Watford – Arsenal

1. Ben Foster continues in goal for Watford after he appeared to suffer no ill effects from his recent injury against Liverpool in the Hornets last game. Watford will hope this continues to be the case today as he is likely to be the busiest man on the Vicarage Road pitch against Arsenal.

2. Unsurprisingly Arsenal continue with the same polyglot eleven which thrashed Blackburn so convincingly. Thierry who?

3. Arsenal begin the game and many of the poor little lambs from north London have donned gloves to overcome the chill Watford night air. Presents from Santa perhaps.

4. 1'

   Good challenge on Hleb from Bouazza gives Arsenal a throw-in.

5. 2'

   Adebayor and Hoyte get confused and present Watford with a throw. Now the Hornets break and Bouazza threatens in the box. His rasping drive has Lehmann diving to his right to make the save. Good move from the Watford man.

6. 3'

   Hleb, Fabregas and Adebayor combine well but De Merit is on hand to make a fine tackle on the Spaniard in the penalty box.

7. 4'

   Smith forces a corner for Watford out on the right.

8. 5'

   Smith guides the corner on with his head and despite his appeals for another corner the decision is a goal-kick for Arsenal.

9. 6'

   Mahon finds McNamee and he hits a long cross over the Arsenal box. It's a little too high but Watford are showing some early attacking promise.

10. 8'

    Smith wins another corner as his cross is deflected off Clichy.

11. 8'

    Adebayor is back to help out though and he is fouled by Bangura as he advances from the Arsenal penalty area.

12. 9'

    Fabregas finds Rosicky who is in a dangerous spot twenty yards from Foster's goal but Van Persie has strayed a yard offside.

13. 11'

    Toure fails to read a high ball well and from the resultant Watford attack Arsenal are forced to concede another corner. When it comes in, Shittu's header is neither an attempt on goal nor a pass to a team-mate and it bounces weakly out of play.

14. 12'

    Good solid defensive header by Gilberto from a McNamee cross.

15. 13'

    Van Persie gets a shot in from a difficult angle which has Foster scrambling to make the save. The Dutchman gets it back and this time Foster can only watch as his shot skims just past his post.

16. 15'

    Van Persie makes a nuisance of himself again, shoving DeMerit in the back as he attempts to clear the ball in his penalty area.

17. 16'

    Smith is getting a lot of joy against Clichy and the Arsenal defender was second best once more. Smith's cross is over-hit though.

18. 17'

    Young takes advantage of some poor defending from Djourou and the Arsenal man's blushes are only spared by a fine sliding tackle from his skipper Gilberto which prevents the shot coming in from Young.

19. 18'

    GOAL - At the other end Gilberto again shows his worth when he gets on the end of a corner to head home the opener for Arsenal from six yards. That's the Brazilian's seventh goal of the season.

20. 19'

    Lehmann has to backtrack to stop Young's lob from twenty yards sailing past him.

21. 21'

    Hoyte gives away a cheap free-kick thirty yards from his goal. Watford have a couple of attempts at getting a shot in and Arsenal eventually clear their lines but they have looked far from safe at the back so far.

22. 22'

    GOAL - And lo and behold they are punished. Bouazza's pace beats two Arsenal challenges before his deflected cross is met by the trusty boot of Tommy Smith. He buries a low shot in from eight yards. A fine, and not undeserved, equaliser.

23. 25'

    Hoyte's cross in to the Watford box finds Van Persie but the close attentions of DeMerit are enough to put him off.

24. 26'

    Hleb horribly over-hits a simple pass to Rosicky which he can only watch go out for a Watford goal-kick.

25. 27'

    Shittu clears his lines as Adebayor's cross sought out Van Persie.

26. 28'

    Arsenal once more were at sixes and sevens as a high ball came over their heads at the back. A case of too many cooks but they eventually get it away.

27. 30'

    McNamee jinks inside Hoyte but his pass is hurried when perhaps he had more time.

28. 31'

    Bouazza's speed is once more a problem for Arsenal but he slipped as he hit a shot which Lehmann takes comfortably.

29. 32'

    Young fouls Toure who refuses the Watford man's offer of a helping hand. Come on, it's Christmas!

30. 33'

    Adebayor shows some great control from a wonderful Toure pass but he was running out of time to hit a shot. When he does, it sails high over Foster's crossbar.

31. 35'

    Poor pass from Rosicky in midfield to nobody in particular.

32. 36'

    Djourou concedes a free-kick when he clatters in to Young.

33. 36'

    When Stewart takes it Toure rises to head the ball firmly away from Lehmann's goal.

34. 37'

    Shittu has his hands all over Adebayor in the Watford penalty area but the referee saw nothing amiss.

35. 38'

    Fine cross in from McNamee on the right is met with an equally fine header from Djourou.

36. 39'

    Van Persie at the other end tries to tee up Adebayor for a tap-in but Foster does well to see the danger and intercept the ball across.

37. 41'

    Watford make half-hearted claims for a handball when the ball strikes Gilberto's elbow but he could not have got out of the way.

38. 43'

    The Watford crowd are urging their team forward when they have the ball. The pace of the Watford wide men is seriously troubling Arsenal and the home crowd sense a shock could be on the cards here.

39. 44'

    Bangura has a go from twenty yards out but it is always bending wide of Lehmann's goal.

40. 45'

    Fabregas stretches in vain for a long ball and his failure to get there is met with whoops of derision from the Watford fans.

