Aliadiere returns to haunt Wenger – and his title bid

Arsenal 1 Middlesbrough 1

Jeremie Aliadiere Jeremie Aliadiere

REVENGE, they say, is a dish best served cold ... and that’s exactly what Jeremie Aliadiere did yesterday, nine months after leaving the Emirates.[>

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His goal knocked Arsenal off the top of the Premier League on goal difference – and if Kolo Toure hadn’t scrambled a late equaliser it could have been a whole lot worse for the Gunners.[>

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In a perfect world Aliadiere would have liked to have been playing for Arsenal yesterday rather than Middlesbrough.[>

It doesn’t go for us at the moment but we have to go through a patch like that and show our strengths

Arsene Wenger

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But Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger thought otherwise and, after farming him out on loan, he finally took £2million from Boro and sent the Frenchman packing.[>

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And that’s why his 25th-minute strike was the stuff of dreams.[>

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Boro had been under the cosh without ever really looking out of it before they broke away with speed and directness.[>

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Tuncay produced a piece of Turkish delight to exploit space on the left before delivering an inch-perfect cross that caught everyone except Aliadiere napping.[>

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He was in the right place at the right time to celebrate his return from a four-match ban with a clinical finish.[>

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Arsenal’s response was speedily predictable – but not with the usual lethal end product.[>

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Robin Van Persie, making his first Premier League start since last October, looked understandably rusty and made way for Theo Walcott early in the second half.[>

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But the Dutchman wasn’t alone in disappointing. There was lots of huffing and puffing but Mark Schwarzer has had tougher first 45 minutes.[>

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Apart from Emmanuel Adebayor no one really got too near him.[>

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Boro defended as if their futures depended on it – as indeed they probably did.[>

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Arsenal should have been level on 66 minutes when Cesc Fabregas got clean through. But Schwarzer spread himself big and the chance was lost.[>

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Boro finally cracked and allowed Toure space to scramble home a scrappy equalising header that was looking increasingly unlikely.[>

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It was a shame that substitute Mido spoiled Boro’s brave show.[>

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On the pitch for only a few minutes, he blotted their collective copybook with an ugly high lunge at Gael Clichy.[>

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Mido’s boot caught Clichy around the ear – the young Frenchman was carried off on a stretcher and the Egyptian was rightly shown a red card.[>

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A disappointed Wenger said: “It doesn’t go for us at the moment but we have to go through a patch like that and show our strengths.”[>

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But Boro boss Gareth Southgate was delighted. “We’ve played ever so well, scored a fantastic goal and just dug in and managed to find the energy to hang on,” he said.[>

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ARSENAL: Almunia 7; Sagna 6 (Bendtner (63rd) 6), Toure 6, Gallas 7, Clichy 6; Hleb 6, Fabregas 8, Flamini 6, Eboue 5; Van Persie 6 (Walcott (63rd) 6), Adebayor 6.[>

MIDDLESBORO: Schwarzer 7; Young 7, Huth 7, Wheater 9, Pogatetz 7; O’Neil 7, Shawky 5 (Cattermole (45th) 6), Boateng 7, Downing 6; Aliadiere 7 (Mido (78th) 4), Sanli 6 (Taylor (69th) 6). MAN OF MATCH: David Wheater.[>

Referee: M Halsey.[>

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