Match day number two in the Barclays Premier League was full of goals and full of excitement. I'll be giving you my impressions of the major clubs, as well as my reactions from some great games today.
Without further ado, let's see how the Gunners faired today:
1. Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool.
Blackpool found themselves in Emirates Stadium today after defeating Roberto Martinez's Wigan Athletic 4-0 last week. This was the first victory for Blackpool in top flight English football since 1973.
However, Blackpool were brusquely shaken from their dream today with a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Arsene Wenger's ailing Arsenal side.
The man of the match today, quite obviously, was Theo Walcott. Walcott got a hat trick today and each goal was well deserved. He showed off his blazing pace and finally demonstrated that he can strike the ball with his left foot. This was a big match for Walcott, who has fallen out of favor with the Emirate faithful in recent years. But he showed today exactly what it is that makes him a special player in top flight football.
But Walcott would have never been able to get some of these goals were it not for the marvelous and tireless efforts of Tomas Rosicky, who was the orchestrator of nearly every Arsenal attack and was breathtaking on the ball.
Indeed, the one touch football was on display in a big way for the Gunners, as Rosicky, Chamakh, Diaby, Wilshere, and Ashravin passed circles around the hapless Blackpool defenders.
Speaking of those players, let's evaluate their performances. Jack Wilshere, the promising young English starlet, was impressive today. He was all over the field and had a great work rate. Abou Diaby was, as he was last week, untouchable on the ball and was monumental in linking play. He also ended up with a well deserved, well finished goal. Andrei Ashravin continued to not impress me today, with a relatively timid performance. He mishandled a number of balls and really didn't seem like his old self. He got a goal from a penalty which left Blackpool with only 10 men, but other than that, the Russian looked rusty. Marouane Chamakh, until finally connecting with his head on a cross to get the sixth goal, was miserable. Mishandling balls left and right and an absolutely comical miss on an open goal made the Frenchman look a little ridiculous. Hopefully he'll find his form before too long.
Cesc Fabregas finally made an appearence late on in the game, but still didn't seem to be totally fit. Robin Van Persie also came in and continued to fail to live up to expectations. Both looked flat footed and out of shape. But, they have Arsene Wenger coaching them, so these things, you'd think, will change soon.
In the back the Gunners were rock solid, particularly the returning Alex Song who chased down every ball and cleared his lines without fail.
2. Chelsea 6-0 Wigan Athletic
Not to be outdone, Chelsea also put half a dozen on their opponent, the woeful Wigan managed by Roberto Martinez.
Of particular note were the Chelsea center backs Alex and John Terry, who extinguished any hope that Wigan had in the match throughout. Florent Malouda got his third of the season to start the scoring, but that was the only goal in the first half. In the second act though, Chelsea piled on the goals, with two for Nicolas Anelka, two for Salomon Kalou, and Yossi Benayoun finished off Wigan soundly.
3. Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Stoke City
Both goals in the match for Spurs were scored by Gareth Bale, the young talented Welshman. His first goal was hilarious, bouncing off his head, unbenownest to him, into the goal in a fray in the 18 yard box.
His second, however, was sublime. A cross from Aaron Lennon found Bale on the left flank. Then Bale swung with his left foot, catching the ball beautifully and sending it on it's way to the upper 90.
Tottenham were helped greatly by this win in their hopeful quest to stay in the top four, and also gain some confidence ahead of their Champions League bout with Young Boys, whom they trail 3-2 in the aggregrate.
Other news: West Ham lose again 3-1 to Bolton at home with Upson starting the scoring with an own goal, West Brom debut boy Peter Odemwingie (signed two days ago) gets the only goal in their match against Sunderland providing a welcome victory after their thrashing at the hands of Chelsea, Everton continue to disappoint drawing 1-1 with Wolves, Birmingham surprised Blackburn with a come from behind 2-1 victory.
That's all from me today, stay tuned tomorrow from comments on MANCHESTER UNITED's second match against Fulham, on at 11 AM on the Fox Soccer Channel.
Walcott was the man today.
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