Arsenal 0 - 0 Marseille - Match Report

Arsene Wenger shocked fans and pundits alike by dropping Robin van Persie to the bench after his hat-trick heroics on the weekend. However even the introduction of the Dutchman was not enough to get the Gunners three points against Marseille at the Emirates. The first half was a very back and forth affair. Marseille started the half with gusto, attacking Arsenal from the off and creating chances but not making the most of them. Loic Remy was often the architect of their early chances, consistently getting the best of Arsenal left back Andre Santos and linking up with his team mates with ease. After the first ten minutes Arsenal started to find their feet in the match and could've been awarded a penalty after Souleymane Diawara had a handball decision ruled against him on the edge of the box. The replays shown that the Senegalese defender was inside the 18 yard box but a free kick was awarded which came to nothing for Arsenal. Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey were Arsenal's two most offensive weapons in the first half. Gervinho's pace and trickery played havoc with the Marseille back line, the Ivorian tested Steve Mandanda with a few vicious shots and also created good chances for Ramsey and Park Chu-Young. Aaron Ramsey had a flurry of chances in the half too. The first came from a cross by Andre Santos which reached him on the far post but he could only put the ball over the cross bar from a tight angle. However his best chance of the game came when Gervinho yet again used his class to beat the Marseille defenders and played Ramsey into acres of space with a clear goalscoring opportunity. After controlling the ball well enough the Welshman hesitated in taking his shot and the chance fizzled to nothing. The second half again saw a very end to end affair, similarly to the first. After escaping from a conceding a penalty, Souleymane Diawara risked being sent off early in the second half after a tackle from behind on Alex Song. The Marseille defender had already been booked in the first half and was lucky to escape the long walk to the dressing room. Up until their substitutions, Ramsey and Gervinho were heavily involved in all of Arsenal's chances once again. The two players linked up fabulously to almost give Gervinho a chance on goal but Rod Fanni prevented the opportunity for the winger. The hour mark saw the eventual introduction of Robin van Persie, who replaced the far from impressive Park Chu-Young, but even the on-fire striker couldn't spark a goal for Arsenal. The same problems were apparent for Marseille too, despite their numerous assaults on the Arsenal goal, the final ball was never quite accurate enough or the finish was never quite there. Loic Remy, Morgan Amalfitano and both Ayew brothers all tried their best to get the best of Wojciech Szczesny but failed to do so. However Arsenal did have one final barrage of chances in the dying seconds of the game. Thomas Vermaelen drove a free kick directly in to the wall with one minute of injury time remaining but the rebounded ball found it's way to Alex Song Song knocked the ball wide to van Persie who delivered a delicious cross, unfortunately finding Marseille full back Jeremy Morel to clear the ball and bring the game to a close. Both teams were very evenly matched tonight and puts both teams in a good position to qualify for the next round of the competition. Elsewhere in the group, Borussia Dortmund's win against Olympiakos puts them 3 points behind qualification on 4 points but Arsenal still lead the pack with 8.