Blackburn Rovers 2 - 1 Arsenal: Effort? What's That?

 Sadly, this picture could have come from any number of games. Pic via Guardian.

Blackburn Rovers 2: Dunn 43, Samba 68
Arsenal 1: van Persie 13

Hey, Arsenal. I just wanted to remind you, as it appears that you've forgotten, that you have not yet clinched a third place finish. You are five points ahead of Spurs, while they can still pick up six.

Arsenal continues to coast to the end of another disappointing season by giving us Gooners another bitter pill to swallow, and another listless defeat on the road.

From the start, things looked strange in the line-up. With so many injuries on this team, you don't expect to see four players you thought were healthy to drop out of the squad completely. We'll have to see what Arsene Wenger has to say about the health of Gael Clichy, Alex Song (recurring knee problem?), Tomas Rosicky, and Nicklas Bendtner. As Bendtner did not start last week against City, that meant three changes in the starting XI. Armand Traore slipped in for Clichy at left back, Emmanuel Eboue and Carlos Vela started behind van Persie playing up front. Johan Djourou and Kieran Gibbs made surprising returns to the bench, but did not feature. Andrei Arshavin returned from his calf injury as well.

Arsenal had a chance to strike very early, just at the start of the third minute, when a Theo Walcott cross found Blackburn keeper Paul Robinson out of position as the ball fell to the feet of Carlos Vela, whose obviously rusted foot slotted the ball wide of the far post. Blackburn nearly responded on a free kick, but Lukasz Fabianski made a quick, diving save.

Arsenal struck first in the 13th minute, off their second corner in quick succession. Samir Nasri took the kick from the near side, fairly short through the air, but to the head of a cutting Bacary Sagna, who flicked the ball into the box, to the waiting head of Robin van Persie, slightly unmarked in the six yard box, who pounded the ball just under the bar and into the net, for his first goal in six months.

Blackburn started to mount the kind of attack you'd expect from Sam "Walrus" Allardyce, a man who claims to know how to "outwit" Arsene Wenger. Normally, he fails, but when your keeper is as shaky as Fabianski, the requisite holes to beat the Gunners are there. Long balls into the box, classic English-style football, and crowding the keeper on set pieces will beat Fabianski.

Lukasz Fabianski in this match was fantastic on stopping shots in open play and making saves on standard free kicks. He was also completely and utterly clueless on defending corner kicks, and this was Arsenal's undoing today.

On Blackburn's first two forays into the box with this style, Fabianski was bailed out of errors by referee Martin Atkinson. On two fumbles, Atkinson blew his whistle for fouls on Blackburn players that weren't exactly there. On the third Fabianski tumble, following a Blackburn corner, the whistle never came, Arsenal failed to clear, and David Dunn had a simple equalizer. 1-1 at the half.

Arsenal showed practically no fight in the second half, knowing a draw would essentially lock up third place (Spurs could only pass an Arsenal team with 73 points on goal difference, a statistic in which the Gunners had a 12 goal advantage at the start of second half play.) Blackburn kept pounding the attack and struck in the 68th minute to take the lead on another corner, as Chris Samba put a header past him, shortly after Mikael Silvestre accidentally tapped the ball wide of the goal (and thankfully not into it.)

Down 2-1, Arsenal attempted to mount a little more of a comeback, but the problem with this Arsenal team, so banged up by injuries, is that they play like a team of locksmiths, trying to carefully pick the lock and set up their pretty goals, without the proper tools. As a result, Arsenal always seems to come close to getting in the door, only to have things go frustratingly wrong at the very end. Andrei Arshavin slammed a shot right into the waiting arms of Robinson. Eduardo did nothing. Van Persie could not find time and space to make anything happen. Walcott's crosses were increasingly blocked by the defense. The equalizer never materialized for the Gunners, and it was never really close either.

So, one game left to play. Champions League play is assured, but avoiding the qualifying playoff and gaining automatic qualification to the group stage is not. Tottenham can still catch Arsenal for third. City can as well, but only on goal difference. Spurs and City play each other at Eastlands on Wednesday; a draw will seal third for the Gunners. Otherwise, it comes down to the final Sunday of the year, against Fulham at the Grove. Thankfully for Arsenal, Fulham has little to play for in the league, and a Europa League final in Germany three days later. Maybe the luck of the fixture list has finally turned Arsenal's way enough to get our beloved Gunnres safely into third place.