Champions League LiveBlog: Arsenal v. PSV 1st Half

Champions League LiveBlog: Arsenal – PSV 1st Half

The Arsenal – PSV liveblog was chosen by the commenters on this blog. Hopefully, this turns out to be the best match of the day.

The return leg of this matchup is at Arsenal’s new Emirates Stadium and it finds Arsenal in hole after its 1-0 loss to PSV two weeks ago. It also finds Arsenal out of form having just come out of a three-game losing streak with an unimpressive 2-1 win against Reading on Saturday. Although, it must be noted that Arsenal has had a run of bad luck with injuries including captain Thierry Henry, who has been determined fit for this match but won't start.

PSV, for its part, is having a good season. It is 8 points clear of second place in the Dutch Eredivisie, although the squad just crashed out of its Cup competition. PSV, if it wins or draws today will also advance to the Champions League quarterfinals. Not a bad season. Arsenal on the other hand has only the Champions League left to obtain hardware for the season. It is out of the Premiership title chase and is out of the Carling and FA Cup competitions.

As always, feel free to leave comments or email me at thefansattic [at] gmail [dot] com.

Lineups:

PSV: Gomes, Alex, Feher, Salcido, Sun Xiang, Cocu, Culina, Mendez, Simons, Farfan, Kone

Arsenal: Lehmann, Clichy, Gallas, Toure, Silva, Baptista, Denilson, Fabregas, Hleb, Ljungberg, Adebayor

Predictions anyone? I think we see Arsenal go out of the competition on away goals after a 2-1 victory. Away goals seem to be the way to go this round.

I’ll be attempting to liveblog the match via an internet feed so let’s all hope that my internet connection holds up and my computer doesn’t crash. It’s a bit of a dinosaur so things can go wrong with several applications running.

Commenter Cedrick doesn’t like my prediction saying his Gunners will prevail. Well, in my defense I did say Arsenal would win today’s matchup just that it wouldn't advance.

Kickoff – There was no pregame on my internet feed although I got to watch some South African club action (I think it was S. African). Sundowns beat Leopards 4-0. I was worried I got the wrong channel especially with the ManU - Lille match already starting on ESPN2.

3:00 – Early corner for PSV but no danger resulted from it. Anybody care to keep us updated on the Celtic – AC Milan and Bayern – Real Madrid matches?

6:00 – Another corner for PSV but headed away by Fabregas. Hleb gave the ball away carelessly on his end but Toure saved his bacon. PSV has looked crisp thus far and Arsenal has been haphazard with its passing. Although, Adebayor had a nifty run on the right side that he shot into the side netting.

9:00 - Arsenal is picking up the pace and the passes are strung together better as well.

11:00 - Gallas loses a contact lens and play is held up a bit.

12:00 - Gallas back on and the announcers are having a bit of fun saying Gallas can't see the pitch. PSV's Farfan tried a shot from a very difficult angle on the right side but Lehmann had the post covered easily.

15:00 - Ljungberg called for a foul for climbing on the back of a PSV defender to go for a header. He complains to the ref that you can't call a foul on an underwear model.

16:00 - Fabregas makes a wonderful pass to Adebayor in the box but his touch is a bit off and Gomes smothers it for PSV. Very good chance for Arsenal who seem to be picking it up a bit.

18:00 - Again Adebayor muffs his touch inside the box. Kone gets the ball on the counter but Arsenal slows him. I have been very impressed with Kone in the two matches so far. He has good touch and excellent pace.

22:00 - Toure knocks an excellent shot on goal from just inside the box on the right side. Gomes can only deflect it and the rebound gives Arsenal another good chance but can't capitalize. Adebayor has been seeing the ball a lot just hasn't been able to connect with anything or have a good touch.

26:00 - According to the announcers, PSV Brazilian defender Alex is nicknamed the Beast. Oddly enough, Arsenal's Brazilian midfielder Baptista is also nicknamed the Beast. Can there be two players from the same country on the same field with the same nickname? Baptista by the way just had an excellent side volley just go over the bar.

29:00 - I can't help but wonder what would it be like if there was a healthy Henry on the receiving end of all the excellent feeds Adebayor has received. Alex had denied Adebayor several times now and Adebayor has just failed to make good passes or touches.

33:00 - Arsenal was lucky that Philip Coco couldn't get a solid head on the cross from Mendez. Cocu was unmarked on his run through the box. Arsenal's defense is just not looking good. They will have to play like Barcelona last night to protect the suspect defense right now.

36:00 - Wow! That was a nice attempt at a bicycl by Baptista. He controlled the ball with chest and popped it up to set up his bike which went over the bar. Uh-oh. My feed is having problems. Hopefully I can get it back up quickly.

45:00 - Stupid feed is taking forever to "buffer." What have I missed?