Cesc Fabregas put Arsenal into a first-half lead when he met Robin van Persie's cross, but Arsene Wenger's side failed score a second goal and lived to regret it.
Arsenal looked comfortable for the majority of the match but let Ronald Koeman’s side back into the game in the final 20 minutes.
AZ had struggled to create many problems for Arsenal’s defence but David Mendes da Silva scored in added time to secure a share of the points that the Dutch barely deserved.
Vito Mannone retained his place in the Arsenal goal, despite the return of fit-again Manuel Almunia whilst Andrey Arshavin and Bacary Sagna replaced the injured Theo Walcott and Thomas Rosicky with Emmanuel Eboue moving to the right wing.
Van Persie had a chance to open the scoring in the first ten minutes when Arshavin lead a quick break and found Abou Diaby to send in a cross from the left. The Dutchman looked set to score when he shifted the ball onto his left foot but his shot was straight at AZ goalkeeper Sergio Romero.
Koeman’s team were neat and confident in possession but struggled to find a way through Arsenal’s compact midfield and were forced to play passes along their back four and amongst their midfielders.
However a quick break by AZ caught Arsenal’s defence out of position and allowed Mounir Al Hamdaoui to send a rising shot just over Mannone’s crossbar from the edge of the box.
Arsenal looked to be losing their way as the half continued but a mistake from Niklas Moisander gifted them the opening goal.
The Finland international mis-controlled the ball, allowing Arshavin to feed Van Persie down the right who squared for Fabregas to slot in from six yards out.
Van Persie went close to adding a second before half time with a vicious drive from 25 yards but saw the ball spin off Romero’s hand and over the bar.
Romero made another save from Van Persie after the break, getting down to push a curling free-kick away from danger.
AZ continued to keep possession neatly but their passing in the final third was aimless, with Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas looking extremely comfortable at the back. However, the home side came close to an unlikely equaliser with 20 minutes remaining when Diaby flicked Stijn Schaars’ corner onto his own bar.
The near-miss energised the home side and another delivery from Schaars caused panic in the Arsenal defence with Hector Moreno putting the ball a yard wide of Mannone’s left-hand post.
And in the third minute of added time substitute Graziano Pelle headed down a long ball for Mendes Da Silva to hit an emphatic volley past Mannone and secure a draw.
No comments:
Post a Comment