Now they gonna believe us

[Dunny]

Aaron Ramsey suffered a serious injury as Arsenal came from behind to beat ten-man Stoke 3-1 at the Britannia.
An unmarked Danny Pugh put the home side ahead in the eighth minute with a header from close range after Ryan Shawcross had flicked on Rory Delap's long throw.
Nicklas Bendtner then headed the Gunners level on 32 minutes from Cesc Fabregas' cross.
But the game was over-shadowed by a serious injury to Ramsey midway through the second period after a challenge by Shawcross, who was sent-off.
Bendtner's throughball then hit Pugh's arm for an Arsenal penalty late on, which Fabregas duly despatched.
Thomas Vermaelen netted an injury time third to seal the win after Fabregas latched onto a Thomas Sorensen parry.
The vital victory sees Arsene Wenger's side reduce the gap on league leaders Chelsea to three points after the Blues went down to Manchester City earlier on Saturday.

[Dunny]

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger could not celebrate his side's 3-1 win at Stoke after Aaron Ramsey suffered a horrific injury.
The 19-year-old midfielder was injured midway in the second half after a challenge by Ryan Shawcross, who was sent off and left the pitch in tears.
Earlier, Danny Pugh had put the home side ahead in the eighth minute before a Nicklas Bendtner header, Cesc Fabregas penalty and Thomas Vermaelen tap-in sealed the win.
The vital victory sees Wenger's side reduce the gap on league leaders Chelsea to three points as the title race hots up.
But Wenger had mixed emotions afterwards, being proud of his side's efforts but also very sad over Ramsey's injury.
The Arsenal boss told Sky Sports: "I'm proud of our game because it was an unbelievable battle from the first minute on and we needed to be tough, patient and resilient to comeback and win the game.
"So I'm very proud of my team and very sad of course because of what happened to Aaron Ramsey.
Bad injury

"We know it's a bad injury. We have to transfer him to London tonight to see if he needs emergency surgery or not.
"So we have to reassess the injury. The only thing we do not know how long he will be out but it's certainly long term.
"I'm not very happy with the tackle. I just want to say we know what we are expecting, a battle everywhere, but we have now lost three players - (Abou) Diaby, Eduardo and Ramsey today, a boy of 19 years old - on horrendous tackles.
"It's always coincidence. I don't believe in coincidence when you are hit as many times as we do.
"We know what it is always to be physical against Arsenal and what questions I get in press conferences we don't fancy the physical side of it, that's what the result is."

Not acceptable

Asked if he believes that teams are over-physical against Arsenal, he replied: "I don't believe nothing. I just believe in what I see and when you see a player of that quality tonight getting out and injured like he did and in the way he did, it's not acceptable.
"Nothing to do with physical - commitment is right, but that's not right, I don't accept that."
The game was level at 1-1 when the injury occurred but Arsenal somehow regrouped and scored two late goals.
Wenger added: "We could see that the team was shocked, that for five, six minutes nothing happened in the game.
"But we will go until the end because this team is very strong mentally, united, and we'll fight in every game and we will do it for Ramsey as well because he deserves it."

[Dunny]

From The Times

March 1, 2010


Arsenal won’t flinch in title race, vows Cesc Fàbregas

Stoke City 1 Arsenal 3


Shawcross leaves the field in distress after viewing the consequences of his tackle on Ramsey






Peter Lansley

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div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;} Cesc Fàbregas has challenged Arsenal to use the latest horrific injury to a team-mate as the catalyst to win the Barclays Premier League.

Two years ago this week, the career-threatening injury suffered by Eduardo da Silva in a 2-2 draw away to Birmingham City helped to derail Arsenal’s title bid. But on Saturday, Arsène Wenger’s team responded to the sickening injury suffered by Aaron Ramsey not only to win the game at the death, capitalising on Chelsea’s shock defeat by Manchester City to pull within three points of the leaders, but to send out the message that, this time, they will not be wilting.

