Walcott, savaged by the press following his lacklustre audition for Fabio Capello’s World Cup squad against Egypt, that stood out as the Gunners eventually laid the Clarets to rest in a 3-1 victory which saw them tie Chelsea for second place on sixty points.

Chris Waddle was perhaps the most scathing of all the twenty year olds critics in Thursday mornings papers, as he accused the former Southampton starlet of having ‘no footballing brain’.

Arsene Wenger’s defence was as staunch as Walcott’s latest performance was electrifying, simply stating: “I believe Theo will be a great football player, he is very young, he will be 21 this year, he will have a great future.’

And in the absence of club captain Cesc Fabregas, who limped off after scoring his sides first goal, Walcott duly obliged to step up to the plate and deliver the promises of his manager, terrorising Daniel Fox, the Burnley left back, all afternoon and finding the net with a sublimely taken finish to put his team 2-1 up after David Nugent had equalised with a well executed lob that again raised questions over goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

The performance of England’s young Lion was closely followed by Frenchman Samir Nasri, whose invention was responsible for Fabregas’ well crafted opener. Following numerous gilt-edged misses by Bendtner, Nasri collected the ball and clipped a beautifully weighted pass over the defence and into the path of the Spaniard to put the home side ahead and spare his Danish team mates blushes. In essence though, the half time score line was an unfair reflection on the dominance of Arsenal who should have been well out of sight within the first half an hour.

It would be justifiable to suggest that the horrendous injury to Aaron Ramsey still lingered in the thoughts of the players as they contended the first half, when Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen’s fifty-fifty challenge on Nasri provoked fury from the Arsenal supporters, just as Daniel Fox’s challenge on Walcott drew the wrath of the opposing players who rushed to the side of their team mate as the contest momentarily looked like it could boil over.

David Nugent’s equaliser after the break was somewhat of a shock, but that man Walcott cancelled it out on the hour as he cut in from the right hand side and curled in a shot that could prove to be the pivotal moment of a season thwarted by injuries and poor form.

Andrey Arshavin, the Russian playmaker, then arrived from the bench to lash home a third in injury time after Eduardo had replaced Bendtner, whom the Emirates faithful appeared to warm to following his endeavours, honouring him with a standing ovation.

Although the Gunners finishing did not cost them on the day, their goalmouth profligacy could yet affect them in the title race as their goal difference is inferior to that of both Chelsea and current leaders Manchester United.

ARSENAL 3 (Fabregas 34, Walcott 59, Arshavin 90+4)

Team: Almunia, Eboue, Vermaelen, Silvestre, Clichy, Fabregas (Diaby 39), Denilson, Rosicky (Arshavin 61), Walcott, Nasri, Bendtner (Eduardo 73)

Unused Subs: Fabianski, Sagna, Eastmond, Traore

BURNLEY 1 (Nugent 50)

Team: Jensen, Alexander (Bikey 65), Carlisle, Mears, Cort, Fox, Cork, McDonald (Elliott 53), Eagles, Paterson (Thompson 73), Nugent

Unused Subs: Weaver, Duff, Blake, Jordan

Booked: Carlisle, McDonald, Elliott, Paterson