CARROLL CRUSHES ARSENAL TITLE HOPES FOR GOOD
By Uwoghiren
Arsenal were cruising at Upton Park, 2-0 to the good after goals from Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez and were also playing beautifully as a team.
Then came the wrecking ball, ponytail swinging in the wind, to ruin the moment. Andy Carroll, the definition of a nuisance target man, planted a superb header past David Ospina, bafflingly selected ahead of Petr Cech despite the ex-Chelsea goalkeeper returning to fitness, from Aaron Cresswell’s pinpoint cross.
And then again. Carroll is equally adept at volleying the ball beyond the goalkeeper as he is at heading it and he proved that with a remarkable swinging strike after the Gunners failed to clear a corner.
From two goals up in the 44th minute to level at half-time, Arsenal had imploded. It got worse. Carroll, so abysmally marked by both Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny, rose high in the early stages of the second half to grab his hat-trick. He was Arsenal’s worst nightmares. Laurent Koscielny equalised, but the damage was done. They are now 10 points behind Leicester, and three behind Tottenham.
Carroll’s performance ruined Arsenal’s title hope and summed up the club’s decade of underachievement.
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