Apart from the point at Highbury last season after the home side had already secured the title, Blues have been comprehensively beaten in all the Premiership games against the Gunners.
Today was no exception, as Blues produced yet another inefficient performance. Yes, it was Arsenal, but this was an Arsenal side in bad form, and who for 70 minutes in this game, looked nervy and concerned about failing to win again. Blues though failed miserably to even get close to capitalising, and lacked invention, lacked ideas, lacked any spark and worringly lacked any real bottle.
Steve Bruce once again baffled Blues fans with his team selection. Some of the best football Blues have played this season came in the first half of last week's draw with Norwich City, with the return of Clinton Morrison and the return of a 4-4-2 formation significantly contributing to this, until the team never came out and played in the second half. So, here we are at Highbury, and Bruce reverts back to his 4-5-1 formation, dropping Morrison. Julian Gray returned on the left, which meant David Dunn played behind the lone figure of Emile Heskey.
To be honest, apart from the goals, not a lot happened in this game. Arsenal took the lead after about 35 minutes through Robert Pires. Blues' pathetic attempts to clear the ball - including Robbie Savage having the ball at his feet for a good couple of seconds - resulted in the ball breaking to Pires, and his low drive probably left Maik Taylor unsighted as it came through a mass of bodies. Taylor got a hand to it - he may well have saved it last season - but it still crept in.
That was about that for the first half as Blues failed to muster a single effort at goal. This was mainly due to the complete isolation of Heskey - again. It's getting to the point where you have to feel sorry for Heskey now. Love him or hate him, you have to concede that he has a wretched 90 minutes every time he plays for Blues - not because of his own performance, but because he's having balls fired at his head all day, and is getting no support whatsoever.
This is especially the case with a 4-5-1 formation. I wouldn't advocate the long ball game, but if you are going to use it, then it's best suited to something like 4-3-3 which teams are employing with success. If anyone claims that's what we're trying to play, then our wide forwards are Gray and Damien Johnson, so I suspect that we're not. With regards to Heskey though, at one point early in the second half, as he was lifting himself off the ground after another clash with Sol Campbell, he screamed at Darren Anderton - who had just played a ten yard pass up at his chest - to keep it on the deck. Like I say, you have to feel sorry for him.
In the second half, Bruce brought Jesper Gronkjaer on, but within minutes Arsenal brought on Gael Clichy for Jose Antonio Reyes so Clichy and Ashley Cole could double up on Gronkjaer, who had terrorised them last season with Chelsea on numerous occasions.
Then, eventually, Morrison was brought on for the ineffective Dunn. Literally, within 15 seconds of coming on, Morrison had Blues' best chance of the game. For the first time all game, Blues had a striker looking to get in behind the defence. A ball was played in behind, and Morrison's first touch was a decent half volley that new Arsenal 'keeper Manuel Almunia kept out, despite initially letting it squirm under his body.
Finally, without labouring the point, Blues looked better with two up front - Heskey in the target man role, but with someone making runs off him and in behind the defence, in Morrison. Heskey came into the game more too, and looked more interested when he had a fellow striker. If Bruce has any hope of a result next weekend, he must ditch this 4-5-1 thing and play two up front.
Anyway, as the game neared its conclusion, Arsenal finally shed their inhibitions, clearly buoyed by the fact that the team they were playing didn't look like scoring anytime before Christmas, and began to play a bit. Thierry Henry's pace earned him their second with a trademark finish, before the French striker made it 3-0 with a less trademark header from a Freddie Ljungberg cross.
Ljungberg's cross travelled within the six yard box, yet Maik Taylor was nowhere. the same happened in the first half with an Henry cross shot that Reyes was inches away from at the far post. There's no doubt that Taylor has deteriorated considerably as a goalkeeper over the past 6 months. He looks scared to death when the ball's anywhere near him, and as I've said before, he's not making saves.
And then there's his distribution. Let's say that he had the ball in his hands or at his feet on 20 occasions today. I would hazard a guess that on at least 10 of those his 'pass' failed to get anywhere near a Blues player, which leaves another 10. Of the remaining 10, I reckon 8 were at Heskey, and in a tough battle with Campbell, Heskey probably won about half. So that leaves 4. The other 2 were probably hit at Johnson, as Taylor also has a tendency to look for the smallest player on the pitch.
On the basis of the above, I reckon that Blues won about 20% of Taylor's clearances - rushed or otherwise - today, and that may be an exageration. In a game of football, one of the only moments that a side has comfortable possession is when their goalkeeper has it. There's generally not too much pressure. Edwin Van Der Sar is a great example of a 'keeper setting moves in motion, by looking for his full backs or centre backs and playing the ball to feet. Taylor, however, found a Blues player on about 20% of occasions, and even then, Heskey was flicking them on to nobody. How on earth is their any chance of mounting any kind of attack or pressure on that basis?? It simply defies logic. For 90 minutes, Blues threw away any opportunity to build any kind of attack starting from the back. It's always going to be an uphill struggle after that.
Enough of the Maths... anyway, I have written this report before I have heard or read any post-match comment by anyone. However, I predict lines such as 'You have to remember we're up against one of the top sides in Europe', 'the scoreline flattered Arsenal as they got two late goals' and 'Arsenal were really up for it after recent results'. Well, maybe so, but that doesn't excuse yet another inept performance from Blues.
The next two games are massive, and it's got to the point where it's results and not performances that matter. Blues fans won't accept playing well and losing to Villa and/or failing to win against the Albion at home - it's got beyond that now. Not playing well against Arsenal can be forgiven, as can doing it against Norwich, Palace, Everton, etc. People have stood by the players and the management. That will change if the side don't get results in the next two games - believe me. People will turn against the players and against the management, and in fairness, it's been coming. They have two (some may say only one) games now which will make-or-break the season, and a lot of other things I suspect.