Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal played yet more bewitching soccer en route to another failure in a major competition at the Emirates Stadium last night. Unbelievably, the Gunners produced chance after chance with central midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Gilberto Silva pulling the strings, but as usual, no one could score. In fact, it took an own goal from PSV’s eventual man-of-the-match Alex to put Arsenal on the board. This despite the Gunners out-shooting their Dutch opponents 19-7: PSV only had one shot on goal, which Alex headed home from a corner in the 83rd minute.
“It’s cruel,” the Arsenal coach said. “There have been a lot of positives, but the two weeks have been horrendous.” In the last 14 days, Wenger’s men have lost the Carling Cup final, been dumped out of the FA Cup and now the Champions League. There will be no trophy for the North London faithful this year, and what’s most frustrating is that Arsenal played the better (or at least the more beautiful) soccer in each of those losses.
An inability to finish its chances has punctuated Arsenal’s season. Talisman Thierry Henry, who suffered yet more injury woe on Wednesday night, has been available sporadically this season, while the likes of Julio Baptista and Emmanuel Adebayor have often proved wasteful in front of goal. What the Gunners sorely lack (this is also true of past seasons) is a pure center forward.