Blackburn Beat Arsenal In FA Cup

Not exactly a week that Arsene Wenger and Arsenal will want to remember. Just 3 days after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the Carling Cup final and their players being involved in an ugly brawl, they were dumped out of the FA Cup last night by Blackburn Rovers, losing 1 - 0. So, those two excellent away wins at Anfield have amounted to nothing in the end. At least Arsene had the good grace before last night’s game to apologise for his players’ behaviour on Sunday. That must have been a bit alien to him! I thought he was going to say he hadn’t seen what had happened. Sarcasm really does become easier the older you get!

Arsenal had a couple of reasonable first half penalty appeals rejected and you can bet your life Wenger saw those clearly enough. Well, he later accused one of the linesmen of cheating! Don’t sugar coat it Arsene, say what you mean! Though if you see the replies, he may have a point after Lundberg went down to Brett Emerton’s challenge. However, I think we can clear all of this up. Who was last night’s referee? One Graham Poll! Maybe Graham saw three tackles and couldn’t make his mind up which one he should yellow card, and that must have rubbed off onto the linesman! Hmm, I must be older than I thought!

There can’t be any complaint at the goal that won the game though. A “wonder” goal in the 87th minute from Benni McCarthy fit to win any game, cutting in off the wing and rifling the his shot home. McCarthy had started the game on the bench and the Blackburn manager, Mark Hughes, realised that his team were missing their top scorer as the home side looked a little laboured during the first half. Fortunately for Hughes in that first half, he could yet again rely on his excellent goalkeeper the American Brad Friedel, to keep his team in the game. Friedel really must be one of the most consistent performers around, you rarely see him have a bad game and my Man Of The Tie because he also proved to be Arsenal’s thorn at the Emirates in the first game.

Blackburn prize for knocking Arsenal out of this year’s FA Cup is a home tie in the Quarter Finals to another north west team, Manchester City. The red half of Manchester and the boys from the Kings Road down their in London will have been Blackburn fans last night and will surely fancy their chances even more now of lifting the Cup at the new Wembley for the first time.

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Many thanks
Rik