41. 46'

    Van Persie's 'clever' backheel is actually rather stupid as nobody in an Arsenal shirt is on hand to gather it. And that, is that for the first half...

42. 47'

    HALF TIME - Watford are probably unfortuntate to not be winning this game such is the confusion hat Bouazza, McNamee, Smith and Young are creating in the Arenal back four. If they can keep up the pace they have set so far in this game the likelihood is Watford will score again. The question is whether they can hold out at the other end.

43. 45'

    Arsenal are replacing the injured Djourou with Philippe Senderos as Watford get us underway again.

44. 45'

    Watford backed off Adebayor but his pass was straight to a Watford man.

45. 47'

    Smith showed some good tenacity down the right flank but then fails to control Young's simple pass back to him.

46. 48'

    Rosicky shows Mariappa a clean pair of heels down the flank and then hits a difficult shot with the outside of his boot which Foster pushes round the post.

47. 49'

    Rosicky takes the corner but Watford are able to get it clear.

48. 51'

    Van Persie shows nice feet to get away from Shittu but his pass is poor.

49. 52'

    Watford have a corner which Young will take.

50. 53'

    Lehmann comes to take the ball cleanly when it comes over.

51. 53'

    Nice ball in towards Van Persie from Rosicky which DeMerit shows great awareness to come and intercept. Van Persie was offside anyway.

52. 54'

    Hleb's slide rule ball to Adebayor was a few degrees out and Foster is able to get to it first.

53. 55'

    DeMerit again makes a timely interception before Van Persie is caught just offside.

54. 57'

    McNamee smacks a shot off Gilberto which goes out for a Watford corner.

55. 58'

    This time Gilberto is on hand to head the ball away from his goal when the corner comes in.

56. 59'

    A Young free-kick is deflected behind for a corner. When it comes, DeMerit almost gets a head to is but Gilberto again is on hand to clear the danger. It's another Watford corner though.

57. 60'

    When the corner comes across Lehmann makes a fine catch. He then hits his goal-kick against Toure and immediately puts his team under pressure. The two sides of the Arsenal keeper in ten seconds.

58. 63'

    Fabregas plays a magnificent pass to Adebayor who cuts inside the Watford defence and hits an equally impressive shot which Foster does very well to keep out.

59. 64'

    This time Hoyte finds himself in the Watford penalty box and swivels to hit a low shot which brings another great save from Foster, who dives low to his right to keep the ball out.

60. 66'

    Bouazza is being helped from the pitch and appears to be clutching his shoulder.

61. 68'

    Damien Francis is coming on to replace Bouazza.

62. 69'

    Good play again from Smith and his cross is well met by Senderos.

63. 69'

    Young is penalised for a foul on Senderos. Meanwhile Hleb comes off for Theo Walcott.

64. 70'

    An awful piece of defensive play from Hoyte puts Senderos in all sorts of trouble as he faces goal seven yards out. Arsenal get the ball out for a throw and breathe once more when Watford waste it but yet again their defensive frailties are there for all to see.

65. 73'

    Stewart launches a long free-kick....right behind Lehmann's goal.

66. 74'

    DeMerit does a sterling job keeping tabs on Adebayor and Watford force Fabregas in to a long range effort which he blasts well wide.

67. 75'

    Hoyte's cross from the right is met by Mariappa's head. Clichy then receives the ball and goes on a surging, penetrative run in to the Watford penalty box. He beats three men but his shot is not as impressive and is high and wide.

68. 77'

    Francis feet were a bit high there on Senderos and he should have been booked for that.

69. 78'

    Rosicky, who has been hugely disappointing in this game, is to be replaced by Julio Baptista, who has been hugely disappointing all season.

70. 79'

    Baptista immiediately has a chance to make himself a hero and has a great chance to place his shot. He does. Wide of Ben Foster's right hand post.

71. 80'

    Fabregas free-kick is lazy and cleared by the outstretched boot of Francis.

72. 80'

    Adebayor holds his head in his hand and well he might as Van Persie's dinked pass sets him up eighteen yards from goal. He scuffs his shot in to the ground and wide of the Watford goal.

73. 82'

    GOAL - And what an absolute peach from Robin Van Persie. He beats the offside trap and then cuts carefully inside the flailing figure of Jay DeMerit. He then almost casually tees a wonderful curling shot in to Ben Foster's bottom right hand corner. A goal to win any game. Will it win this one?

74. 85'

    Hoyte hits it back to Lehmann but he is under pressure and knocks it out for a throw.

75. 85'

    Van Persie is down injured but Watford don't care. They take the throw but make nothing of it.

76. 87'

    Toure makes a firm challenge on Shittu who has come off the worse. Baptista has sped away at the other end and Stewart makes a goal-saving interception as Van Persie waited a yard from goal to apply the killer touch.

77. 89'

    Shittu has left the field.

78. 90'

    Tamas Priskin comes on for the injured Shittu.

79. 90'

    Young hits a ball in the direction of Henderson whose attentions on Toure are not appreciated by the Arsenal players.

80. 92'

    Walcott has a shot that fails to trouble Foster.

81. 93'

    FULL TIME - Class counts is the lesson of today children. Watford were worthy contenders in a highly entertaining game but a wonderful piece of finishing has put paid to their gutsy endeavour. Bad luck to Adrian Boothroyd's men but hats off to Robin Van Persie for a sublime strike.

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