Lord of Arsenal: Return of the King (igwe) | Arsenal – Leeds Match Report

Written by Kanayo Monye

Just the sight of Thierry Henry in the arsenals dug-out was enough to send waves of excitement around the Emirates Stadium. Thanks to the African Cup of Nations and the shortage of players due to injuries, for making his second coming a reality. A thought that would have been laughed off as the stuff of fantasy a couple of weeks ago.

With RVP chilling in Dubai and Gervinho off for the Nation’s cup, Chamakh and Arshavin were given an opportunity to stake their claim at the gunner’s starting lineup.

Last year’s tie saw Leeds close to completing an upset at the Emirates stadium when Robert Snodgrass, absent in tonight’s game due to injury, scored a 55^th minute penalty to put the away side in front. A well-struck penalty from Cesc Fabregas at injury time saved the day for Arsenal, before the Gunners won the second leg 3-1.

Right at the first minutes things started looking up for Arsenal as Arshavin – with nice body movement –makes space for a shot on the left edge of the box. His low driven shot was blocked but the ball kindly came back to his path. He skies over the second attempt. Another clear chance was handed over to Arshavin as Chamakh squares up the ball to him in the 3^rd minute of the game, but the Russian fires over above the right of the goal.

The home side continued to dominate the first 25 minutes with Ramsey orchestrating the attacks from midfield .The run of play remained roughly the same with the gunners creating chances but lacking that final last touch.

Events took a different turn when at the 29th minute, Francis Coquelin goes down clutching what looks his hamstring.  He was replaced by unproven 18-year-old Nico Yennaris who was making only his second competitive game for the gunners. This change seemed to have put some much needed oxygen in the Leeds’ attacking respiratory system as they retained the ball for their longest spell in possession yet.  In the 33^rd minute the united players worked the ball up the field for a cross that was blocked.

From then on, aside from a yellow card given to Leeds’ Darren O’Dea, the game was uninteresting ……almost as if we were watching an MLS game.

The tempo picked up just a tad bit at the 68^th min after the introduction of King Henry and Walcott. (The two players came in for Chamakh and Chamberlain respectfully).

Henry’s first touch of the ball saw him run at the Leeds defense, laying off the ball to Arteta who gives the ball away  after his appeals for a foul are denied.

It only took 10 minutes of Henry on the field before he shows the quality of a 226-goal career striker. The magic moment came at the 78^th min when Henry, with a run timed to perfection, pulled away from his marker and controlled with his first touch an incisive pass thrown from Alex song and then with his signature move of opening his body before deftly curling the ball to the far corner of the goal. He make s it goal number 227.

The release of tension inside the stadium almost leant itself to a cheap equaliser as Ross McCormack, thrown on as a substitute, nodded a diving header into the hands of Wojciech Szczesny

This victory hands Arsenal a Fourth Round tie against Aston Villa in late January. But perhaps more importantly, Henry’s contribution also gave Wenger’s men a timely boost when they seemed to be wobbling just a little.

Vive le roi!