Title chase is back on

Tremendous win for Arsenal this weekend, but that in and of itself is an understatement. Manchester United was 10 minutes from placing one hand on the Premiership trophy, but in a tough battle Arsenal fought back for a famous 2-1 victory.

What Arsenal demonstrated in the last 15 minutes is what they need to do consistently in order to be a title contender. Rather than looking for the pretty pass that leads to the pretty goal, they need to mix it up when appropriate and play a physical style of football that is required to win in England. The first half of the game was marked by both teams cautiously feeling each other other, testing and probing the defense with out much success. What did give me some fearful moments was again watching Senderos constantly wiff and be found out of position. Thankfully nothing came of it. The real sparks started in the second half. A masterful run by Evra, who had a huge game, set up a simple goal by Rooney.

At this point I thought Manchester would kill the game, but surprisingly they appeared tentative, rather than go for the 2 goal to kill off the game they sat back, allowing Arsenal to come at Manchester United's defenders in waves...even bringing in Heinze to shore up the defense. However they lost a battle they should typically win, a 50 - 50 battle on the edge of the 18 yard box gave Eboue a clean run of the ball which he crossed nicely to Henry who....surprise....scored the winner with a powerful header.

Some comments:

• Most of the game Arsenal fell back into their usual tic tac toe passing without shooting or attacking the goal. They constanstly look to find the perfect pass to break open a defense rather than testing from distance or running at defenses. Arsenal needs to get more of an attacking mentality if they are to regain their title.
• Gilberto loss was huge, Flamini tried to imitate the brazilian in the midfield, but too often he attempted a pass too many or lost battles in the midfield. I think Flamini is a good joker off the bench, he can play on the back line or in the midfield for spurts but not sure he is a full 90 minute player. Why not get Baptista some run in the midfield. He gives the team some snarl as well as a legitimate scoring threat.
• Clichy, Eboue and Evra, all had huge games from their fullback positions for both teams. Evra who had been "lost" the past 3 seasons has resurfaced as a top back. Clichy demonstrated why Wenger could allow Cashley Cole to leave. He attacked when needed and kept Giggs and Ronaldo quiet, I wonder when Domenech will take note. Finally Eboue showed why Lauren was allowed to leave, he was absolutely huge against Rooney. He also gave the team a little bit of nastiness it needs on the back line, mixing it up early with Rooney, knowing that you can easily get under the English striker's skin. His cross for Henry was picture perfect.
• Larsson...he was almost entirely invisible the entire game. I am not sure he still has 90 minutes in his legs, but can be a great joker similar to the role he played at Barca.

The title chase is most likely over for Liverpool and Arsenal, too many points back to over take both Chelsea and Manchester United, but this serves warning for next season. Had Arsenal not dropped silly points early in the season this race would have been much tighter