(This entry was originally published on Sunday, April 19th, 2009)
Thanks to Ivorian striker Didier Drogba’s last gasp winner, Chelsea edged past Arsenal 2-1 to reach the final of FA Cup 2008-09 on Saturday at the Wembley stadium. The match was not an entertaining one. Arsenal started off well in the match, taking a lead in the 18th minute when Theo Walcott’s deflected shot went into the net. Since taking the 1-0 lead, Arsenal started struggling throughout the rest of the match and Chelsea started dominating their London rivals.
Florent Malouda leveled the score in the 33rd minute. Arsenal remained defensive even after conceding the goal. Then Didier Drogba scored the winning goal for Chelsea in the 84th minute after receiving a lofted pass from Frank Lampard. Well, Arsenal was missing a number of first team players due to injury. In fact, Arsenal missed five out of their four defensemen including goalkeeper Manual Alumnia, Johan Djourou, Gaël Clichy and William Gallas, who has been sidelined for rest of the season earlier this month. So, Arsene Wenger had to play a new set of defense line up against Chelsea and it took its toll on Arsenal’s performance. Now, let us see if Arsenal could put on better performance against Liverpool in the upcoming premier league home match on Tuesday. Chelsea will now face Everton in the FA Cup 2009 final as Everton defeated Manchester United on penalty shoot out 4-2 on Sunday to reach the final.
Related article:
sofiaecho
No comments:
Post a Comment