The Game No-one Wanted To Win & The Not So Robin Reliant

ARSENAL 0 – CHELSEA 0

All the talk in the build up to our final London derby of the season revolved around how neither side could really afford not to win. Which is why it’s such a great surprise to me that I’ve had to go with the title of this blog that I have, because neither side truly looked like they did want to win it.

I don’t want to talk about that from Chelsea’s point of view. I utterly despise them, and they aren’t worth the space on my blog site. But they came here with the sole objective of parking the bus, obviously a tactic they are looking to perfect before they head off to the Nou Camp next week (where I hope they get slaughtered). That tactic set the standard of what was to be a very dull match, in which the spoils were ultimately shared.

I was so disappointed with Arsenal’s performance. Aside from the final five minutes of the first half, and the last 10 minutes of the second, we were totally flat, lack lustre, slow moving, slow passing, no pressing and really didn’t show any signs of the fight and desire we’ve seen over the past couple of months.

We hit the woodwork twice through Laurent Koscielny and Robin van Persie, and the Dutchman himself had several more opportunities that perhaps he would have taken had he been in the form he showed earlier in the season. But it was a boring game, with little to really report on summary wise. Yet a point still ensures the race for third is definitely not over, although the result means it’s still in our hands.

Robin van Persie hits the post from close range.

There was such little fluency in our midfield, and it almost looked like the trio of Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey, and Tomas Rosicky didn’t know how to play with each other. Rosicky was again our most creative player going forward, but weirdly it was only after he went off that some structure seemed to emerge once Abou Diaby replaced him.

Despite a poor first half, I thought Ramsey looked assured in his passing and moving, and grew into the game as it went on, although he's still well short of the standard we know he can perform at. Song was a disappointment, and misplaced way too many paces. Diaby competed nobly, considering the lack of match practise he’s had, and I hope he can be more involved in the run in. But what we lacked in the middle was someone who really took a hold of the match, and got us moving quickly. Rosicky has usually been that man, but seemed to struggle after his midweek illness. And the lack of Mikel Arteta’s leadership and experience was always going to be notable.

Defensively, there were holes that Chelsea tried to exploit, but we managed to hold them out largely due to the exceptional performance of Laurent Koscielny, who bailed us out on more than one occasion. He’s definitely been a key player for us, and how we missed him on Monday night against Wigan.

I also thought Kieran Gibbs had an excellent game, and although it was a surprise to see Andre Santos come on in a midfield/winger type role (still not totally sure what position he was playing), he seemed to add a bit of zip going forward which could be handy in our run in.

But the concern for me right now is the front three. Theo Walcott never got in the game (largely due to the surprisingly decent Ryan Bertrand), and eventually hobbled off with a hamstring injury that appears to have ended his season as well. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain proved why Arsene Wenger has been using him so infrequently; he’s not ready yet, despite what an alarmingly large portion of Arsenal supporters think. It’s unfair that so many place such high expectations on him already. He’ll get a lot better, but we’ve got to have patience with him and not expect so much so soon. Gervinho was neat when he came on, but failed to have a big enough impact to change to game. We also missed Yossi Benayoun, especially the work rate and desire he's shown as of late.

The Ox didn't quite have the desired affect today.

However the main worry for me right now is the form of captain Robin van Persie. Aside from Koscielny hitting the bar, all our best chances fell to the Dutch international, yet he didn’t take any of them like the man who is the leading goal scorer in the Division should.

Now make no mistake, I’m not suggesting for a second that he’s crap or useless. All that this below-par run of form is showing is that he’s human. RVP’s had such an unbelievable season to date, going this long without a goal in regular play is a surprise. And that’s a credit to his fine ability, not an insult to his current form.

I believe there will probably be two schools of thought on RVP right now. One, the controversial newspaper reporter looking for copy sales, or the anti-Arsenal supporter, who would maybe suggest that his mind is elsewhere, much like Cesc’s was this time last season, because of his desire or (depending on who you listen to) decision he’s made to leave Arsenal at the end of the season.

The more reasonable and non-twat like suggestion would be that he’s a player who’s feeling the affects given this is the longest he’s played into a season. And he’s played his heart out so far. Yet due to his history of injuries, he’s never truly played this much before and is therefore starting to struggle because of it. He’s 28-years-old, so not a young bloke anymore.

But today he was again off colour, I thought. He had chances, yet almost seemed unconfident in his ability at times, as he snatched at a couple of them, and lost his balance all too easily as well.

RVP was again off form today.

And where are our goals going to come from if not from RVP? Who knows. Marouane Chamakh again remained on the bench, and our substitute left back was thrown on in the 70^th minute for an attacking midfielder, which says everything you need to know about how the Moroccan features in Wenger’s plans.

The desperate need for goals from other areas of the pitch is abundant. We need a Robert Pires type player. A Freddie Ljungberg. Someone to score 15-20 goals a season from somewhere other than centre forward. Lukas Podolski could be a solution, but how I’d love to have a goal scoring midfielder in the mould of one of those two Invincibles, to take the pressure off RVP, and keep the goals ticking over when he’s not firing. Because he is only human, and we are far too reliant on him right now so it’s costing us.

But the great thing about football is that as long as the season is still going, there’s always another game in which to put the wrongs right. And there's no doubt that RVP, and others, will have chances to score and win us matches in our final three games.

It seems we have an easier run in than our rivals for third spot, however it’s form and momentum that will be the ultimate deciding factor. Next weekend we travel to the Britannia Stadium, where hopefully they'll both be recaptured. We haven't got any more slips up available to us if we're to make it 15 years in a row of elite European football.