Hear Fabianski roar! Sky Sports screenshot via jaxxbizkit on Yfrog.
Partizan Belgrade 1: Cleo 33 (pen)
Arsenal 3: Arshavin 15, Chamakh 71, Squillaci 82
Who was that goalkeeper and what has he done with Lukasz Fabianski? After Saturday's unmitigated disaster, Arsenal needed some kind of result, which isn't always as easy as it seems on the road in Europe. Today, despite a handful of nervy moments, they got it.
Arsene Wenger made six changes from the side that failed to appear at the Emirates against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. Thanks to an elbow injury, Manuel Almunia did not make the trip to Belgrade and Lukasz Fabianski started in goal. Kieran Gibbs returned from his foot injury and started at left back in the place of Gael Clichy. Laurent Koscielny dropped to the bench for Johan Djourou, in a surprising move. Abou Diaby did not make the trip to Serbia either and was replaced by Denilson, Jack Wilshere returned to the line-up in place of Emmanuel Eboue, and Samir Nasri dropped to the bench in favor of Tomas Rosicky, who wore the captain's armband.
Arsenal looked a bit troubled at the back early and an 8th minute tackle from Denilson saved a potential shot on target in a dangerous spot for Partizan. Arsenal composed themselves from there and struck first in the 15th as the clever footwork of Jack Wilshere found Andrei Arshavin with a flick of the heel and the diminutive Russian powered a shot through the legs of the Partizan keeper, Vladimir Stojkovic.
Arsenal's lead lasted about eighteen minutes, as Partizan earned a penalty after Denilson handled in the area. Cleo, Partizan's dangerous Brazilian striker, coolly struck the spot kick into the corner as Fabianski guessed wrong to equalize. No fault to Fabianski there, it was a perfect penalty and the side's went into halftime level at one.
The tide turned in the 56th minute as Arsenal were given a penalty for a last man foul on Marouane Chamakh, earning defender Marko Jovanovic a red card. There was contact in the area and slight contact amongst their legs, but a considerably soft call. Had it not been a last man foul and outside of the box, I'm not sure it would have warranted a booking at all, but as it stood, Partizan was down to ten men. Arsenal could not take advantage of the situation, however, as Andrei Arshavin fired his penalty at the legs of the diving keeper and Stojkovic saved.
Arsenal finally got their go-ahead-goal in the 70th as a Rosicky cross found the head of Marouane Chamakh. Chamakh's header, however, hit the crossbar, but he was given a second chance on the rebound and did not miss. Afterwards, Chamakh was replaced by Carlos Vela and Jack Wilshere gave way to Samir Nasri's entrance.
From this point on, it appeared Arsenal was sitting on the lead a bit, playing their possession game, but they nabbed a third in the 82nd and for Sebastien Squillaci, it was his first as a Gunner. Samir Nasri's corner kick found the Frenchman's header on the far post, and Arsenal had a 3-1 lead.
The goal did come as insurance as Partizan earned their second penalty of the match as Kieran Gibbs tripped a Partizan attacker that fell into the box. Replays made it appear that contact initially happened outside of the area, but Wolfgang Stark, the German referee pointed to the spot. This time, however, Fabianski would guess right on Cleo's penalty and he saved the ball away for a corner kick, then punched out the resulting set piece, and then convincingly caught Partizan's next in-swinging shot on target. Fabianski then made an even finer save in the third and final minute of added time on an Ilic shot which followed from some more miscommunication between defenders.
So, what did we learn (or continue to learn) today? Jack Wilshere was, again, fantastic, as was Marouane Chamakh. Fabianski did not make an error and actually covered himself in quite a bit of glory at the end of the match. The back four looks jittery way too much of the time, a problem that will hopefully be resolved with the return of Thomas Vermaelen (when will that be?) What did we not learn? Which Arsenal team and mindset will show up for an absolutely vital trip to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
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