Arse Spuds

There was a big media hype over this "guard of honour" tradition we have. Having to give one to van Persie on his return to The Emirates and what not. It was of course a non event, and was over practically as soon as it had begun.

Onto the match, and we looked bright straight from kick off. Pressing leads to van Persie misplacing a pass, the ball finds it's way to Rosicky who plays a lovely ball in behind for a certain Theo Walcott to nip in behind and score. two minutes in, 1-0 up. Great start. Was it offside? It looked it, but half of Theo's body was still behind Evra and it was very tight. Sometimes you get them sometimes you don't. 20 minutes in and we're showing the same intensity, hassling them, winning the ball back, trying to get in behind. Cazorla and Jones have both gone close. As the half goes on Man United's frustration is evident, with four bookings before the half hour mark.

 38 minutes. A cross in by Nani, met by who else but van Persie 2 yards out. Szczesny makes himself as big as possible and takes it right in the face, top save. 42 mins, Sagna turns, and plays a weak pass straight to van Persie. He sprints into the box. Sagna's right behind him. Oh god no... everyone sees it coming, Sagna cleans van Persie out, clear penalty. (why was he protesting!?) 1-1. Sloppy, sloppy goal. Half time.

The second half is much more even, after our domination in the first, though it never quite reaches the same level of intensity. Chances at both ends, but nothing major. Wilshere, Chamberlain and Gervinho come on but none make a major impact. Koscielny comes close late on, after having a good game. Giggs has a good chance even later,but it's well blocked by Mertesacker. Both teams push for a winner, but the game ends even. (and my prediction is correct, thank you very much) Arguably a fair result, i was very happy with our performance and honestly thought we deserved to win.

Where does this leaves us? Well with Chelsea and Spurs still to play each other, assuming we win our final 3 games - QPR on Saturday should be a simple demolition job (but inevitably won't be) - we should finish top 4. Whether that's 3rd or 4th will depend on our neighbours results. 73 points is 3 more than last season, so i'm still confident.

Matt