OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

Well, what could I possibly say to add to what has already been said about that goal on Saturday? I'm sure like me you have been watching and reliving that incredible moment over and over again, and then over again! It is impossible to resist, you see a link, you know exactly what it will include, that same goal you have watched 100 times already, but click....and your eyes are feasting on the magic once more. There is footage from every corner of the Emirates, each producing the same energy, sounds of 'SHOOT!' as the corner comes over, the silence and then that roar! Oh wow, that roar!! And then bedlam, people jumping all over the place! Just amazing scenes!

There are two goals that for me always produce goose bumps, Alan Sunderland scoring the winner in the 1979 FA Cup final, and of course Michael Thomas in the.....oh I don't need to explain do I? There have of course been so many important goals scored by Arsenal over the years, however you cannot control natural feelings. So why for example our recent FA Cup final winning goals, or Wiltord at Old Trafford which have generated such joy do not induce that extra edge I have no idea. Answers on a postcard please (apologies to my younger readers who have absolutely no idea what that means!).

Saturdays result immediately reminds me of the match against top of the table Leicester in 2016. Arsenal pushing all they could to catch the league leaders conceded to a Vardy penalty. Arsenal equalised through Walcott but as the game fell into injury time it appeared that we had blown a real chance of having our first genuine title challenge for years. Then the Emirates just took off when Welbeck headed home an Ozil free kick 5 minutes into injury time. The goal was huge! I ended up two blocks away from my seat, a new experience of crowd surfing! It was just fantastic, we were now only 3 points behind Leicester and the title was definitely on! Only it wasn't, we followed this momentous game with a mini slump, being knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona, the FA Cup at home to Watford and winning 1 point in the next three league games including a disastrous home defeat to Swansea.

There can be no doubt however that the current Arsenal team are made of stronger stuff. Going down two nil must have shaken them, but they were not for buckling. ( I was going to say they were not stirred , but that would have been too corny !?) After years of being accused of not having any, this is a team of leaders on the pitch who just refuse to give up, Arteta has drummed something special into this team. Of the many clips I have seen, one was produced by a Bournemouth fan standing in the away end, and I found the reaction for their first goal quite telling. There was a celebration, but it was half hearted, some appeared to not even celebrate at all. And then there it was 'We have scored to early!'. We know that feeling so so well in seasons gone by. I remember Arsenal playing at Anfield in 2018 for their annual drubbing, when we scored a very early goal to make it 1-0. I didn't celebrate. It was far to early. And sure enough it was as we left with our tails between our legs losing 5-1! So it is interesting that this is how other fans look at us now, and long may this continue.

This week does bring us another reminder on not only how huge the game of football is, but also the worldwide popularity of both the Premier League and of course Arsenal. There has been footage of commentary in all languages and fans all around the world celebrating our goal, who let us not forget will also be in different time zones staying up all hours to watch Arsenal play Bournemouth. One of my favourites was seeing a group running around arms waving ecstatically before jumping into their pool! Oh how lovely that must have been! I wonder how many of our distant friends would have called it a day at 2-0 and gone to bed, only to wake up to the bittersweet news of all the drama they missed.

I mentioned the two goals that give me goose bumps every time I see them, well I am feeling them every time I see Reiss Nelson smash that ball home. It is a phenomenal goal. I so so hope that it proves more crucial than Welbeck's goal, and if it does it will most definitely be played over and over again for decades to come, and of course produce those goose bumps!

REF WATCH

Have the VAR officials gone on strike? It appears we have gone full circle from going through a period of outrageous decisions by the on-pitch referee who has been heavily manipulated by the VAR official, to the most blatant incidents now just being ignored. The referee for our game on Saturday deserves huge credit for allowing the game to run for so long after the allocated injury time had expired to make up for the Bournemouth 'injury' during the injury time. So many times, we have seen referees not take this into account, and this proved absolutely crucial. However, the VAR official who maybe was sleeping failed to alert the referee on a nailed-on penalty when Tomiyasu had his foot clearly kicked in the penalty area, and the two nailed on handballs in the penalty area. One of the incidents the defender has actually leant towards the ball as it smashed against his arm. And maybe the VAR official was sipping his cup of tea on kick off when there were several Bournemouth players standing in the Arsenal half prior to kick off.

It was interesting, and infuriating, to hear Peter Walton justify the Chelsea penalty they earned last night for a handball incident that was almost identical to ours on Saturday, saying that they see they handball rule differently on the continent. Say what? So, we play by different rules to everyone else?!?! You could not make it up....no, in fact it looks like they are indeed actually making it up!!

We return to European football this week, and then a tough away game against Fulham awaits us. Buckle up......

Thanks for reading, speak soon.

Rob. @Gooner145

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