Late Arteta strike rescues Arsenal
Source: AFP |
October 28, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MIKEL Arteta's 84th-minute goal saw Arsenal beat bottom club Queens Park Rangers 1-0 in the English Premier League yesterday to snap a two-game losing streak and crown Jack Wilshere's comeback with victory.
Beaten by Norwich City and Schalke in its last two outings, Arsene Wenger's side looked destined for a third disappointing result in a row until Arteta finally found a way past QPR goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Victory lifted Arsenal to fourth place, although it trails leader Chelsea by seven points and will fall 10 points off the pace if the Blues prevail against Manchester United today.
Arsenal welcomed back Wilshere - who missed the whole of last season through injury - and Bacary Sagna at the Emirates and despite controlling the game, it squandered a number of chances in the first half.
Julio Cesar saved twice from Olivier Giroud, while Aaron Ramsey found the top of the crossbar with a header and Wilshere stung the Brazilian goalkeeper's palms from the edge of the box.
The QPR shot-stopper got down quickly to repel a Per Mertesacker header early in the second half, before Junior Hoilett had a lob correctly ruled out for offside at the other end.
Wilshere was substituted in the 67th minute.
QPR center-back Stephane Mbia was sent off for lashing out at Thomas Vermaelen and Julio Cesar brilliantly saved Samba Diakite from scoring an own goal before Arteta tapped in from close range following a goal-mouth scramble.
QPR came close to equalizing three times in injury time -- Esteban Granero shooting wide, Jamie Mackie firing straight at Vito Mannone after an enterprising run, and Mannone touching a Granero free-kick around the post - but Arsenal survived.
Like Arsenal, Manchester City also succumbed to a damaging Champions League loss in mid-week, going down 1-3 at Ajax, but it can close to within a point of Chelsea if it beats Swansea City in yesterday's late game.
Fulham climbed to sixth after sharing six goals with Reading in an extraordinary 3-3 draw at the Madejski Stadium.
After falling behind to a stunning long-range striker by Mikele Leigertwood, Fulham hit back through substitute Bryan Ruiz and then pulled ahead in the 77th when Chris Baird glanced home a header from Ruiz's corner.
Gareth McCleary equalized for Reading in the 85th before Dimitar Berbatov restored Fulham's lead three minutes later, only for Hal Robson-Kanu to snatch a share of the spoils for the host by bundling home from close range in the last minute.
Elsewhere, a superb volley by Ivan Ramis set Wigan Athletic on its way to a 2-1 win at home to West Ham United that lifted the Latics up to 15th, while Stoke City and Sunderland drew 0-0 at the Britannia Stadium.
Earlier, Norwich City punished former coach Paul Lambert by holding Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw that left Villa one place above the relegation zone.
Christian Benteke, preferred to Darren Bent, put Villa ahead in the 27th but the host had Joe Bennett sent off for a second bookable offense early in the second half and Michael Turner equalized with 11 minutes left.
Lambert, who made an acrimonious departure from Norwich in the summer, has overseen just one win in his first nine league games at the Villa Park helm.
Meanwhile, QPR defender Anton Ferdinand ended his boycott of the Kick It Out anti-racism campaign by wearing the equality group's T-shirt during the warm-up before the Arsenal clash.
Ferdinand and his brother, the Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, refused to wear the T-shirts last weekend in protest at Kick It Out's failure to push the Football Association to take stronger action over incidents of racist abuse.
The Ferdinand brothers were angered when Chelsea defender John Terry was handed only a four-match ban for racially abusing Anton during a Premier League match last year.
Beaten by Norwich City and Schalke in its last two outings, Arsene Wenger's side looked destined for a third disappointing result in a row until Arteta finally found a way past QPR goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Victory lifted Arsenal to fourth place, although it trails leader Chelsea by seven points and will fall 10 points off the pace if the Blues prevail against Manchester United today.
Arsenal welcomed back Wilshere - who missed the whole of last season through injury - and Bacary Sagna at the Emirates and despite controlling the game, it squandered a number of chances in the first half.
Julio Cesar saved twice from Olivier Giroud, while Aaron Ramsey found the top of the crossbar with a header and Wilshere stung the Brazilian goalkeeper's palms from the edge of the box.
The QPR shot-stopper got down quickly to repel a Per Mertesacker header early in the second half, before Junior Hoilett had a lob correctly ruled out for offside at the other end.
Wilshere was substituted in the 67th minute.
QPR center-back Stephane Mbia was sent off for lashing out at Thomas Vermaelen and Julio Cesar brilliantly saved Samba Diakite from scoring an own goal before Arteta tapped in from close range following a goal-mouth scramble.
QPR came close to equalizing three times in injury time -- Esteban Granero shooting wide, Jamie Mackie firing straight at Vito Mannone after an enterprising run, and Mannone touching a Granero free-kick around the post - but Arsenal survived.
Like Arsenal, Manchester City also succumbed to a damaging Champions League loss in mid-week, going down 1-3 at Ajax, but it can close to within a point of Chelsea if it beats Swansea City in yesterday's late game.
Fulham climbed to sixth after sharing six goals with Reading in an extraordinary 3-3 draw at the Madejski Stadium.
After falling behind to a stunning long-range striker by Mikele Leigertwood, Fulham hit back through substitute Bryan Ruiz and then pulled ahead in the 77th when Chris Baird glanced home a header from Ruiz's corner.
Gareth McCleary equalized for Reading in the 85th before Dimitar Berbatov restored Fulham's lead three minutes later, only for Hal Robson-Kanu to snatch a share of the spoils for the host by bundling home from close range in the last minute.
Elsewhere, a superb volley by Ivan Ramis set Wigan Athletic on its way to a 2-1 win at home to West Ham United that lifted the Latics up to 15th, while Stoke City and Sunderland drew 0-0 at the Britannia Stadium.
Earlier, Norwich City punished former coach Paul Lambert by holding Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw that left Villa one place above the relegation zone.
Christian Benteke, preferred to Darren Bent, put Villa ahead in the 27th but the host had Joe Bennett sent off for a second bookable offense early in the second half and Michael Turner equalized with 11 minutes left.
Lambert, who made an acrimonious departure from Norwich in the summer, has overseen just one win in his first nine league games at the Villa Park helm.
Meanwhile, QPR defender Anton Ferdinand ended his boycott of the Kick It Out anti-racism campaign by wearing the equality group's T-shirt during the warm-up before the Arsenal clash.
Ferdinand and his brother, the Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, refused to wear the T-shirts last weekend in protest at Kick It Out's failure to push the Football Association to take stronger action over incidents of racist abuse.
The Ferdinand brothers were angered when Chelsea defender John Terry was handed only a four-match ban for racially abusing Anton during a Premier League match last year.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
