Arsenal 3 - 0 Blackburn Rovers

Forty-three without defeat! Thierry Henry powers Arsenal to record breaking victory over Blackburn.

Amazing! Arsenal have not lost an English Premier League game since May 2003, a stretch which has reached a new-record 43 games tonight. The Gunners surpassed the previous mark of 42 set by Nottingham Forest back in 1977-78.

Sadly, there was no television broadcast of this match, but I was able to listen to live commentary via Arsenal Plus. The first half was a bit tense, as Blackburn played very well, limiting Arsenal’s chances, but not really taking too many of their own. It was a fair, but nonetheless frustrating,0-0 scoreline at halftime.

Thierry Henry opened the scoring five minutes into the second half, latching onto a pin-point overhead pass from Dennis Bergkamp. TiTi split two defenders, controlled the ball, and on the half-volley, powered the ball past Brad Friedel.

Eight minutes later, Gilberto made it 2-0 to the Champions, converting a Thierry Henry corner kick with a powerful header.

Robert Pires and Jermaine Pennant both made their first starts of the season. SuperBob had a ton of chances to score, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Pennant impressed, his year at Leeds seems to have done him a world of good.

Cesc Fabregas made his third successive start, and again, he was huge in midfield. He even had a chance on goal, which unfortunately went wide. With Patrick Vieira coming back from injury, and Edu returning from international duty with Brazil, it’s likely that this was the last start for the 17 year old for a while.

Jose Reyes came on a substitute, and thanks to some fantastic play by Thierry Henry, was able to put the result beyond doubt, scoring his third in as many games with about 11 minutes left.