ARSENAL cannot stop making history, it seems. Arsène Wenger’s team followed up last season’s unbeaten campaign by extending their undefeated league run to 43 matches last night, overtaking the previous best by an English club, compiled by Nottingham Forest in 1977-78.
How long can it continue? As Wenger knows, any Barclays Premiership side is capable of providing a banana skin on its day, but, with all due respect to the likes of Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers and Fulham, Arsenal face six beatable opponents before the game that many have identified as the one in which they are most likely to slip up, against Manchester United at Old Trafford on October 24. It was Liverpool who eventually put a stop to Forest’s run 26 years ago, but if history is to repeat itself, Arsenal will have set a mark of 54 games by the time they turn up at Anfield on November 28.
Blackburn must have entertained hopes of being the spoilers themselves for much of last night as they disrupted the champions’ rhythm and made several chances of their own, but Arsenal found another gear after the interval and goals by Thierry Henry, Francesc Fabregas and José Antonio Reyes made the final score predictable, if hard on Rovers.
Graeme Souness called Arsenal “a super team”, but his Rovers side made them look some way short of super in the first half. After a strong opening, Arsenal lost their way and nearly went behind when Craig Short met a cross by Brett Emerton on the volley and Jens Lehmann had to plunge turn the ball aside.
If the Highbury crowd expected that to be an isolated attack, they were mistaken. On the half-hour, Lucas Neill blasted the ball shoulder-high along the six-yard line and it ricocheted off the elbow of Paul Dickov and then to safety from Lehmann’s leg.
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Arsenal were struggling to mount attacks and Henry’s frustration was reflected in a high challenge on Dickov for which he was booked, but five minutes into the second half the splutters were forgotten. Fabregas fed Bergkamp on the right and Henry charged in to meet the cross at the far post, volleying into the roof of the net with the outside of his right foot. “From that moment there was only one outcome,” Souness said.
Suddenly everything that had looked so difficult for Arsenal became straightforward and as they doubled their lead after 58 minutes the only complication was the identity of the scorer. Gilberto Silva headed Henry’s corner firmly towards the bottom corner and Fabregas, standing virtually on the goalline, got the final touch. Although the stadium announcer credited the goal to the Brazilian, Wenger confirmed that it was a first league goal for Fabregas. The former Barcelona youth-team player had become Arsenal’s youngest ever scorer, in a Carling Cup tie against Rotherham United last season, and is now, at 17 years and three months, their youngest league scorer.
Ten minutes from time Henry went through on Brad Friedel and, when the goalkeeper kept out his shot, the France forward squared the ball for the onrushing Reyes to crash home No 3. History was made and — almost a detail last night, but an important one — Arsenal were back on top of the Premiership.
The bad news for those below them is that complacency is not on the Highbury agenda. “We have shown remarkable consistency,” Wenger said. “In the modern game it’s something amazing. But we are not perfect. I’m focused on us trying to get better and better in every game.”
ARSENAL (4-4-2): J Lehmann — Lauren, K Touré, P Cygan, A Cole — J Pennant (sub: F Ljungberg, 77min), Gilberto Silva, F Fabregas (sub: M Flamini, 86), R Pires — D Bergkamp (sub: J A Reyes, 77), T Henry. Substitutes not used: M Almunia, J Hoyte. Booked: Henry, Fabregas.
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BLACKBURN ROVERS (4-4-2): B Friedel — L Neill, C Short, N-E Johansson, M Gray — B Emerton, Tugay Kerimoglu (sub: J De Pedro, 77), D Matteo, V Gresko — J Stead (sub: D Yorke, 63), P Dickov. Substitutes not used: L Amoruso, G Flitcroft, P Enckelman. Booked: Emerton, Neill, Short, Matteo.
Referee: N Barry.