Hell’s teeth, I forgot how bleedin’ far Hull is…fair play to Christoff (AKA Terry Scott’s Lovechild, see pic) for driving. Now then what a joyous task it is to thumb through the papers this morning after the glorious Gunners stuck it up poor, little, brave, battling Hull. How very unfair it was of Super Nik to edge the Tigers close to extinction with his dramatic late winner. Yeah right.
The Mail reports that Bendtner completed his transformation from ‘figure of fun to talisman’ with the goal which maintained our Premier League title charge.
The paper says Bendy was a laughing stock after missing a host of chances during our 3-1 victory over Burnley last weekend.
But having claimed the first hat-trick of his career in the 5-0 Champions League drubbing of Porto in midweek, the Denmark hit-man struck three minutes into stoppage-time to snatch three vital points at 10-man Hull.
And the News of the World carries these post-match quotes from AW: “Like some people before Christmas, I believed we were out of the title race but now I really believe we are back in the hunt,” conceded Wenger.
“There are eight games to go and we are very much in it. We have the belief that we can go on and do it. The team spirit is very special and we score lots of goals in the last 15 minutes.
“These are a very big three points for us. Is there a danger of complacency because we have arguably the best run-in of the three teams? My answer to that is have we been in the comfort zone here and at Stoke a fortnight ago? In each game it was 1-1 after 90 minutes but we went on to win.
“We have showed we have the spirit in both to keep on going. Nicklas Bendtner suffered a lot of criticism when he missed those chances last week but then bounced back by scoring a hat-trick against Porto and now this winner. I have always had confidence in him and the way that he has responded to criticism is the best way and shows great character.”
The Telegraph states that we ‘appeared out of ideas until Theo Walcott replaced Emmanuel Eboue with 25 minutes remaining to provide an immediate injection of pace and urgency’ and they got that right though at the time it seemed odd to take Eboue off. That’s why Lord Wenger is in charge of the Arsenal and not us!
The Times observes that while we may have lost four out of four against Chelsea and Manchester United this season, this was our fifth Premier League win in a row, and in terms of matches remaining, we appear to face the least testing run-in of the three title contenders.
When it was put to AW that it looked comfortable, he smiled ruefully. “You have seen how comfortable it was here, when it was 1-1 after 90 minutes. It was 1-1 after 90 minutes at Stoke. That tells you how easy it will be.”
Henry Norris is in fine form in this morning’s Bugle, totally ignoring our triumph on Humberside he writes: “I’ve heard a whisper that Emmanuel Eboue is to be ushered in as the new President of Ivory Coast because the current incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, has a surname too silly for words.”
Where does this bloke get his info? Hot stuff, Henry.
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