Even as Ramsey was taken away in an ambulance, and a distraught Ryan Shawcross was driven home by his mother, Fàbregas proved Arsenal’s mettle is stronger than ever.

With the scores level, the game dipped as if into mourning for ten minutes or so after Shawcross’s mistimed tackle broke the leg of the sublimely talented Wales midfield player. Then the Arsenal captain showed the courage to start dictating the play again, realising two extra points were on offer. Not only did he score the penalty that effectively secured victory in stoppage time, he then summoned his team-mates into a huddle to let everyone know Arsenal will not be moved.

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The contrast with the scene at St Andrew’s two years ago could not have been starker. Then, after Arsenal had let slip a 2-1 lead, William Gallas, Fàbregas’s predecessor as captain, sat forlorn in the goalmouth, the self-pitying epitome of a divided camp.

On Saturday, instead, Fàbregas finished the match by kicking Danny Pugh from behind — to be noted when Arsenal start preaching from the higher moral ground — and lifted a finger to his lips in the direction of Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, to quieten his complaints. But at least it showed that he will not be bowed.

After expressing his conviction that Arsenal are victimised, in the wake of the saddening injuries suffered by Abou Diaby, in May 2006, Eduardo and now Ramsey, Fàbregas offered the more productive message that, coupled with the most accommodating run-in, Arsenal could yet finish the most brilliant of champions. “We learnt from when it happened to Eduardo when that day we lost a lead,” he said. “We knew if we won today, we still had a lot to say [in the title race].”

Rory Delap helped Stoke to take their customary lead against Arsenal when, for the third home match in succession against them, his long throw yielded an early goal. Shawcross flicked on and Pugh, on his first Premier League start of the season, headed in at the far post.

Stoke’s 11-game unbeaten run had included a triumph over Arsenal that has sparked a run in the FA Cup that included victory over Manchester City after a replay last week. But they had to tire some time and, once Nicklas Bendtner had equalised with a superb header from Fàbregas’s cross, they could not keep up with Arsenal.

Ramsey might have earned a penalty when Abdoulaye Faye clambered into him from behind, while Thomas Sorensen saved brilliantly from Emmanuel Eboué’s powerful drive.

Then came the horrific moment that left Ramsey with his lower leg bent in half. Shawcross miscontrolled and, seeking to make amends, clattered into the Arsenal player, having been fractionally beaten to the ball. Wenger, initially judging that a three-match ban for such a tackle was “just ridiculous”, had the good grace to add that he did not want to “act as the judge”.

Stoke’s remorse was genuine and prompt. Even on the field, they subsided and there was barely a whimper of dissent when Bendtner’s flick inadvertently struck the hand of Pugh. Given how close Pugh was to Bendtner, it should not have been a penalty, but protests were minimal.
Fàbregas converted and, when Thomas Vermaelen tucked in his captain’s pass after Sorensen had saved Tomas Rosicky’s shot, Arsenal’s celebrations were tellingly raucous. There was nothing spineless about this performance.

Stoke City (4-4-2): T Sorensen 6 — A Wilkinson 5, R Shawcross 6, Abdoulaye Faye 7 (sub: D Collins, 60min 5), R Huth 6 — R Delap 5, D Whitehead 6 (sub: L Lawrence, 78), G Whelan 6, D Pugh 5 — M Sidibe 5, R Fuller 4 (sub: Tuncay Sanli, 80).

Substitutes not used: A Begovic, J Beattie, D Kitson, S Diao. Sent off: Shawcross.
Next: Fulham (a).

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): M Almunia 5 — B Sagna 7, S Campbell 6, T Vermaelen 7, G Clichy 7 — A Song 7, A Ramsey 7 (sub: T Rosicky, 70 6) — E Eboué 6 (sub: T Walcott, 75), F Fàbregas 8, S Nasri 6 (sub: Eduardo da Silva, 84) — N Bendtner 7.

Substitutes not used: L Fabianski, C Vela, M Silvestre, A Traoré. Booked: Song.

Next: Burnley (h).